QUESTION
What did the Rav mean in the recent response about how we should respond to the war that began on Simchas Torah 5784 which included “keeping a distance from bringing any kind of newspaper into the house” – did the Rav mean the secular papers or even the Chareidi newspapers?
ANSWER
Is there any tamim (simple G-d fearing Jew) today who really thinks that there is such a thing as a Chareidi paper?
There are papers that are completely chiloni/secular, and then there are papers which are halfway, a third, or a quarter of the way secular. Some of the papers today that are called “Chareidi newspapers” are not even owned by a Chareidi Jew, and even the ones that are owned by a Chareidi Jew are still not appropriate reading material for a Chareidi Jew. If someone doesn’t understand this, his eyes are blinded from seeing properly!!!
We are living in a generation where there are those who are dressed like religious Jews but they are not really religious Jews at all, owning completely non-kosher devices that’s open to the world, and the like. And in some cases, these are the writers of the articles of the newspapers that Chareidi Jews are reading – and it is these writers who are the ones responsible/overseeing the material.
We need to understand that we are living in a generation which Chazal called “a generation entirely guilty”. There are few tzaddikim in our generation, and of them Chazal said “Hashem saw that the tzaddikim will be few, so He spread them out all the generations – but these tzaddikim are not from the generation. It is only the writings of these tzaddikim that we should be reading and discussing – and nothing else!!!
And besides, the newspapers are filled with the products that are closely related to idol worship, denial of G-d, murdering others by shaming them publicly, and material about illicit relationships. They are all about spreading material that’s the opposite of kedushah (holiness) and tzniyus (modesty), as well as many other Torah prohibitions.
