Rabbi, what do you surf? How ultra-Orthodox Jews use the news, Internet - opinion

The connections between rabbis and mass media are manifold. Rabbis use the media as an additional podium to the synagogue pulpit and lectern to reach their flock and students. They use new media like SMS to reply to questions of Halacha (Jewish religious law). Rabbis are themselves updated about events from the media, both generally and regarding current religion-related developments. In order to be effective, rabbi-teachers and synagogue rabbis want to be exposed to the media to which their own audiences – children or synagogue congregants – are exposed. Rabbinical court judges (dayanim), in determining decisions (piskei din), require not only mastery of Halacha but also awareness of contemporary affairs. 

The book Rabbis, Reporters and the Public in the Digital Holyland (by Yoel Cohen, published by Routledge, 2024) draws upon the author’s surveys of Israeli rabbis about attitudes toward, and usage of, information and media, in particular new media; the author’s survey of Israeli journalists both about rating religion coverage and the journalists’ own religious observance; and the author’s survey of the Israeli public about what they surf and search for in religion news. Overall, 1,500 completed questionnaires were received. In addition, the author analyzed the content of four news websites and interviewed rabbis, religion reporters, and spokespersons.

First and foremost, the media are an information source. Rabbis follow the news for religion-related news such as new legislation on state-religion matters. For example, non-Orthodox rabbis closely follow conversion-related news. But rabbis have a wide range of sources other than the media for religion news, such as internal reports from their institutions and word of mouth from rabbinical colleagues.

An American-born Modern Orthodox community rabbi, Jerusalem: “Every morning, I take an avid peek at the sites of Ynet, Arutz 7, Maariv, and The Jerusalem Post. I listen to the news at 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. About half an hour a day – once in the morning and once in the evening – I look at media. I get the weekly Makor Rishon on subscription. I don’t read the Haredi media – they have an agenda that they are always right and everyone else is wrong. It’s important for me to be involved, to feel the pulse of the country – for myself but also for my Sabbath sermons. I want to feel connected. I want to feel the mindset of the people.”

The American-born rabbi-headmaster of a boys’ Modern Orthodox high school: “I read The New York Times and The Washington Post online – the first page only. At home, we read on the Sabbath Makor Rishon. We used to bring Haaretz home, but there were some very, very pornographic pieces which was too much. I thought it was inappropriate to bring home.”

An American-born rabbi who is a class teacher at a boarding yeshiva high school, identified with the Modern Orthodox sector: “Most of my exposure to the news is through the newspapers. I read the secular-elite Haaretz – both Hebrew and English editions – and Makor Rishon. The radio I see as a waste of time interviewing politicians – ‘you know what they’ say about any particular issue before you put it on. I don’t have a TV; I did have a TV but threw it out one night. I was disappointed with certain things the kids in the house were doing which were not necessarily connected with the television itself. In my view, what is going on religiously and culturally with the kids today is connected to the TV. I asked permission from my wife and threw it in the garbage.”

The professor-rabbi of the Conservative movement’s Schechter Institute: “The Hebrew press, other than Makor Rishon, has nothing to say about any Jewish topic. Haaretz is not interested in any Jewish topic. It is an anti-religious newspaper. The only time they talk about Judaism is to make fun of it. Maariv is not uninterested. If you care to know what’s going on in the Jewish world, you have to read The Jerusalem Post. I read The Economist on subscription; it’s unbelievable how much information is in it.”

A female teacher in a Haredi elementary school in Jerusalem: “I read Yated Ne’eman daily. I don’t feel that I am cut off.” 

The principal of a Haredi girls’ high school in Haifa counts three things he looks for in reading the daily Yated Ne’eman newspaper: 

1. I read the engagement announcements which are listed every day on page 1 of the daily Haredi papers. I have children of marriageable age – a clue to the fact that in Haredi circles, there are shidduchim [arranged marriages]. 
2. The daily news highlights. 
3. Long background features of news. Also, the Friday, Sabbath eve weekend issues of the Haredi paper have the religion section – or kadosh [holy] section – which include reflections by rabbis on the weekly reading of the Bible and Prophets [the haftarah].

As a rabbi, I follow religion news in general terms and want ‘the rough lines.’ We are not cut off!” he remarked, but rabbis “have no time to follow the news.”

A Haredi community rabbi: “I don’t read newspapers. No time. Occasionally I hear radio in the car. People sometimes come to me and speak about things about which I am not up to date. And sometimes I don’t understand what they are talking about. My son, who learns in yeshiva, sometimes updates me.”

