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chicagotribune.com >> Local news

 

RELIGION

 

Jewish schools ban Internet

43 yeshivas in town decree suspension of kids with Web at home

 

By Jeff Diamant

Religion News Service

Published December 2, 2005

 

LAKEWOOOD, N.J. -- Like so many Americans, Mesh Gelman relies on the

Internet for work. But in a move that's likely to complicate his business in

international trade, he plans to unplug his home computer from the wired

world, shutting out all that's good--and bad--about the Web.

 

Gelman's reasoning is simple: His religious leaders have told him to do so.

 

The father of four is a member of Lakewood's tight-knit Orthodox Jewish

community, whose leaders have declared that Internet access should be

removed from homes with school-age children to better protect them from

sexual images online.

 

It is more than a suggestion. The community's policy--formed with the

principals of the area's 43 yeshivas, or Jewish private schools, and

unveiled in late September--decrees that any student with home access faces

suspension or expulsion on the grounds that even one Internet-corrupted

student could sway others.

 

Rabbi Moshe Weisberg, who has long discussed the dangers of the Web with

other Lakewood rabbis, said children are not mature enough to use the

Internet and are susceptible to sites sexual in nature, either openly or

subtly so.

 

"Kids can become addicted to the point where it's almost like a drug

addiction or an alcoholic addiction," said Weisberg, who runs a

social-services agency in Lakewood. "Even though there might be some

value--research, schoolwork--the negatives so far outweigh the positives."

 

While figures were not available, rabbis said many parents among the Ocean

County community's 6,500 Orthodox families have already canceled their

Internet subscriptions.

 

Gelman, whose sons are 6 and 8 years old, said he's still trying to figure

out how to work at home without the Internet. But, he said, he will,

praising the rabbis' policy as "smart."

 

"The Internet is not a bad thing, but people use it for the wrong reasons,"

Gelman said. "As a parent, it's hard when kids start asking you things and

watching their innocence fall away. You wonder what they can learn on the

Web. I know that with one little stroke of the key, you can end up in the

wrong place."

 

While strict, the policy is not absolute. The community's rabbis may make

exceptions for parents with e-mail-only access or with home businesses if

computers are kept in a locked room or cabinet.

 

A different section of the policy forbids students from using Palm Pilots,

cell phones and other hand-held devices with Internet access, though yeshiva

principals are not required to expel students if they violate this part.

 

In a community in which few people have televisions, the rabbis' concerns

extend beyond fears about children's meeting sexual predators in chat rooms.

They also worry about pictures.

 

"The issue of extramarital sex ... extends to even looking at ladies for

pleasure, thinking about other ladies for pleasure," said Rabbi Netanya

Gottlieb, principal of Yeshiva Bais HaTorah. "We really ... don't want

children to see ladies who are dressed inappropriately. ... If that one

image goes into a child's head, it can wreak havoc with all the religious

instruction."

 

Elsewhere, attempts to limit Internet use often are criticized as

censorship. But Lakewood's Orthodox Jewish leaders said they do not expect

any lawsuits.

 

Indeed, rabbis and people interviewed in Lakewood said there is widespread

support for the rules, with little outward opposition.

 

And they said similar policies in Israel have worked well.

 

Still, the ban drew some disapproval outside Lakewood.

 

"I think it's doing a great disservice to the students by prohibiting them

from using what is essentially the primary communications medium of our

time," said Kevin Bankston of the non-profit Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Bankston hadn't heard of the policy until he was contacted by a reporter.

 

Lakewood's Jews make up about a third of the township's population,

community leaders said. The community began growing in the 1940s with the

establishment of Beis Medrash Govoha, a yeshiva that has blossomed into one

of the world's most prestigious schools for studying the Talmud.

 

"This is a self-selected group of people that choose to live in Lakewood,"

Weisberg said. "Being subject to rabbinic leadership here is completely

voluntary. ... If you're sending your kid to a private school, you've

already made a choice. You want to guide your child in a certain direction."

 

The rabbis acknowledged that children know more about computers than adults

do. When they unveiled the policy Sept. 27, they had Internet experts on

hand to teach parents about Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

 

Lakewood's Jewish leaders have been warning the community about the

Internet's perils for nearly five years.

 

2005, Chicago Tribune