Don’t Push Hashem Away!

Continued from Part 1 Who Wants to Become Greek?

But the biggest thing – all this technology isn’t just the advice of Greek culture. It’s mixed with the impurity of Amalek, which is lust and desires of the body. Lust and desires are the opposite of holiness. Hashem commands the Jewish people (Vayikra 19:2): “Be holy because I am holy” in Hebrew:  kedoshim  tihiyu.  It’s one of the 613 commandments! Be holy! 

And if we aren’t holy, then G-d forbid, Hashem leaves the camp. The verse in Devarim 23:15 says “lest Hashem see an ervat dvar and turn away from you.” Ervat dvar means something immodest, some part of the body that is supposed to be covered and isn’t. All the more so, the kind of sins that immodesty can lead to. 

This is literally the advice that the wicked Bilaam gave to Balak after he couldn’t curse the Jews. Since God hates immorality, tempt the Jewish men with beautiful women, and make them sin. Then G-d will “turn away” and leave them, and you can attack with impunity because they will have no Divine protection.  

Technology has gone even farther than what Bilaam recommended – Jewish women are brought into seeing other immodest women and thinking all this is “beautiful” and will bring them love and attention, at least online. This has brought Jewish women to a level of immodesty that other generations couldn’t even imagine in their worst nightmares… sadly even “religious” women are easily drawn into alluring clothing, makeup, fashion, and more. 

Hence, besides being personally dangerous for a person, technology and the sins it causes are immeasurably dangerous for the Jewish people as a whole. Whatever seeming “benefit” comes from these things is not worth the terrible consequences. 

Therefore, Rabbi Arush says the people who refuse to touch a computer or smartphone are the ones bringing the Geula – the Full Redemption – and their merit is protecting us all. That’s another quote from a class given just a couple weeks ago. 

If you ask: “Well, you’re using a computer, and Breslev Israel has accounts on all the social media!” True, but we use them in order to bring emuna to people that the only way we can reach them is with technology. We post reels and videos because if they are already on social media, let’s try to give them emuna! Let’s teach them daat – teach them the real truth! And of course, on computers at the office, far from children, with super strong filters! But we don’t support the technology itself in any way whatsoever. 

G-d forbid to use AI, especially Chat GPT and Claude – new research shows that GPT lies 90% of the time!  

ChatGPT and AI chats have been directly linked to suicides, mental health breakdowns, and severe delusional states (called “AI Psychosis“). Run away from anyone who tells you that you can use AI to help find Hashem or that it has any use in Judaism. It’s like saying that serving idol worship will help you find Hashem… 

Rabbi Arush says in the beginning of The Garden of Emuna that a person must be willing to change 1,000 times a day for the truth. 

OK, so until now you might not have known all this.  

OK, you can’t change overnight. You can’t just break the phone in one minute. 

BUT – recognize that this is the truth. Start asking Hashem to help you pull yourself out of this entanglement. Get something like the Freedom and the LeechBlock apps that can help you break free. Work on getting a strong internet filter, and switching to a regular (non-internet) mobile phone that at least you’re not shlepping the tumah with you wherever you go.  

Rabbi Arush loves smiling, laughing, and jokes. But he isn’t just some nice miracle worker who sings and dances. Emunat chachamim – belief in the tzaddik, belief in Moshe Rabbeinu, belief in the sages of the generation like Rabbi Arush – means that even if we don’t understand – we recognize that the tzaddik knows the truth in Heaven, and we listen. Period. Especially when we don’t understand.  

You can’t pull the good out of the tumah, it’s too powerful.  

As the editor of this website, I will tell you personally that I also struggle with technology. I lose track of time on the screen. Sometimes I wish I could just use WhatsApp, especially since more than half of daily life happens there and you can barely get customer service without it. Yet, I know that following Rabbi Arush’s warning  — much like Mordechai warning the Jewish people not to attend Achashverosh’s feast— is vital. However hard it is, holding the line might just save myself, my family, and the Jewish people. 

According to the difficulty – is the reward! 

*** 

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 the 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.