Kosher Internet Halachic Issues

From Hareidi English
Jump to: navigation, search

"Kosher internet" is often compared to "Kosher food". Both rabbinic authorities and religious families expect a solution which is similar to the system of certification which has been developed for food production. The expectation is that some organization will go around checking websites for objectionable content and issue certification for compliant websites. Religious jews who surf the internet would limit themselves to certified content and the matter would be settled.

In reality, there are many significant differences between food and websites.

  • First and foremost is quantity and variety. It is estimated that there are 10,000,000 active websites today, and thousands being added every day. With food, generally a family eats large quantities of the same diet, whereas business or educational use of the internet requires the use of search engines which can expose the user to tens of new websites with each new search.
  • Second, the halachic issues involved with food are very different than internet content. In Jewish law, kosher and non-kosher food is very clearly defined, this is not the case with webpages. Jewish law being a legal system that encompasses both criminal and civil law, generally limits itself to actions and rarely address thoughts, ideas or entertainment. It is much harder to determine exactly which content is forbidden, discouraged or simply to be avoided. Furthermore, while it is clear that internet has caused problems in religious families, to some degree it has also provided benefits. This has resulted in a legal ruling which discourages internet in almost all cases, but has a few significant exceptions (parnasa, research by professionals, jewish outreach). Kosher food has no equivalent set of rulings.
  • Thirdly, there is a psychological and addictive factor which is not normally present with food products. Rabbinical authorities reviewed evidence that individuals who would not otherwise engage in objectionable activities, do so because of the attractive and anonymous nature of the internet. As one example, the cases of several families were heard where the husband left the family due to a relationship developed through chat forums - something that had no counterpart in similar hareidi families who made no use of the internet.
  • Lastly, imagery plays a large role on the internet. While we are not aware of any study involving hareidi families, there have been studies reporting that large percentages of non-Jewish clergy "struggle with pornography", and it is assumed that the hareidi community also suffers. This is not to mention that most orthodox Jews, especially chassidic Jews stress shemiras enayim which would make most advertisements objectionable, even ones not considered pornographic by law.

References