The Rabbonim of the Haredi town of Beitar Ilit have met and unanimously agreed that anybody in Beitar who has internet access in his house, his children will be denied entry into the chadorim of Beitar.
I have no problem with them making such a rule. Beitar is a closed community, and those who make the rules can dow hatever they want. If someone chooses to live there, he is accepting those rules. If he does not like it, he can move.
That being said, I do not think it will work. I doubt most people will get rid of their internet access just because of this new rule. And that means they are headed for a problem. What is going to happen when they "find out" about someone having internet access? Will they toss his kids out of the school they are in? Even if they are good kids?
And where will the kids go to school? Considering the whole town is charedi, and there are no schools other than the chadorim, will the kids just stay home all day?
The problem of dropouts in Beitar, and how Beitar has swept them under the carpet has been written up in the national press a number of times. That problem is going to get all that much greater if they are going to start throwing kids out of school.
Maybe it is simply a threat, and they are not planning to actually enforce it (unless a kid is bad for the school and they need an excuse to toss him).
I just hope they start a school or three that will allow entry to kids whose families have internet access. Otherwise, there are going to be a lot more kids hanging out in the streets of Beitar...
Another example of 'all or nothing'. They will probably be succuessful for a while. But in the end when you take this attitude you are much more likely to end up with a lot of NOTHING!
ReplyDeleteThey're afraid that the kids might see your blog
ReplyDeletelol..
ReplyDeleteany of you kids reading this? go back to school, study and get good grades!
If they opened a school with lower standards, no one would send their kids.
ReplyDeleteThis falls very much in line with the no heredim in the parks post.
ReplyDeleteMy rav, a chassidish rebbe with the works - peyos, white socks, etc... - in other words, not one whom you would call modern, came out and said that in today's day and age you cannot tell the frum businessman not to have the internet - it's not realistic and there's no real choice NOT to have it in some form or the other.
ReplyDeletewhat are all the kollel wives who work at home doing medical billing or whatever going to do? start begging?
ReplyDeleteMOI - they would have to because no other school would take their kids...
ReplyDeleteWorse, it is another step towards a sort of "police state" where everyone has to lie and cover up what they are doing and not trust their neighbors, lest they "inform" on them publicly and ruin their communal standing.
ReplyDelete