Jewish schools ban Internet [View All]

LAKEWOOOD, N.J. -- Like so many Americans, Mesh Gelman relies on the Internet for work. But in a move that's likely to complicate his business in international trade, he plans to unplug his home computer from the wired world, shutting out all that's good--and bad--about the Web. Gelman's reasoning is simple: His religious leaders have told him to do so.

The father of four is a member of Lakewood's tight-knit Orthodox Jewish community, whose leaders have declared that Internet access should be removed from homes with school-age children to better protect them from sexual images online.

It is more than a suggestion. The community's policy--formed with the principals of the area's 43 yeshivas, or Jewish private schools, and unveiled in late September--decrees that any student with home access faces suspension or expulsion on the grounds that even one Internet-corrupted student could sway others.

Rabbi Moshe Weisberg, who has long discussed the dangers of the Web with other Lakewood rabbis, said children are not mature enough to use the Internet and are susceptible to sites sexual in nature, either openly or subtly so.

"Kids can become addicted to the point where it's almost like a drug addiction or an alcoholic addiction," said Weisberg, who runs a social-services agency in Lakewood. "Even though there might be some value--research, schoolwork--the negatives so far outweigh the positives."


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