Hiddush blasts rabbinic ruling against iPhones

Bnei Brak rabbinical court head: It’s no mitzva to return "non-kosher" smartphones that people have left behind. Hiddush CEO responds: It's no mitzva to reject the rule of law.

05/08/2013 12:41

Tags: freedom of religion · rule of law · Bnei Brak · rabbinical court · iphones · smartphones

Students return to the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak after summer vacation for studies leading up to the High Holidays.

Hiddush- Freedom of Religion for Israel strongly criticized the recent legal ruling by an ultra-Orthodox Rabbi in Bnei Brak regarding the obligation to return lost objects to their owners. Rabbi Nissim Karelitz, the head of a rabbinic court in the predominantly Haredi city, ruled that because smartphones are not "Kosher" (due to internet access) the biblical law that requires one to return a lost object does not apply.

The Jersusalem Post reported that while there is serious rabbinic opposition to owning smartphones, many ultra-Orthodox Jews actually have them. There were even reported instances of residents of Bnei Brak who have a smartphone for personal use and own another basic phone (or "Kosher") to use in their communities.

In response to the increased usage of smartphones, there have been several attempts, including this ruling, to stop Haredi residents from using them. One group, called the Committee for the Purification of Telecommunications, launched a publicity campaign to dissuade use of the internet-enabled phones and computers. The banner read, “Here we do not expel the Divine presence, God forbid. Here there is no computer or any device that can receive the Internet or movies,”

“How sad it is that in ancient times, our sages felt compelled to abrogate the Halacha when it came into conflict with moral principles, and now – rabbis feel the need to create new ways in which Jewish law and morality will collide.”

Rabbi Uri Regev, Hiddush CEO, condemned the ruling, emphasizing its illegal nature and the rift it perpetuates between Jewish and civil law in Israel.

"Based on the 1973 Law on Returning Lost Property, Rabbi Karelitz's ruling is completely illegal.This really brings to light a larger issue of the conflict between Halacha and the rule of law."

“How sad it is that in ancient times, our sages felt compelled to abrogate the Halacha when it came into conflict with moral principles, and now – rabbis feel the need to create new ways in which Jewish law and morality will collide,” Regev lamented.

Read the original article on the Jerusalem Post.