Tilting at Windmills? My attempt to make sense of the Asifa.

It was like sausage being made. Having seen all the rumors and alleged plans going on over the past few weeks, being the curious sort, and frankly wondering if there was indeed anything for me to learn, a friend and I decided to see that sausage. Would the message be that we can't live with the internet, we can't live without it? What would the mood of the crowd be? Did they really sell it out? Also, I knew that whatever would happen it would literally be historic. Would I have missed a chance to witness the Michalowitz conference in 1866? Not on your life. Finally, I honestly wanted to know how I would feel there, in a gathering that in an earlier phase of my life I may have felt fairly at home in.

So we made our way to Citi Field, and witnessed something that was far more subdued than the Beatles in Shea in 1965, true, but possibly far more interesting - in a meta sense. In fact, I think many people would say that it was rather quite boring concerning the nitty gritty details. But it wasn't about the details, really. So without further ado, I will now proceed to recount the details!

Throngs of people were calmly waiting their turn for security screening. Once inside, you were handed a branded Ichud Hakehillos goodie bag, consisting of a bottle of water, a plastic cup, a Stern's chocolate danish, a little bag of Bloom's pretzels, ineffective binoculars, and two printed pamphlets; one containing an interlinear translation of the second part of kaddish, beginning with amen, yehei shemei rabbah, Yiddish and English. The other was a copy of the tefillas ha-Sheloh. The bag was a nice gesture. A lot of people seemed to have a kuntres called Ha-internet be-halacha, but I couldn't tell if my bag was just defective, or if they were being distributed or sold (yeah, right) elsewhere. Eventually I saw someone put one down near a drinking fountain. I asked him if it was his, and he said I could have it. It consists of eight simanim. 1.  Is there a halachic obligation to filter one's computer? 2. Is there a prohibition of yichud on Skype or a Webcam? 3. Can a kinyan be enacted over the internet, such as for a sale of chametz? 4. If someone sends someone else a virus, is he liable to pay for the damage it causes? 5. Is using another's wifi without permission stealing? 6. Is it permissible to download and collect music? 7. Can one allow his internet business, such as ebay, accrue sales over shabbos? 8. On web sites in Israel which update on shabbos, can one read it after shabbos? In 300 years I guarantee that this will be a quality collectible sefer.

First of all - it was a full house. This was no Million Man March with 110,000 people. It was full. Score one - a big one - for the Ichud Hakehillos Letohar Hamachane (which actually sounds as odd in the original as it does in English, something unusual for rabbinic idiomatic language, which generally sounds perfectly fine in  rabbinic Hebrew). One of the things I really wanted to get a sense of was, what was the mood of the crowd? It was hard to say. It was certainly not mournful, but neither was it especially jubilant. No one looked very annoyed to be there, that I could tell, but no one seemed excited.  I did hear a fair share of quasi-cynical comments all night, but really only very mild ones. Also, half the place was texting and emailing all night. By half I of course mean something like 5-10%. There was an awful lot of texting going on. At one point one of the speakers was speaking and the camera picked up a guy on his iphone and everyone could see this on the big screen - lots and lots and lots of iphones all around. No one was hiding them, and I think that is the main point. They are facts of life.

Mincha began 45 minutes late, but of course that's to be expected. It seemed like quite a few people davened early, presumably because they did not expect to be there at 6:30. They could have waited. In any case, at some point some unspecified person grabbed the mike and told us that al pi hora'as ha-gedolim this revolution will not be broadcast online. Then we recited 5 kapitlach tehillim; #s 51, 41, 102, 130 and 133. Look them up. I almost hesitate to mention this, because in a way it's shallow, and it's also besides the point. But I think it bears mentioning. The leader in the recitation had, well, a kind of terrible voice. Now I realize that substance over style is more important, but I think this is kind of a comment on the lack of aesthetic appreciation which seems to be current in Chareidi society. There is a concept of hiddur, and one of the qualifications for a shaliach tzibbur is to have a nice voice. It's not finicky artists who say this. This is in the codes. It may not be the main thing, but it is not nothing.

