Did you know that even where there is an "issur" of using smartphones with internet access, there is still a specific "hetter" (depending on the need, of course) for accessing Whatsapp? I did not realize that Whatsapp was treated any differently than anything else on the Internet, but it turns out that it is..

Yediot Ramat Gan took a look at Whatsapp and its popularity in Israel. It found that Whatsapp is very popular especially among the Haredi public, and it spoke to some leading Haredi figures about it.

Here are the two pieces, marked in red, I found particularly interesting:


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The first is from R' Mottka Bli, head of the Rabbinic Committee for Purity of the Camp. He uses Whatsapp. Bloi says it started with Belz and Gur that allowed their Hassidim to access Whatsapp on kosher Blackberry's for work purposes, and it will soon spread out to the general Haredi public. Anybody who wants access to it will have to fill out a very detailed questionnaire to determine whether he really needs it for acceptable reasons. Bloi says access to Whatsapp will only be limited to those who really need it for work purposes, and, Bloi says about his own use of Whatsapp, "I use it for issues of halacha".

Ahem.

The second interesting piece is from an unnamed senior rav in Bnei Braq. It does not say that he uses Whatsapp, but he talks about the popularity of it in the Haredi community. He says it is an indication that people are moving away from listening to the gedolim. Nobody will say publicly they do not listen to the gedolim, but there is definitely a distancing in the Haredi community from adhering to the words of the gedolim. He says today more people are following the halacha as it is written and are deciding things for themselves, and less listening to the rabbinic institution.

Are the Litvishe going back to being Litvishe instead of Chassidishe? I remember the days when the Litvishe did not ask every small question to the gedolim and the drive to listen to their words was for words of inspiration and on big halachic issues, but not on instructions for every day life. It was among the Hassidim that every little question was asked of the Rebbe and every word of the Rebbe was followed blindly. At some point the Litvishe followed the Hassidic suit and started treating the Litvishe gedolim like Hassidic rebbes. According to this "senior rav", people are now moving away from that approach of following the gedolim. If so, it won't be a quick process, but maybe it is in motion.