Title: Torah in a Connected World: A Halakhic Perspective on Communication Technology and Social Media
By: Rabbi Jonathan Ziring
Publisher: Maggid
Torah? Technology? Social Media? I like all three. I happily brought Torah in a Connected World: A Halakhic Perspective on Communication Technology and Social Media with me on vacation, settling in to read some updated halachic information on Covid and enforced distance technology shailahs that had come up. I expected to read about virtual minyanim, Zoom, and giving a get over video teleconference. I anticipated social media questions: What constitutes sharing private information? Is it private if it is a big group but only open to people who are invited or specifically approved to join?
All that was there. But what knocked my socks off about this book was that even the parts I expected to see were nuanced, more complex, and had more analysis and more wide-ranging sources than I expected. As a whole, I was impressed by the scope, the sophistication, the readability, and the willingness to look at a topic from many angles. It all combined into a powerful demonstration of the relevance and richness of the ethical framework the Torah provides for us.
The book asserts, “Halakhists need to approach the issues that challenge every generation. Some argue that the Torah is incapable…of answering new questions that arise in modern society…The simple truth is that for many of the problems that plague modern society, a reasonable halakhic solution can be found in every generation…for one of the foundations of faith is that the Torah is from heaven and that G-d knows all about what will be.”
The author is a scholar of known erudition. He has a way of organizing an overview of Acharonim that gives you a sense of the diversity and vastness of the issues. He categorizes them neatly by different emphases, approaches, or concerns. In some ways, he is unwilling to say, “This is the halacha.” Instead, he spends pages or even a few chapters showing us how varied and wide-ranging an issue is.
Sometimes I felt like I wanted to just “know the halacha.” But this is a book about emerging technologies, and what it offers are points to consider. In the past, Acharonim have discussed similar or even these exact issues (in less up-to-date scenarios). In certain places, though, the author does express clear principles and hashkafos that he is willing to commit to. There are some major meta-halachic ethical elements at play regarding social media, and Rabbi Ziring brings in unexpected and compelling sources and connections to make some creative but undeniable points about ethics and hashkafa.
His chapters on public shaming were probably the most startling and enlightening to me. I was particularly interested in his discussion about the social media campaigns to shame a person into giving a get (divorce document). Before reading this book, it seemed to me that these campaigns are an obviously good thing, an effective way to make it happen. I have not changed my mind about that. However, I was completely unaware of the parameters of cherem (excommunication) – that it was built in to specifically be something that a person could avoid by leaving town. (What about his wife when he leaves town? What about now that we live in a global world?) I strongly recommend this section as it gave me so much to think about.
A fascinating halachic-historical tidbit is that Rav Schmelkes (Shu”t Beit Yitzchak) in the 1860s, based on sci-fi fiction, anticipated the invention of “a telephone or teletascope machine in which one can also see the speaker’s image through a photograph” and discusses the implications for giving a get using this technology.
Another interesting question and exploration was about the concept of the “LOR” (local Orthodox rabbi). Globalization, people holding by their roshei yeshiva, and the telephone have all affected “local” psak. What is a halachic community? Is it defined by physical boundaries anymore? “The ease of communication allows and encourages the creation of ideological communities in general, and this expresses itself in who is given halakhic authority,” Rabbi Ziring writes. This also has implications for “your town first” in terms of giving tzedakah.
One aspect of social media is how public and viral information can become. Consider this: “Traditionally, poskim could feel comfortable issuing rulings for individuals, without assuming that every word they said would become globally known. However, every posek now knows that within minutes, his position can be publicized to the world via social media. This will often constrain poskim from issuing rulings that they feel are right for an individual, but not for the global community. [Rabbi Shlomo Brody] wrote this in the context of the sensitive issue of women wearing tefillin.” Take the case of a private letter between poskim during the 1982 war against Lebanon, about whether or not the Israeli Army was obligated to leave one side of the city open so residents could flee (Rambam Hilchot Melachim 6:7), basing the determination on whether this war was defined as reshus (optional) or mitzvah (mandatory). The letter became public, and then a debate ensued about whether or not it was appropriate to publicize this letter.
This reminded me very much of the huge controversy this past year when Rabbi Yoni Rosensweig published on an extremely controversial psak on Facebook about spouses in niddah hugging before going off to war. Everyone on both sides (more liberal and more frum) went ballistic. In fact, this persuaded Rabbi Rosensweig to no longer discuss specific halachic rulings in public. I can certainly understand his decision after the firestorm that went on relentlessly. However, I cannot help but think that the klal is the poorer for us not being able to conduct a civil conversation about controversial psakim, and this is how important halachic and emotional conversations get shut down. As a result, struggling Jews who could benefit from hearing both sides of the issue, or struggling Jews who could benefit from hearing that the opposite of what they’ve been taught is a legitimate halachic position in Torah, no longer have the opportunity to be exposed to these rulings. But I suppose we can also view this as a merit that the Jewish people are so intensely passionate about Torah.
The few areas I’ve cited do not do justice to the meat and potatoes of this book. It is hard to imagine how much there is to talk about halachically. I was very surprised by how much there is to say and how interesting and relevant it all is. This book displays a breadth of knowledge and sources, impressive organization, and engaging examples and cases. Many issues have halachic ramifications that I wouldn’t have imagined.
On top of all that, we are reminded that Rabbi Ziring is, at heart, a mensch, which is essentially what the Torah and halacha are there to help us strive for. After an entire technical halachic discussion, he advises: “General principles like ‘Don’t do to others what you would not want done to yourself’ are applicable in almost every area of life…even when a technical problem is difficult to pinpoint.”