The evening's emcee, Rabbi Ephraim Wachsman, began in Yiddish. He was talking about the tough challenges. A simultaneous translation was being typed on the big screen as he spoke. Unfortunately the person they employed was not fully up to the task, see my note about aesthetics above, for just as Rabbi Wachsman mentioned the "shver nisyonos," "the harsh challenges," the caption read "that have bee set us." I was not the only one to notice, as I distinctly heard some snickers. What a pity. Substance over style, yes. But wouldn't it have been fairly simple to get someone who would have written "beset us?" And there was more of this all night. At this point, Rabbi Wachsman apologized because he was going to switch over and speak in the "sefas medina," the State Tongue, "Ainglish." And that is just what Rabbi Wachsman, who is a masterful orator and a darshan did. He began mentioning the "dangers of the internet," which was what I was waiting to hear. It seems like the euphemism "technology" was used in a lot of the buzz prior to the event.   Would the word actually be mentioned? Yes indeed.

At this point, according to my notes, I noticed that the Cholula Hot Sauce ads surrounding the big screen had large white canvases hanging on them blocking a part of the bottle. I was curious what was on the bottle. Here it is:

Rabbi Wachsman began quoted a Rambam about the very negative repercussions of departing from the congregation, and said that people who are otherwise okay must know that they "cannot repudiate 40,000 Yidden." The crowd has spoken. The Rambam says that if you disagree with this then you have no share in the World To Come. אם בקשת ליחנק היתלה באילן גדול?

Then Rabbi Wachsman delivered the first of several conciliatory messages. It is clear that unlike some other speakers, he has a real sense of people and things happening outside his immediate environs. He said that a message must be delivered, we must also "speak to our brethren." At this point he began speaking in more English. He mentioned Mount Sinai, the Oral Tradition. (Watching the faces of the Chassidishe rebbes was interesting.) Then he said that people ought to realize that the media will be covering this event. Frankly, we don't need media coverage, but they are covering it. We don't consider media attention an accomplishment: "even a bank robber" gets media attention! Then he said we are a holy people, a chosen people, even though we, admittedly, sometimes fail. Then he delivered a paean to the holy tefilos of Jewish mothers as they light candles on Friday night, and recalled that our tradition is to cover our 3 year old boys as we take them to cheder for the first time. Then, he said that we "cherish this great country which has been good for us, and done a tremendous force for good all around the world" - my paraphrase, but very close - but he urged that the United States should please "come to your senses, come to your senses" - regarding gay marriage (although I don't remember precisely what he said, and he obviously didn't say "gay marriage").

Next a certain rebbe from Montreal spoke. Let's say he was not the 1st rate darshan that Rabbi Wachsman was, and I will not mention the rumor a$ to why he was given such a prime spot. He spoke in mamme loshn, rather than sefas hamedinah. My correspondent at Arthur Ashe Stadium later told me that there was no translation for the Yiddish speeches there, which led to a great deal of restlessness. The rebbe began by mentioning the talmidim of the Chasam Sofer who took the initiative to oppose and separate from the bad things, like haskalah. He then referred to "Tzionisten," which the translator promptly gave as "the ism which sought to substitute the Land of Israel for the Land of Torah." His motif was "Mi Lashem Elai," Moshe's clarion call, "Whoever is for the Lord, join me!" He then said that in all the earlier challenging periods, we knew who the enemy was. Today they are disguised and are not discernible. He then said that baalebatim sometimes say that the rabbis don't really know the internet ('terNET is how he pronounced it) and therefore don't understand the challenge. This may be true, he said, that we don't know the internet. But we know about the crying fathers who present us with the bad results of the internet. Then he said that the only heter for using the internet is for parnassah, and only with a filter. ("Can't live with it, can't live without it?") He said that some people had ridiculed the event, they say that there just is nothing that can be done about the challenge of the internet. But those who don't mock, Hashem will ensure that they have good children. He then began to quote Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman's restatement of the argument for design (spilled ink on paper), and the inept translator promptly wrote "Rebbe Wasserman the great great dot dot." Hm. He was speaking for a long time, for it was at this point that I began counting people in blue shirts (which I decided to define as non-white). I wasn't the only one who was distracted, as someone began passing notes up to him telling him his time is up, and it apparently reached the point where his chevra surrounded him to make sure that he was not removed from the podium.