A Haredi yeshiva teacher who heads a kollel (a center of advanced Talmudic learning): “I really don’t read anything. I don’t have Internet nor a computer. Occasionally I read the Yated Ne’eman newspaper distributed free on Tuesdays. I don’t buy newspapers. I can’t handle the press.”

A female Conservative community rabbi: “I hardly ever take a newspaper into the house – unless it is a freebie. I do listen to the radio: Israel Radio’s Reshet Bet [current affairs] is on whenever I’m driving, which is fairly often – at least a couple of times a day. I do watch TV but never hear the news on TV. It would be beneficial for someone doing my job. There are two things – I’m the kind of person who takes on more than my job allows, so I never really make time for this. But it’s not just a time issue because you make time for things you want to do. It is avoiding an unpleasant feeling when I read something – either because whatever happened is annoying, and the way it is covered is annoying.”

RELIGION NEWS in the media was followed by rabbis less than general news developments. It was followed at a “high frequency” by only 20% of rabbis surveyed by the author, and 8% all the time. As noteworthy was the number who were inclined not to follow religion news: 33%, 39%, and 28% of Hardal (Haredi Leumi, a stricter branch of modern Orthodoxy), Modern Orthodox, and Haredi rabbis did not follow religion news at all or to a “small degree.” Only 33%, and 39% of Haredi and Modern Orthodox rabbis, respectively, do not follow religion news “at all” or do so only “to a small degree.”

In gathering religion news, rabbis were preoccupied with news about their own religious stream. News about the rabbi’s stream (Haredi, mainstream Modern Orthodox, Hardal, Conservative, Reform) was followed incrementally more than news of other streams. Some 13% of all rabbis ”all the time”; 28% “most of the time”; and 37% “at times” follow news about their own stream compared to 6% of rabbis who follow news about other Jewish religious streams ”all the time”; 24% of rabbis “most of the time”; 36% “at times”; and 22% “on isolated occasions.”

Rabbis follow news about other, non-Jewish religions even less: 33% “occasionally” and 37% “never.” Non-Orthodox rabbis are much more inclined to follow news about non-Jewish religions than Orthodox rabbis [do]. Thus, 33% and 40% of non-Orthodox rabbis were more inclined to read most of the time, or from time to time, media content about other religions in contrast to 4% and 12% of Orthodox rabbis. Partly, the lack of interest reflected the lack of coverage which other religions receive in the Israeli media.

Religious content in the media has little impact upon the rabbis’ knowledge of religious news developments: 52% of rabbis said the religion content had no impact at all; 29% “a little”; and 14% “at times.” Haredi rabbis were less inclined than non-Orthodox rabbis to be influenced. The influence of the media on the rabbis’ understanding of the religious environment was low: 37% replied that the media had no influence “at all” upon their understanding of the religious environment; 38% “a little”; and 20% “at times.” 

Some 86%, 88%, 79%, 69%, 74% of Haredi, Modern Orthodox, Hardal, Reform, Conservative rabbis, respectively, said that religious content in the media “never” influences them or only “to a little extent.” Non-Orthodox rabbis were more inclined than the Orthodox rabbis to answer “to a little extent” rather than “never.” Moreover, 23% of Reform and 19% of Conservative rabbis were more inclined to say “sometimes” in contrast to 8% and 13% of mainstream modern Orthodox (19% Hardal) and Haredi rabbis.

This was especially true in new media, like the Internet: 99% , 82%, 80%, 35%, 55% of Haredi, mainstream Modern Orthodox, Hardal, Reform, and Conservative rabbis, respectively, said new media had “little” or “no” influence upon their views on religious issues; and 44%, 30%, 12%, 14% and 2% of Reform and Conservative, Modern Orthodox, Hardal, and Haredi rabbis said it had “some influence”; 17% of Reform rabbis said “to a large extent.”

Regarding politics, defense, and economics news, there was “considerable interest” to “great interest.” Some 76%, 59%, and 42% of non-Orthodox, Modern Orthodox (combined), and Haredi rabbis “read everything” or “much” on this; 27% of Haredi rabbis expressed “no interest at all” or “little interest.” It reflected that Haredi rabbis are inclined to distance themselves from non-Torah matters.

