The hareidi newspapers have decided to stop all advertising for the cellular phone companies until the problem of the inappropriate content services is solved. The decision was made in accordance with a ruling handed down by "The Rabbis Committee of the Torah Giants." So reported leading hareidi newspaper Yated Ne'eman today, and HaModia newspaper and Mishpacha magazine are also "included" in the decision.
The rabbis recently ruled that cell phones represent a spiritual danger, in that they afford easy access to content that stands in contrast to a Torah lifestyle. "The goal is to establish a strong fence," Yated Ne'eman reports, "that will protect the generation of the future, and the community of those who follow Torah, from a grave spiritual blow that is already being felt now and that is expected to get stronger in the coming years. The spiritual dangers are multiplying in keeping with the tremendous investments being made by the cellular companies who wish to take advantage of every means to enrich their coffers by upgrading their content services."
A solution to the problem, say the rabbis, will come in the form of cell phones programmed not to receive content, but to be used only for phone calls.
Yated Ne'eman reported that both hareidi and national-religious media praised the decision - although a representative of at least one of the latter said that no decision had been made. "If our rabbis instruct us not to accept such ads, we won't," he said. "As it is, we don't accept ads for cigarettes, vacations abroad, and businesses that are open on the Sabbath that have competitors that are not [as opposed to, for instance, Ben Gurion International Airport]."
The rabbis recently ruled that cell phones represent a spiritual danger, in that they afford easy access to content that stands in contrast to a Torah lifestyle. "The goal is to establish a strong fence," Yated Ne'eman reports, "that will protect the generation of the future, and the community of those who follow Torah, from a grave spiritual blow that is already being felt now and that is expected to get stronger in the coming years. The spiritual dangers are multiplying in keeping with the tremendous investments being made by the cellular companies who wish to take advantage of every means to enrich their coffers by upgrading their content services."
A solution to the problem, say the rabbis, will come in the form of cell phones programmed not to receive content, but to be used only for phone calls.
Yated Ne'eman reported that both hareidi and national-religious media praised the decision - although a representative of at least one of the latter said that no decision had been made. "If our rabbis instruct us not to accept such ads, we won't," he said. "As it is, we don't accept ads for cigarettes, vacations abroad, and businesses that are open on the Sabbath that have competitors that are not [as opposed to, for instance, Ben Gurion International Airport]."