Rabbi Wachsman then returned and, basing himself on a Tana De-vei Eliyahu, quoted the Opatow Rebbe, saying that when a group of 20,000 gather they have the strength of Avraham Avinu. Thus, when 40,000 gather they have the strength of two Avraham Avinus. In case it was not clear, the speakers seemed to again and again promote the idea that the medium is the message. We are united. Although we've got no weapons in our arsenal, because of this gathering we are strong. It's all about this, the gathering. He referred to the isms, Communism, Haskalah, Tziyonus (audible groans, at least near me). He then said "we will determine what Yiddishkeit will look like a few years from now." The internet "is no longer a tool or a device. It is a culture. It is a psychology. A way of life." He reminded us that "heimishe yungerleit and frauein" are ensnared in "social media" which is "the technological equivalent of the dor hamabul." Speaking of these lost souls, he expounded on the gemara that everyone can do teshuva, besides Acher (Elisha ben Avuya). He asserted that you can see the ruin "in the eyes of yungerleit." Can't we see that "people are changing?" We "gave the world a Yirmiyah, a Rambam, a Chasam Sofer." Who are we becoming? "Yentayachna.com." End quote. 

He continued that the internet is about the superficial, the lack of focus, the instant, and that even secular sources are bemoaning this, decrying that children are becoming "click-vegetables." He then delivered what was a truly conciliatory message: even these "brazen" people, the people the internet ruined, are still acheinu benei yisrael, our brothers, and Hashem loves "you." Yes, he said this. If no one else reports it, he still said it. He then spoke about how this is simply the biggest challenge the Jews have ever faced, and we are weaker than all our predecessors. Yet, he said, even one step forward can make a difference. Even though "the webbed mind has to struggle to understand Torah," what if a person is determined to have "an internet massechta," instead of wasting X amount of time online, he takes that time and completes a Talmudic tractate? He said that someone told him that he was passing some kind of obscene billboard on the way to work every day, and he determined that every time he chose not to look, he would give himself $1. In no time at all - (if you do the math it would have had to have been a considerable amount of time) - he accumulate $2000, and bought himself an awesome silver menorah. Transforming tumah to taharah. He referred to the internet as a "kli mashchis," a "destructive vessel." He bemoaned the "billions of hours and dollars" which went into producing and maintaining the internet. Then he made a most interesting comment: Even if, he said, we have lost the 25 - 35 year olds! - and maybe we haven't - that doesn't mean we have to lose the 0 - 20s. He feels that the Chareidim have been retreating (!) and there can be no more retreating. It is time to arise like a lioness. This garnered, for the first time, applause.

Then he said (claimed? hoped?) that "there are thousands here tonight who have no shaychas to internet. Don't think that only a black hatter in Lakewood, or a man in a shtreimel in Williamsburg can do without. Even a Yid in a blue shirt can!" (This prompted me to count blue shirts once more, and also collected kippot of various sorts as well). Then he began to say something which I was starting to get excited about, but I didn't realize what he was going to mean. He said there are other forms of entertainment. Was he about to acknowledge that people need leisure and entertainment? Was he going to suggest walks with children? But then he continued - and we eschew these entertainments. Which Yid hunts? Do you have or want a moose head in your living room? No, you hang pictures of gedolim! In other words, don't think you need Netflix - you already don't partake in many alternative things which you have no desire for. You can do it with the internet too. You can scale back. 