In the case of news about non-religious matters like politics, the influence of the media’s coverage of the secular environment was considerable: 26% of rabbis said “to a very great extent”; 31% “a lot”; and 22% “at times.” This was particularly true with non-Orthodox rabbis: 44% of non-Orthodox rabbis replied “to a great extent.” A further 31% of non-Orthodox rabbis replied “from time to time.” This contrasted with only 24% of Haredi rabbis (and Modern Orthodox, 32%).

The technological information highway is affecting the Israeli religious world no less than other non-Jewish religious communities. Internet offers timely information like daily times for Jewish religious prayer (tefila); times for the commencement and termination of the Sabbath and holy days; and functional information required by community rabbis such as contact information of burial societies, religious courts, and religious councils in different towns which are responsible for religious matters, and other websites of one type or another. 

Moreover, new media aid rabbis in solving Jewish legal questions addressed to them. The computerization of the Jewish religious court system has contributed to its administrative efficiency; relations among rabbis has been made more efficient through forums. 

But the extent to which rabbis have incorporated information technology into their pastoral theological work varies, even among all three groups of Orthodox rabbis – Haredi, Hardal, and mainstream Modern Orthodox – despite the fact that all are highly active as halachists. 

Torah-data base websites contain computerized collections of traditional texts like Bible commentaries, the Talmud, and Jewish law codes. One of the earliest attempts to computerize Jewish sources was the Bar-Ilan Sheiltot project, which stored in computerized form 100,000 rabbinical sheiltot, or rabbis’ answers, from the sixth-century Geonic period to the present day to a range of questions concerning the application of Jewish law to particular situations. There are an estimated half a million sheiltot contained in 300 books. Much larger today is the Otzar Hochmah, founded at the turn of this century, which contained in 2021 over 110,000 books on Judaica and Jewish history. 

“The problem,” one rabbi commented, “is that you need to know the precise words because if one searches with the written word, you won’t be able to locate the books on the program; and in Otzar Hochmah, one can drown in a welter of sources. So you need to know how not to drown.” 

What is the place of computers in the work of the rabbis or of private manuscript collections to the entire Jewish learning world?

In searching specifically for solutions and answers to Jewish legal questions, 17% of rabbis turned to the websites “to a very great extent” or “a large extent,” and 18% “to some extent.” Highest was Conservative rabbis – 46% “to a very great extent” or a “great extent,” and a further 21% “to some extent.” Reform rabbis 8% and 13%, respectively, reflecting the theological approach in Reform Judaism toward a more relaxed halachic observance; mainstream Modern Orthodox rabbis: 25% and 41%, respectively; Hardal rabbis: 30% and 24%, respectively; and, by contrast, Haredi rabbis 3% and 3%, respectively.

Thirty-one percent of communal rabbis turned to the Net for solutions and answers to Jewish legal questions “to a very large extent” and “to a large extent,” as well as 23% “to some extent.” By contrast, 20% of rabbi teachers, as well as 23% “to some extent,” avrechim (yeshiva students) 0% and 23%. This is surprising because rabbi teachers and avrechim are involved in finding halachic solutions.

The level of computer literacy among rabbis varied and is particularly low among Haredi rabbis. Ten percent and 33% of Modern Orthodox rabbis felt computer competent “to a very great degree” or a “great degree,” respectively, and a further 37% “to a certain degree.” By contrast, only 7%, 2%, and 19% of Haredi rabbis said so, respectively. Rather, 38% and 24% of Haredi rabbis felt “completely computer illiterate” or “illiterate to a great degree,” respectively.

Moreover, the current age is transitory, depending much on a rabbi’s own mastery, or not, of the computer. A Reform rabbi in his sixties: “I just feel it’s too late for me.”

“I have no computer skills,” said one Israeli-born Modern Orthodox rabbi-teacher in a Jerusalem yeshiva: “I don’t have knowledge of how to search, or search engines. [I have] Nothing in principle or ideological against it; I just don’t have the time. The yeshiva’s library has 100,000 books, and if something is missing I go to the next yeshiva a walk away or to the Jewish & National Library.” 

Some even see a pedagogic value in still teaching from books. Forums have added a revolutionary feature to inter-rabbinical consultations, which became Zoom matters particularly after the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020. Closed forums are today a feature of the rabbinical landscape (with the exception of the Haredi rabbis). Characterized by secrecy, the forums enable rabbis – away from the attention of the congregants – to discuss and thrash out controversial matters. Melekh Hakodesh (King of the Holy) had 420 Modern Orthodox rabbis in 2022. “If a rabbi wants to talk outside the forum about something he learned within, he has to ask the relevant rabbi for his consent,” said one member of the forum. The Reform forum Maram enables members to keep up to date. A dayan on the Reform beit din (religious court) remarked, “I receive many questions from rabbinical colleagues. I have experience with rabbinical students but also much information regarding conversions.” 

