Koschere Handies sind offline

Man denkt ja zuweilen, das Internet deckt alle kulturellen Unterschiede zu, bis wir alle unter dem Banner der LOLCats vereint sind.

Dass es in anderen Ländern tatsächlich noch andere Sitten gibt, zeigt dieser Artikel der israelischen Tageszeitung Haaretz über den Kampf ultraorthodoxer Rabbiner gegen das Internet

The Israeli rabbis first came out against Internet use in January 2000, when more than 30 Haredi leaders forbade Internet connections at home. Back then, the main concern was the easy availability of online pornography. The ban was not particularly controversial, as Israeli Haredim had long accepted a similar ban on owning television sets.

Many Haredim, however, circumvented the ban by using 3G phones, which allowed Internet access – until the rabbis forced them to buy „kosher-certified“ sets in which the Internet feature was disabled.

Damit hatten sie aber keinen Erfolg, was zum Beispiel am rasanten Aufstieg von Online-Angeboten speziell für ultraorthodoxe Juden (Haredi) zu sehen ist, auf denen doch tatsächlich über die Sinnhaftigkeit solcher Vorschriften diskutiert wird. Also ziehen die religiösen Führer die Daumenschrauben an:

The December order from senior rabbis – including top Haredi authorities like Yosef Sholom Elyashiv and Aharon Leib Shteinman – instructed their followers not to visit Haredi Web sites, which they said were full of „lies,“ „gossip“ and „abominations.“ Crucially, they also instructed Haredi schools not to admit any child whose parents are involved in such Web sites.

(Danke, Mathias)