The Internet and the Kippot Serugot
Haaretz has an article about the role that the internet is having on the kippah serugah, the “knitted-kippah” or National-Religious, community in Israel. Rabbi Yuval Cherlow is interviewed about the effect of the internet on religious authority (see here and here),
According to him, open discussion on Web sites among the religious community undermines certain institutions of authority, especially rabbis: “This is an open discussion, devoid of a supervisory authority. Everything is questioned, everything is open for debate. This is a dramatic change in the religious world. Today religious Zionism doesn’t have an unequivocal authority, and the Internet is largely responsible for this.”
What should the rabbis do about this? Cherlow reckons that they need to begin to redefine their roles. “Our world requires rabbinical leadership of a different kind,” he explains. “Authority does not work on the Web. A rabbi needs to speak of issues with deep content and profound essence to be able to reach people.”
One of the topics discussed in the article is the question of dating and marriage. It seems that Jewish singles and newly married couple all around the world seem to be preoccupied with the same questions. At least in Israel there’s a hit TV show about it.