A separate grouping are the religious law courts. The dayan (religious court judge), who is a member of a beit din, adjudicates on matters of personal status in Israel, notably conversions and divorces. The functioning of Israel’s religious court system was, by the second decade of this century, still somewhat limited in terms of its computerization. While younger dayanim were au fait with computers, many elderly dayanim, while highly learned in Jewish texts, were heavily reliant on books. 

As Michal Goldstein, a senior official in the religious court system, remarked, “There is a huge gap – to use an understatement – between the digitalized world and the administrative side. We invested to digitalize the system, and among other measures, held courses in computer training for the dayanim.” 

Some dayanim did not even have computers at home – partly given the qualifications of Haredim regarding Internet. So when COVID-19 struck and some of the work of the judges – like writing divorce agreements – could be done from home, the religious court administration distributed computers to the home of judges lacking them. 

Two leading educationalists from different spheres of the religious spectrum discourage the use of websites to their rabbinic students. A rabbi who was a teacher at Jerusalem’s illustrious Mirrer yeshiva – which has 8,500 students – and has trained innumerable rabbis abroad and inside Israel, and a professor-rabbi at the Conservative movement’s Schechter institute in Jerusalem (which trains rabbis for the movement) see the danger of “shortcutting” to find Jewish law sources on the Net rather than toiling through the classical sources and law codes because it means rabbinical students do not learn the didadic tools of Talmudic study – “how to learn” – a requirement of a successful rabbi. “If you learn from Wikipedia and the Net, you get a very vulgarized version of whatever it is you’re studying,” the latter said. 

Overall, is the Internet a useful channel to advance religious values? Forty-six percent of the rabbis surveyed agreed “a lot” or were “inclined to agree” that “the Internet is a useful channel to advance religious values.” And a further 11% said “to some degree.” There was a wide difference between on the one hand, non-Orthodox rabbis, and on the other hand, Haredi rabbis, and in the middle the Modern Orthodox combined (mainstream and Hardal) that the Internet is a useful tool to advance religious values. Some 79% and 71% of Conservative rabbis and Reform rabbis, respectively, agreed “a lot” or were “inclined to agree” that “the Internet helps to spread religion today.” Some 64% and 61% of mainstream Modern Orthodox and Hardal rabbis, respectively, said so. By contrast, only 28% of Haredi rabbis said so. And 62% of Haredi rabbis did not agree “at all” or were “inclined to disagree” that the Internet is a useful vessel to advance religious values.

There was also a noticeable difference in occupational terms – community rabbis agreeing more and teacher-rabbis less. Thus, 74% of community rabbis who lead synagogues “agreed a lot” or were “inclined to agree,” in contrast to only 55% of teacher-rabbis saying so. And 12% of community rabbis did “not agree at all” or “agreed a little” in contrast 39% of rabbi-teachers.

Non-Orthodox rabbis were most inclined to use data bases. Some 40%, 22%, and 15% of non-Orthodox rabbis, Modern Orthodox rabbis, and Haredi rabbis, respectively, use these websites “a lot” or even “all the time.” Some 67%, 49%, and 30% of Haredi, Modern Orthodox, and non-Orthodox rabbis, respectively, do not use these at all. With the Haredi ban on Internet use, Haredi rabbis have yet to benefit fully from these Torah websites, despite their single-minded goal of Torah study. True, the threat from the Internet occurred at the same time as the parallel proliferation of Jewish-related websites, making it more difficult for rabbis imposing their anti-Internet line. But many Haredi rabbis today do recognize the technological value of these websites, and this trend may be expected to increase. Said one Haredi rabbi: “It saves infinite time. Within a second – at the press of a couple of keys on the keyboard – you get a book instead of going to the bookshelf. Copying from each book takes time, and sometimes one makes an error in copying. I am looking into a subject. I don’t know who talks about it. The computer has turned out to be an extremely important tool.” 

