Belz approves internet, provides solutions

From Haaretz

"At the beginning of July, Belz, the second-largest Hasidic sect in Israel after the Gur Hasidim, openly declared it was connected to the Internet. The announcements the sect distributed at synagogues in its centers in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem were, in effect, an exhortation to members who need the Internet for purposes of earning a living to use the "kosher" Internet. The message was also received by the greater ultra-Orthodox world to "make the vermin kosher" on the Web - in a supervised way, of course. Thus Belz fomented a revolution, whose outcome is not yet clear. ...... The solution is supervised surfing. Belz representatives recently signed a contract with Rimon Internet, which provides various surfing packages at different levels of "openness," according to the client's requirements. "Thus far the solutions provided in the context of kosher Internet were a closed list of sites, but this has not proven itself," says Kobi Hacker, CEO of Rimon Internet. "We screen the sites, but provide a surfing experience." ....At Belz they know that this solution is not airtight. After all, it is not possible to sift through every single one of the millions of sites that exist in various languages. Therefore, every day an inspector on behalf of the special media committee reviews the sites Hasidim have surfed, and decides whether to approve them. Moreover, a Hasid can pick up the phone to the committee and inform them of a site which he thinks should be be blocked. "   Comment:Finally, a solution! This approach is very different than Ger, see here I was always intrigued by the changes that Belz had undergone since the holocaust. For example, in Europe, Belz strongly opposed vocational training and Tchortkover network of vocational schools (information on both can be found in the Artscroll biographies on Tchortkov and Belz) but nowadays, Belz encourages vocational study for the majority who will not stay in learning. I discussed this with someone who is close to the current Rebbe and he said, "The War changed many things". It is now time for each community to begin to come up with its own solutions to the scourge and the promise of the internet. I have personal knowledge of cases where it has wrecked unimagined destruction and others in which it brought Torah to people and people to Torah.We abandoned or responsibility. We allowed the most powerful tool of modern communication to stomp and damage  in the courtyards of our communities; it is time to bind it and to make it serve us. The Belz solution is only one possible solution; there are, I am certain, many others. What must be done, is to bring a variety of kosher solutions to the market, so that each group adopts and fine-tunes one of them. Ultimately, the approach with the best balance of openness and control will triumph, for each group to adjust to its needs and worldview. It is time to stop wringing our hands and start acting, to tame the beast and to bring its power in line with our religious goals.