breaking into the ghetto

There is an organization called "Naor Yisraeli", Enlightened Israeli, that has recently been campaigning to raise money to fund the distribution of smartphones, and also to raise used smartphones that are sitting idle, to distribute to Haredi youth who do not have smartphones. Their goal is to expose these Haredi youth to the outside world. I am not sure what specific influence they are trying to have, but in general one can assume that with greater exposure they hope to open their minds to a broader worldview of sorts.

While I am not sure in what way it is being manifested at this time besides for being expressed verbally, reporters on Twitter are saying that Haredi community leaders are angered by this.

1. no surprise there. not much of a scoop.

2. I totally get it. People dont want outside influences targeting their kids or the youth of their communities. They have worked hard to create a certain environment and this targeting is threatening that.

3. the thing is, if you think it is ok to target kids with religious activities to influence them closer to religion, and we (or most/many frum Jews in Israel) usually do, this isnt any different, just from the other perspective. Everyone should stop targeting youth or everyone should be ok with it.

4. If they are targeting people over 18 that is an entirely different story. They are adults and are fair game, all around.

5.  Haredi leaders want to keep their communities in the closed "ghetto" style that they have worked well with for so long, while at the same time joining the general public in leadership (ie politics) and influencing broader society. It doesnt really work that well if you try both ends of it at the same time

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