Notwithstanding its benefits, the Internet causes damage, according to many rabbis. Forty-nine percent and 19% of the rabbis surveyed said that secular websites damage religious values “to “a very great extent” or “to a high extent.” Seventeen percent and 19% said so regarding religious websites. Broken down, 74% and 17% of Haredi rabbis said that secular Internet damaged religious values to “a very great extent” or “a great extent” as compared to 31% and 28% of Modern Orthodox rabbis and 57% and 30% of Hardal rabbis who have taken a far stricter position on accessing the Internet – as they do to non-Jewish culture as a whole – than the mainstream Modern Orthodox, who do not see an inbuilt contradiction between Jewish Torah values and modern culture. Also, 33% and 29% of Reform rabbis and Conservative rabbis, respectively, said that religious websites damage religious values “to a very great extent” or “to a large extent.” However, the phenomenon of online rabbinic counseling should not be overplayed, since much counseling with rabbis – in particular of a non-halachic nature – cannot be done online but requires a conversation or meeting with the rabbi.

Given that the performance of religious commandments (mitzvot) is a means of giving expression to a Jew’s relationship with God, observant Jews have for hundreds of years sought instruction from rabbis. The number of questions rabbis receive varies very greatly. Asked how many email inquiries on Jewish law they receive a day, 27% of the rabbis replied one to four emails a day; 18% replied five to nine emails; 21% received 10 to 14 emails a day; 15% receive 15 to 19 a day; and 19% receive 20 to 30 a day. Broken down by religious streams, those who received 20 to 30 emails a day: 46% of Reform rabbis; 35% of Conservative rabbis; 17% of mainstream Modern Orthodox; 10% of Haredi rabbis. Hardal rabbis: 0. 

Critics of online rabbinic counseling say that online answers proffered by rabbis are too short. The major criticism of electronic consultancy concerns the brevity of answers by SMS. Asked whether Jewish law inquiries by SMS was a good thing, 46% of the rabbis agreed “to a very great extent” or “to a great extent,” and a further 28% “to some extent.” Asked more specifically, “Do rabbis think that the brevity of a Jewish law ruling was a problem?” most of the rabbis do not see brevity in answers as a problem. Only 21% of the rabbis agreed “to a very great extent” or “to a great extent.” A further 32% said “to some degree.” However, 27% of the rabbis did not see this as a problem “at all,” and a further 21% of the rabbis agreed but to “only a small degree.” 

In a wider sense, Jewish religious education raises the suitability of conducting full-scale shiurim (religious lessons) through the computer, like Zoom. Participation in forums and chat questions of religious belief, and participation in shiurim conducted on the Web, contribute to creating virtual communities. One recent development is online shiurim. For example, in the Web Yeshiva, established in 2007, students study in a live online shiur, as well as learning online with a chavruta (a study partner or group). Transcending geographical limits, classes are available from 4 a.m. to midnight in Hebrew, English, and Russian. 

In a wider sense, old-style usage of the media for public relations is still relevant, also in the rabbinical world. As spokesman of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky was tasked with spreading Chassidus [Hassidism] to the wider public. “Public relations is not just a cold press release,” he said. “I have a relationship with the heads of the media companies. You create a relationship of mutual respect with heads of particular media companies. But no, the Rebbe did not give interviews. That was his choice. If reporters asked the Rebbe a question, the Rebbe did not make an issue of it. He said, ‘I’m not talking now.’”

Krinsky prepared a daily cuttings file for the Rebbe – “about all kinds of past events. No, not just about Chabad. Not at all. Not only about Judaism. Anything on sciences, medicine, and astronomy – particularly if there were research findings. The Rebbe was up to date in everything. He was very up to date with world news, and certainly on Jewish events, political and educational.”

Sephardi chief rabbi Ovadia Yosef read the Haredi daily Hamodia. He did not see the secular media, with the exception of a daily cuttings file containing clippings of anything about “Ovadia Yosef” in that day’s press. According to his son David Yosef, “Ovadia Yosef did not like the media. He saw journalism in a negative light – a race for gossip; an infringement of the Jewish law against lashon hara [the religious prohibition of social gossip]. Reporters at his shiurim looked for the sensational and blew it up out of context. As chief rabbi, he had a spokesman, but Yosef perceived media reactions as being too short for the task of explaining a religious point to the public.” 

Ovadia Yosef contrasted with other holders of the post, such as former Ashkenazi chief rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, who like his son David Lau, who was also appointed to the post of chief rabbi, is far more comfortable with journalists.■

Yoel Cohen, professor emeritus in the School of Communication at Ariel University, is the author of Rabbis, Reporters and the Public in the Digital Holyland, published by Routledge, 2024. The book can be purchased via www.routledge.com.