An article about the ultra-Orthodox in Israel who, among other things, have *kosher phones*

[conuly]

Well, it's their choice to restrict their lives, can't criticize them for that, however odd I find it.

But what's interesting is the segue about the "kosher" web browser.

"If your kid puts 'banana' into Google, some of the first sites he'll get are porn," explains Chairman Moshe Weiss. "Put banana into Google on Rimon, and you get all the same sites without the porn."

You know, I've heard this argument about diapers as well, and, just to check, I went over to google and put in "banana".

Well, I have no filters on my Google, and my default is to show 100 results per page, and on that first page - no porn. None at all. Not any. If I were looking for porn, I'd be sorely disappointed right now.

Of course, I was searching in English. I suppose it's possible that your average Israeli on the street is just a lot more depraved than I am...?

Comments

[prezzey.livejournal.com]

I will surprise you. Click for the screenshot! (http://www.mandeep.hu/~prezzey/misc/banana.png)

(with that being said, I still think he was explicitly looking for an innocuous-sounding keyword that led to a porn site.)

[conuly]

Unbelievable. Searching in Hebrew really is pervier than searching in English. Who'da thunkit?

Though you still have to intentionally do that with safe-search off, right?

[prezzey.livejournal.com]

It was on moderate filtering, the default setting... I didn't change it. Lesseee......

If I set it to the highest setting it indeed filters TEH SECKS out. Hmmmm, I see a market gap! Introductory Internet courses for Orthodox Jews :P

[pne.livejournal.com]

I remember browsing through Wikipedia, as I sometimes do, and finding several devices some Jews use to "get around" (or so it seems to me) laws. (The eruv for carrying and the sabbath elevator are ones I can recall right now.)

The whole thing left me rather bemused - it seemed like sticking to the letter of the law while violating the spirit. It seemed to me as if they were saying that the inconvenience the law creates is large enough to justify breaking it, but then, why not go the whole hog and do it openly rather than indirectly?

[conuly]

A lot of things about religious practice leaves me bemused, but I figure it makes perfect sense to the people to whom it applies.

[calieber.livejournal.com]

Must all Jewish law now be subsumed under the rubric "kosher"? Also, isn't isolating yourself from the secular world at odds with tikkun olam?

[conuly]

1. I'm not sure that the BBC knows the specific term, or trusts their readers will know.

2. Uh... maybe? I'm not Jewish, please explain?

[calieber.livejournal.com]

Culturally, Italian is close enough. Ahem. Tikkun olam means "improving the world," often considered an ethical obligation of Judaism. Striving to improve the world is possibly the last vestige of Jewish identity I have.

[conuly]

I'm not Italian!

Let's see...

My mother is half Belgian, half Russianish. Her father grew up in Boston, her mother is from Belgium. My mother grew up all over NYC

My dad is from Texas. His family has been in the South since before the Revolution.

I grew up in NYC. Spent the years between 3-10 in Bensonhurst (very Italian neighborhood - when I was a kid, our neighbors on either side spoke Italian in the home), then moved to Staten Island where everytime I meet somebody they comment that they're from Brooklyn. Where? Bensonhurst! Inevitably. Or sometimes Bay Ridge.

But "improving the world" sounds like a wonderful catch-all ethical obligation, and yes, I suspect that isolating yourself is probably not helping you accomplish that goal very well.

[prezzey.livejournal.com]

I will surprise you. Click for the screenshot! (http://www.mandeep.hu/~prezzey/misc/banana.png)

(with that being said, I still think he was explicitly looking for an innocuous-sounding keyword that led to a porn site.)

[conuly]

Unbelievable. Searching in Hebrew really is pervier than searching in English. Who'da thunkit?

Though you still have to intentionally do that with safe-search off, right?

[prezzey.livejournal.com]

It was on moderate filtering, the default setting... I didn't change it. Lesseee......

If I set it to the highest setting it indeed filters TEH SECKS out. Hmmmm, I see a market gap! Introductory Internet courses for Orthodox Jews :P

[pne.livejournal.com]

I remember browsing through Wikipedia, as I sometimes do, and finding several devices some Jews use to "get around" (or so it seems to me) laws. (The eruv for carrying and the sabbath elevator are ones I can recall right now.)

The whole thing left me rather bemused - it seemed like sticking to the letter of the law while violating the spirit. It seemed to me as if they were saying that the inconvenience the law creates is large enough to justify breaking it, but then, why not go the whole hog and do it openly rather than indirectly?

[conuly]

A lot of things about religious practice leaves me bemused, but I figure it makes perfect sense to the people to whom it applies.

[calieber.livejournal.com]

Must all Jewish law now be subsumed under the rubric "kosher"? Also, isn't isolating yourself from the secular world at odds with tikkun olam?

[conuly]

1. I'm not sure that the BBC knows the specific term, or trusts their readers will know.

2. Uh... maybe? I'm not Jewish, please explain?

[calieber.livejournal.com]

Culturally, Italian is close enough. Ahem. Tikkun olam means "improving the world," often considered an ethical obligation of Judaism. Striving to improve the world is possibly the last vestige of Jewish identity I have.

[conuly]

I'm not Italian!

Let's see...

My mother is half Belgian, half Russianish. Her father grew up in Boston, her mother is from Belgium. My mother grew up all over NYC

My dad is from Texas. His family has been in the South since before the Revolution.

I grew up in NYC. Spent the years between 3-10 in Bensonhurst (very Italian neighborhood - when I was a kid, our neighbors on either side spoke Italian in the home), then moved to Staten Island where everytime I meet somebody they comment that they're from Brooklyn. Where? Bensonhurst! Inevitably. Or sometimes Bay Ridge.

But "improving the world" sounds like a wonderful catch-all ethical obligation, and yes, I suspect that isolating yourself is probably not helping you accomplish that goal very well.