The Information Age and Haredi (Ultra- Orthodox) Religious Identity / עידן המידע והזהות החרדית הדתית

• Published in: קשר 2013-01 (44), p.3-9
• Main Authors: כהן, יואל, Cohen, Yoel
• Format: Article
• Language: Hebrew
• ISSN: 0792-0113; 0792-0113

Haredim (literally 'fearful ones') live within ultra orthodox cultural ghettos in order to ensure that the secular lifestyle does not influence their purist way of living. Israel's Haredim have faced the challenge of changing media patterns — press, radio, advertising, television and Internet. Over the years, Haredi rabbis issued religious decrees (pesuk din) against exposure to mass media regarded as a threat to Torah family values. This article will examine Haredi responses to media changes, such as the appearance of alternative Haredi media, the exposure of Haredi Jews both to the secular media and to such alternative haredi media, rabbis' responses and the overall impact of these developments upon Israeli Haredi society. Since the mid-eighties, we have seen the establishment of several independent weekly Haredi commercial magazines, which are characterized by open news reporting untypical of the daily papers published by Haredi political parties. In addition, Haredi listening patterns changed further following the rise of Haredi radio stations and thus contributed to a further 'opening up' of the Haredi cultural ghetto walls. Yet the Internet was the major battlefield which the Haredi rabbis lost their anti-media campaign. In 2000, the Haredi rabbinical leadership imposed a prohibition on Internet "as a moral threat to the sanctity of Israel". But given the centrality of Internet in modern life, rabbis have allowed Internet use in businesses. Haredi cultural ghettos also declined when the advertising sector 'discovered' the commercial potential of the Haredi market and honed its advertising strategies and tactics accordingly. This plethora of messages challenges religious hierarchical authority. The media are not formally under the control of the rabbis so the latter have lost the battle. But the basic feature of the cultural ghetto still exists. While it is true that the new Haredi independent commercial weekly press, radio and internet sites compete with the institutionalized Haredi daily press, the former respect no less their religious values.