The War of Google and MaGoogle

Our wonderful volunteer writer David ben Horin wrote this fantastic piece called Jungle Warfare. I challenged David on a few of his points, which he encouraged me to publish as well. So, right on track with Shovevim,I am excited to present this op-ed response to his brilliant work, which really opened my eyes. I appreciated David’s raw honesty with the situation and his experiences, and especially, how it made David think and feel about his wife and family. 

Everyone talks about the war of GOG and MAGOG at the end of days. What about GOGle and MAGOGle? About the ravages of Internet addiction and pornography? It is a real war out there! As David pushes you – get out there and fight!  

If you don’t get out there and fight, you’re lost. This is the battle for the most important thing there could possibly be – YOUR MIND.  

Drug dealers give you the first couple of “hits” for free. They will give an unsuspecting person a “free” try, or a few. They do this knowing that once they try a few times, Hashem protect us, they will get hooked and start to buy.  

The cigarette companies do exactly the same. They have contests where you get “points” for every pack you buy, and once you have enough “points” you get a prize. Here is what’s disgusting: The prizes are for game-boys, skateboards, and things only teenagers would want. Their ploy is to get kids to smoke enough that they will become addicted.  

Porn works the same way. Researchers took a brain scan of people watching Internet porn and discovered that it is exactly the same as someone smoking crack cocaine – among the most addictive drugs there is.  

This is exactly the reason why surfing unfiltered Internet is absolutely banned by the Rabbis! Not because the Rabbis are clueless and outdated – but because they know that it is impossible to beat this evil, and the stakes of losing for even ONE SPLIT SECOND cannot be tolerated!!! 

Rabbi Arush says that with the Internet, it is possible to sin in one day, more than it was possible to sin in 1,000 years in previous generations. Sin was always available, but it was generally hidden, and expensive. You had to run after it, and even then, how much could you do in one night? It was bad, but there were limits. But with the Internet, there are no limits! You literally burn up the holy neshama – soul – with lust! And to climb out of that abyss is no simple work – assuming the person is left with any desire to even try after so completely and absolutely disconnecting themselves from holiness.  

Rabbi Arush goes further – he says that some young man touches the Internet – by that Shabbat, he is so addicted, that he will even break Shabbat for it!  

Rabbi Arush goes even further and says that someone who uses unfiltered Internet WILL NEVER EVER DO TESHUVAH. 

The spiritual impurity is that strong; no one can get close to it and not get burned. Therefore, if you want someone to do teshuva, first pray that they get rid of the smartphone and the Internet. Only then can you pray for the rest. 

For this reason, use of unfiltered Internet is totally and absolutely banned. Even filtered Internet is allowed only for work use, and only in a fashion that children can never, ever use it. Rabbi Arush brings a Gemara to explain; someone who puts themselves in a position where they could easily sin – even if they withstand the test, they are still called a rasha – an evil person!  

This is especially true with the temptation is being pushed on you, and the images are burned into the brain even as the poor soul tries to close the pop-up, as David so eloquently explained. That image is spiritual destruction!!! Anyone who wants spirituality cannot ever take the risk that they will ever see such a thing – not even once, even for one split second, even against their will. In one instant the mind is burned completely – and something burned completely, is completely lost… 

Even semi-filtered Internet like Rimon in Israel, or self-controlled filters like OpenDNS, are still dangerous, because it is far too easy to get into muddy water if you don’t use the filter at its highest and know what you are doing to protect yourself. Even worse, many filters are far too easy to get around.  

Only the top filters with approval from the Rabbinic Councils that deal with communication is allowed, because those aren’t normal filters hoping to catch everything. It was explained to me once by a tech guy who works at Netvision Kosher Internet: “With Rimon (the basic filter), the question is – what is filtered? With Etrog (the higher level filter that is approved), everything is banned – the question is, what is allowed to get through the filter.” Even Google search is filtered. 

And I want you to know – even with top filters like Etrog, you can do everything you actually need to do. Banking, I look up recipes, Gmail, government websites, etc. Etc. I can do a Google search with no fear of getting results I don’t want to see. I can open my browser with no fear of pop-ups that destroy my life even as I try to close them. I watch Rabbi Arush’s live-streaming lesson every week, thank G-d. I still Skype with my family – and I put up with their complaints that I can’t do Facetime, because it’s worth my life and the life of my family. 

So, in response to David who pushes you to “fight the good fight” – my response is: GET OUT OF THE WAR.  

You cannot win this war! And every loss is a loss of the most important thing you have – your mind, your holiness, your purity, your family, your relationship to Hashem. The stakes are simply too high. 

Get yourself onto one of the approved Internet filters – Etrog, Netiv, or Netfree – NOW. Netiv is even in the US! At the very least, pray about it, and ask Hashem to show you what to do, and reconsider your usage in terms of both content and time.  

You might think that it’s impossible; you can’t live without Facebook, or WhatsApp, or Instagram, or YouTube. But when you disconnect from it, within an incredibly short time you’ll be thinking “How did I live that way? Finally, NOW I am beginning to really live!” Needless to say, not only will you personally benefit, but you’ll be saving your relationship and your kids as well… 

*** 

Rachel Avrahami grew up in Los Angeles, CA, USA in a far off valley where she was one of only a handful of Jews in a public high school of thousands. She found Hashem in the urban jungle of university. Rachel was privileged to read one of the first copies of The Garden of Emuna in English, and the rest, as they say, is history. She made Aliyah and immediately began working at Breslev Israel.  

 
Rachel is now the Editor of Breslev Israel’s English website. She welcomes questions, comments, articles, and personal stories to her email: rachel.avrahami@breslev.co.il.