Month: December 2016 – י״ט בכסלו תשע״ז

‘The Internet Shiur’

The Internet Shiur is a discussion of critical information every Orthodox Jew needs to know about the internet. It provides a comprehensive worldview as well as specific technologies and detailed tips to enable safer internet usage. Featuring Rabbi Gil Student and organized together with Dovid Teitelbaum, this lecture gives you the ability to take control of your and your children’s internet experience.

Is the internet lechatchilah or bedieved, meaning is it a positive opportunity or a necessary evil? Should you let your children access the internet? Should you give them mobile devices? Can a man and woman who are not married communicate online? What do you do about the shmutz on the internet? All this and much more are addressed in The Internet Shiur.

The Internet Shiur is a six-part lecture. Search for the words “the internet shiur” on Torah Musings to find it, or see it directly on YouTube, here.

Another Russian Hack?

The Charedi scribbler Cross Currents site is down, which means Hyehudi‘s links to them won’t work for now. The writers are, eh, Currently Cross. This is from the HomePage:

Yes, a hacker intruded. No, it’s not related to anything recently published by us (at least, as far as we can tell).

Over a week ago, we detected a hacker intrusion (and we must thank the alert reader who first found signs of it). We performed multiple scans using multiple WordPress security scanning tools, and thought we had cleared the infection.

Sadly this is not the case, and we must determine how a Russian hacker was able to assume the identity of a user or moderator without knowing the passwords — ideally, before making Cross-Currents available to the public again.

Wait. How do you know it’s “a Russian hacker”? Freudian slip? Probably the same way Obama knows how Wikileaks got some records of Clinton crimes, and for the very same reason: he doesn’t.

They say it’s “not related to anything recently published by us”. If they deny being the neocon blood mongers for WWIII between the US and Russia that they are, how do they pretend to think the Russians would try to down them?

They are now asking for money, of course. Will you give it to them?

Update: They are back now. Still unrepentant, and still looking for a handout.

Brisker Burbles Against the Brain

The Brisker school of Torah is explicitly against trusting our intellect. They say: Don’t ask ‘Why’ but ‘What’. Likewise: “A deficiency of explanation shows a lack in comprehension”.

Rabbi Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik once said “our” generation was not a “Dor”, but a “dor’aleh”. Of course, this kind of solipsism can and might have been used in (or against), any generation whatsoever throughout history, from Adam to the last man standing. Why the arbitrary cut-off point? Speak for yourself.

For those who think this shows wisdom, Shlomo cries:

אל תאמר מה היה שהימים הראשונים היו טובים מאלה כי לא מחכמה שאלת על זה

Note the hypocrisy: He was not undermining medicine or physics. In all secular arenas of knowledge and endeavor, we are to trust our powers of deduction and speed right ahead. Only when it comes to Judaism are we to cloak ourselves with false humility and shy away from using our God-given brain. The Brisker counsel of despair does not affect sins, only virtues.

By the way, the above “dor’aleh” statement was in reference to the Chazon Ish; after his passing “we” were less than human. But anyone who knows real history knows Rabbi Soloveitchik fought an invisible war against everything about the Chazon Ish and his students, including after his death (and his family\followers never stopped, either).

And the historical Chazon Ish never said anything like this, forever giving Torah encouragement to all.