The Real Danger and How do Deal with it

Charedim using their smartphones (Ha'aretz)

(D)ata from the Bezeq telecommunications company shows a rise in the number of ultra-Orthodox Jews who say they are connected to the Internet. That figure currently stands at 35%, compared to 29% in 2012… For decades, the ultra-Orthodox community isolated itself and grew, becoming more and more extremist and separatist. Now, though, 20 years behind the times, new trends are emerging.

The ultra-Orthodox scene on the Internet is ablaze – with websites, ads, forums, video channels on YouTube, and endless activity on social network sites such as Facebook. Large parts of the community, many of whom could be considered as being on the edges of the mainstream of Haredi society, have embraced the Internet wholeheartedly. 

“The rabbis fear that an intellectual group in the ultra-Orthodox community will be exposed to information and opinions that are not acceptable to the leadership… 

There were always curious people who went to libraries and all sorts of other places to gather knowledge,” notes Cohen.  The real change, he adds, has come from the technology’s ability to shorten distances and allow people to interact and build new communities, undermining the rabbinic sources of authority. “The Internet has become a very big tool to organize an underground. Groups were created that developed a dialogue using email and forums. People with an ideological identity connected in a much easier way and found other like-minded people...