The fact is, Rabbi Wachsman provided the most realistic approach. I no longer recall if he also reiterated that the internet is only permitted for business and with a filter, but even if he did, it was pretty clear that he was under no illusion about what people do, and was really trying to promote a lessening of use and dependence on the internet. At point he had also mentioned that people who give their 11 or 12 year old kids internet access, or an ipod, are crazy. He wisely and realistically pointed out that if someone had given him an ipod when he was 11 years old he would immediately have hacked that thing.

Next came the Skulener Rebbe, who had been alleged to have been one of the rabbis who called for the event to take place. The rebbe is quite aged and apparently somewhat weak, and he could barely talk. But he was clearly very, very passionate about the event and the message and summoned up much strength. Since he could barely speak in an audible voice, he had a meturgeman with him, who repeated everything he said. Again, in reality substance is supposed to trump style, but what can I say? The man who repeated his speech for twenty minutes had the voice of a cartoon character. Again, this is not the message, but these are things which could be avoided, even if the man is his gabbai or whomever. R. Elya Ber Wachtfogel was sitting next to him and looked embarrassed, or maybe pained. You could see the Skulener's passion and that he was genuinely moved, and he spoke a lot about the milachama with the klipos. He referrred to the internet as chochmas behemos (which the intrepid translator rendered as "subhuman"). He noted that an animal looks down to the ground, whereas humans can raise their head to look at things on high.

At 9:15 the Asifa received a telephone call from Rav Wosner, a true living legend. His face appeared on screen next to the caption: hagaon ha-adir posek ha-dor ba'al shevet ha-levi shlita, "the mighty gaon, halachic decisor of this generation, author of  the responsa Shevet Halevi, may he live long," and his purpose was apparently to lay down the law. He spoke in Yiddish, and no translation appeared for 5 or 6 minutes. While people began to get really, really restless and get up to walk around or go home, the Shevet Halevi restated that the internet is just assur for anything besides business, with a filter, and he added that if a child has the "mashchis internet" access at home then he should be expelled from yeshivos. I honestly and truly felt that it was a terrible choice in timing because, you know, people were walking up and going home while Rav Wosner was speaking! But at this point my chavrusa decided he had enough, and we also made the strategic decision to go home.

I know there were other speakers, I know that some guy streamed the whole thing live, but I will just read what others say they said. The bottom line? There was a major, major disconnect from reality. In Rabbi Wachsman's case maybe it was major, rather than major, major. As I said, people were using their smartphones all night. Openly. Does anyone think they were conducting business? "Buy 1000 shares of Faceschmutz!" Everyone uses it. No one is going to stop. In five years, more, not less people will be online.  I was thinking about that, and I realized that the insular life depends upon free choice as much as coercion. Thirty or forty years ago, people were still largely choosing the insular life. But they had large families, and not all of the children would or will choose it. People who wanted to be part of something, and were willing to not own a television and not read newspapers had children and grandchildren who never asked for that. They can't even ban it in China - the only people who can be kept away from the internet are those who will freely choose to eschew it.

Perhaps some will take the healthy message to heart that they should while away less time online. There were flashes of inspiration. It was a nice crowd. I felt fine there. I'm sure plenty of people would have thought that they were watching a Fascist rally, but I didn't, which was interesting to note about myself and how I would feel. I guess I just felt like it didn't affect me? After all, my kids are not going to be subjected to Rav Wosner's ruling. Was it ironic, and perhaps apt, that it took place the very week that the proverbial you-know-what began to hit the fan, as the six years of not facing up to our own abuse scandal finally really began to get serious coverage, fueled of course by the tumeneh mashchis, and that it is not going to be wished away or disappear? Yes. 

My email companion on the outside asked me at one point to scale it, 1 to 10, in terms of weirdness. I had no answer. I replied, I will have to tell you later.