Ultra-Orthodox Rabbis Raise $1.5 M. for Massive ‘Jews Against the Internet’ Rally At Citi Field

"This will be a mass rally never before seen in the history of Orthodox Jewry in the U.S. "...except everyone is Jewish and there is no baseball.

Update: No women are permitted to attend the rally, so it looks like Ladybeat will be invading the bleachers in drag.

By definition, the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community cleaves to the old ways over modern societal norms. Thus it finds itself even more at odds with the technological wave of apps and gadgets transforming American culture.

And the time has come, apparently, to make that opposition known.

The Jewish Press reports that a massive rally is being planned for Sunday, May 20th at Citi Field in Queens “to combat the evils of the Internet and the damages caused by advanced electronic devices.”

The rabbis behind the rally don’t specify which “evils” and “damages,” in particular, they are railing against. Merely noting that they want to save a generation from “the ravages of advanced technology.”

However, a message signed by a number of Israeli rabbis in the Haredi press offers some clarification under the following headline, “A Letter from our Masters the Great Men of Israel Shlita In Preparation for the International Conference in the U.S. Against the Scourge of Technology,”

“It is well known that in recent times that through the Internet many serious family-related problems have been created, and it all happens because of it, and something must be done so they won’t be hurt. And since this touches almost everyone, we must assemble together to protect and be protected, and we hope that through this gathering in search of ideas we will be helped from Heaven to save the many, and may it be that we will be successful in encouraging the public not to stumble over this obstacle, and the Lord will guide us in a truthful path.

We’ll definitely be showing up at the rally, if only to hear more about these “family-related problems.” Probably something more insidious than just Angry Birds at the dinner table, right? But, why Citi Field? Well, the event organizers are expecting quite a show:

“This will be a mass rally never before seen in the history of Orthodox Jewry in the U.S. It will be a gathering of unity of all the Jews living in the U.S., a gathering to disseminate information and a prayer rally for the success of Klal-Israel’s war on the Technology which threatens the sanctity of the homes of Israel.”



Banning ArtScroll Shas on the iPad



“All the Jews” in America sounds a tad ambitious for a turnout goal, but JDN reports that the organizers have managed to raise $1.5 million from “private philanthropists” to produce the event. Just imagine how many iPads that could buy you!

READ MORE:

http://www.betabeat.com/2012/04/27/ultra-orthodox-rally-jews-against-the-internet-04272012/

What's Really Ticking Off Matisyahu Salomon!

Rabbi Salomon Promoting his anti-Internet Gathering May 20, 2012

...Since the Agudath Israel Convention in 2006, where he boldly pounced on a certain unnamed Blogger by claiming "ONE child rapist may have slipped through our fingers"... There have been at the very least, well over 100 arrests of child-rapists in the Orthodox Jewish Community in the USA, and hundreds more in Israel involving thousands of innocent children! His anti-Internet gathering is nothing more than a continuation of the cover-up of child-rapists in the Orthodox Jewish community! ... And now it's personal Matt, because I'm now convinced you're a  filthy fraud!

The passivity of the Catholic Church (and the Orthodox Jewish leadership).....

Editorial Board, TheWashington Post 

By the Catholic Church's reckoning,  it has undergone a sea change since the days when sexual predators in clerical collars sexually abused young boys with scant fear of dismissal, reprimand or even excessive concern by their supervisors. American dioceses have paid billions of dollars in compensation to victims, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued what amounts to a zero-tolerance policy and Pope Benedict XVI has apologized to victims of clergy sexual abuse here and in Ireland.

Yet despite the hierarchy’s insistence that it is investigating and rooting out sex criminals, the church often seems stuck in a defensive crouch. Too often it has failed to move against abusers and those who tolerate them until forced to do so by legal action or the threat of full-blown scandal.

In its reluctance to discipline Catholic leaders who covered up or ignored sex crimes, the church also deepens the impression that it remains focused more on safeguarding its image than protecting victims.

That’s the lesson in the story of the Rev. Bradley M. Schaeffer, for many years one of the most prominent Jesuit leaders in America. As the Boston Globe reported last month, Mr. Schaeffer, as leader of the Jesuits in Chicago in the 1990s, was presented with credible complaints from family members that a priest under his supervision was sexually abusing young boys. The priest, Donald J. McGuire, had been the subject of similar reports going back to the 1960s.

Rather than alerting police or removing Mr. McGuire from any ministry that would have allowed him contact with boys, Mr. Schaeffer sent him for treatment for a sexual disorder — which didn’t work. According to court records, Mr. McGuire continued to prey on boys for years afterward. Convicted by a federal jury in 2008 for molesting a schoolboy, Mr. McGuire is now serving a 25-year prison sentence.

In response to the Globe’s reporting, Mr. Schaeffer said he regretted that in the early 1990s he had not stopped what he called “these horrific crimes.” Yet he went on to become president of the U.S. Jesuit Conference, the largest Catholic order in America, and a board member of major Jesuit institutions, including Georgetown University. He resigned from Georgetown’s board of directors, on which he served as vice chair, shortly after the Globe’s story appeared.

The Schaeffer saga fits an all too familiar pattern of passivity by the church. Worryingly, there are even signs that the church’s passivity has morphed into hostility toward its accusers. In March, the New York Times reported that lawyers for the church have launched a campaign against a group that has championed the victims of pedophile priests, asking courts to force the group to disclose more than 20 years of e-mails. The organization, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, says that the church’s action is a serious threat to its advocacy.

While Catholic leaders insist they have turned the tide against clerical sexual abuse, the church’s behavior suggests that its default is to protect the abusers and their supervisors who turned a blind eye. Until that changes, the church’s promises of zero tolerance will remain an illusion.

 READ MORE: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-passivity-of-the-catholic-church/2012/05/06/gIQAJgAU6T_story.html