Smart Phones

In Israel there are two paths for religious people: Dati Leumi and Haredi. Dati Leumi are less religious than the least religious people in Teaneck. I have been to shivas for soldiers from Dati Leumi families in communities that are purported to be more religious and couldn't tell if I was sitting with Torah observant people or not. The men don't necessarily wear yarmulkas. The women wear pants and don't cover their hair. They carry on at the shiva like it's a pub. There are exceptions, particularly Olim from Yeshiva University who were tricked by the rabbis there to move to Israel while those rabbis stayed comfortably in America.

Charedim are no more religious than Yeshivish and Chassidic Jews in Chutz L'Aretz. It's a myth that Jews in Israel are more religious. There are lots of Jews in Monsey and Williamsburg and Monroe who are just as religious as those in Meah She'arim. There might even be more. 

However, the not actually so religious so-called Charedim in Israel generally oppose possession of smart phones, even those with a filter. It's a big thing over here. Israelis are no more religious but they are more militant. Guess why. More important than believing in God is not owing a smart phone.

In Chutz, they are more practical about this matter because it's very hard to function today without one. Everywhere you go you are asked to swipe your phone. Want to park? Swipe it. Want admission to almost anything? Swipe it.

This creates a huge problem for Charedi Olim. If you get a smartphone, your kids get confused because their teachers are pounding into their heads that smart phones are osur, are avodah zara. (Everything they don't like is avodah zara, sheitels for example).

But unless you are able to assimilate totally into Charedi Israeli culture you sit in no-no land. You can't work online. You can't shop online. You can't visit America or Europe and function.

Once again we learn that it is dangerous to change cultures, to turn yourself into an immigrant. No, moving to Israel is not coming home. It's landing your spacecraft on Mars. Do you want to become a Martian?