n a responsum to a reader published on Sunday in the ultra-Orthodox daily newspaper Yated Ne’eman, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky said that “it is forbidden to be in possession of [an iPhone], and one must burn it”; this despite the fact that the reader, a business-owner, said it was “crucial for [his] dealings.”
And lest a contrite Jewish smartphone owner think to hawk his device on eBay and pocket the cash, Kanievsky also warned that it is forbidden to sell the phone to a non-Jew, “just as it is forbidden to sell a weapon to a non-Jew.”
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What? An iPhone is not kosher?
It is an over-priced piece of crap, sure, but I doubt it offends your tribal god. Find another reason to hate it, please.
"And the Lord God said "Jacob have I loved, and iPhone have I hated"."
Wait, that's not in the Torah.
I'm beginning to think that ultra-orthodox Jews are about as backwards as Amish people.
Where in the Talmud does it say "Thou shalt not possess an iPhone, for it is an abomination?" I guess God's an Android man.
Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky said that “it is forbidden to be in possession of [an iPhone], and one must burn it”
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Catholic Archbishop Carlson: 'My apologies, your Holiness, I'll just put you on hold; What's that, Rabbi? Don't you know by now, there's an App for that ?!'
[/smartarse]
Moral: Get with the times, Chaim, you putz . You certainly rely on your IDF to have the very latest miltary technology ; especially communications - even satellite phones, do you not...?
[/smartarse II]
The Head of the Church of England ('Defender of the Faith', and all that jazz), Queen Elizabeth II has no problem with new technologies, neither:
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Years ago, she supervised the alteration of all royal vehicle engines, with catalytic converters. Seeing as - in WWII as a driver in the ATS - Princess Elizabeth was trained in vehicle mechanics. She also personally supervises the layout & oversees the updating of all content on the Buckingham Palace website.
The regular Israelis should kick these bozos to the curb! They should be banned from being in Israeli government! They don't pay taxes, they mooch off the system, they're uneducated, they don't contribute anything, they don't even believe the country should exist (I agree with anti-Zionism but their reasons for it are not the same as sane people). Why should the Israeli government give a bunch of dim-witted, JudeoFundie, welfare-cheats who don't work, pay taxes & hate the country ANY LEGIT POSITION IN THEIR GOVERNMENT?!
"In a responsum to a reader published on Sunday in the ultra-Orthodox daily newspaper Yated Ne’eman, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky said that 'it is forbidden to be in possession of [an iPhone], and one must burn it'"
So, of course, you can show exactly where it's forbidden to own an iPhone, right?
Either that or the good Rabbi just recently purchased a large quantity of Microsoft stock and wants everyone purchase Windows phones instead.
"And lest a contrite Jewish smartphone owner think to hawk his device on eBay and pocket the cash, Kanievsky also warned that it is forbidden to sell the phone to a non-Jew, 'just as it is forbidden to sell a weapon to a non-Jew.'"
Rabbi, you're making the rest in your profession look bad. Please stop.
Doing reconnaissance...
1. Here, iPhone is a catch-all for smartphones in general. Neither Android nor Nokia are getting off of this one in Kanievsky's view.
2. Here's the rationale:
In May, 60,000 ultra-Orthodox American Jews gathered at the Citi Field baseball stadium in New York, where they were told by leading rabbis that home internet usage was forbidden, and that even those who thought they needed Web access at work should try to avoid using it, as the urge to go online was likely the nagging of the “evil inclination.”
So it's the smartphones' internet capability that Kanievsky is condemning. I have a hunch it's to do with the idea that the ultra-Orthodox ought to shun those not of their order whenever possible--abjuring communication, even passive communication, included.
@Leighton: The quote gets attributed to whichever site the submitter is getting the text from. Sometimes it's not possible to link to the original source, either because it's from a barred site like YouTube or because the quote wasn't originally published on a fundie site, such as in this case, where very anti-technology ultra-Orthodox are not going to have their own website. Don't automatically take the sourcing as a slight on the source, as it's often progressive sources reporting on fundies.
they were told by leading rabbis that home internet usage was forbidden
Huh? From what I've been told, God has over 6,000,000,000 friends on his Facebook account. But rumor has it he steals other people's wifi.
From the Guide to Fundie Beliefs - Why We Shouldn't Use iPhones or the Internet - or why God likes us stupid:
"God told them not to eat the Magic Fruit or they would die. The couple was greeted by a talking snake. Telling them that the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge wouldn’t kill them but would actually make them smarter, he talked the woman into eating its fruit. Then she used her cheap, slutty feminine tricks to cajole Adam into eating it, too; so it was all her fault. Suddenly, they knew right from wrong and realized they shouldn’t go around in the nude, embarrassing the animals. Even though the humans had no knowledge of right and wrong until after they ate the fruit, eating the fruit made God really mad, because it meant they weren’t stupid anymore. So He kicked them out of the garden so they couldn’t eat from the other tree and took the snake’s legs away from him*."
* Since snakes still had legs back in those days, it’s not clear how they knew it was a snake and not a lizard.
I am reminded of the "Sabbath telephone" I saw in Bill Maher's Religulous .
Under Talmudic law, it's forbidden for an Orthodox Jew to do anything even resembling work, any time between sunset on Friday and sunset on the next day (Saturday). "Work" has been ruled to include the pressing of any buttons, turning of knobs, or turning of dials.
So, how does an observant Jew make a phone call on Saturday, if he's not allowed to press any buttons? Simple! He gets himself a "Sabbath phone" ! This phone has a standard grid of numeric buttons, but it also has a mechanical "finger" positioned above each button that's always trying to press the button. A second mechanical finger, however, is always sticking out and preventing the first finger from touching the button. By sticking a pencil into the hole next to the button, you interfere with the second finger, which allows the first finger to press the button for you. Do it 7 times, and voila! The phone has dialed a number without you "pressing" anything.
Wait, so communications technology is taboo to this particular variety of Jew but arms dealing is okay?
Does this make sense to anyone or have I misread something majorly?
Ultra Orthodox anything is generally not good.
Being constantly on a war footing for seventy years tends to produce neurosis.
The fundies found in Israel are especially scary.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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