I only read them rarely and only the parts I find beneficial or informative (even if it's to inform me of the downward spiral of the generations) — and not always do I do that either because it gets so depressing.
Reading English-language frum publications (or even just looking at their headlines) gets me down because I remember what they used to be like.
Come Spend a Day of Exalted Kedushah within a Place of Immorality & Avodah Zarah/Atheism – and Pay $3000 for this Exciting "Privilege"!
And readers rightly always sent in complaints against promotions like: "Enjoy Pesach in our luxurious resort in the Swiss Alps! 24-hour refreshment room! Entertainment every evening! No gebrochts!"
At one point, I even noticed an ad calling for frum Yidden to spend an "inspiring!" Pesach in India — yes, with all the avodah zarah, poverty, disease, crime, and heartless caste system (along with the anti-Torah idea of considering cows more important than human beings).
By the way, if religious Jews want to organize an inspiring Seder to cater to misguided or stuck Jews who are already there, then that's a praiseworthy venture.
But should people leave Eretz Yisrael or Monsey or Golders Green to spend Pesach in India?
Is there any da'as Torah in history that supports such an idea?
Having said all that, it's easy to understand the magazine's dilemma.
On one hand, they desperately need the money provided by the ads.
On the other hand, anyone can see what they offer is not really in the spirit of Pesach (unless you need the Swiss Alps for health reasons, like Heidi and Clara did).
At least the magazines had the decency to print these letters of criticism regarding the ads.
But the question still stands: Is that how Hashem meant Pesach for us?
Or another ad appeared with huge letters: ESCAPE
Then in small print: ...to Scandanavia.
You mean to where all the newly burgeoning Jew-hatred is?
Also, what is this idea of promoting "escape"?
We need breaks from aspects of life, relief, and so on.
But this idea of spending tons of money on long plane flights to go to a place with a very weak Jewish presence in order to "escape"?
And even for the rare individual who truly needs this exact trip for reasons of mental or physical health, is it correct to promote escapism as an ideal?
The entire look to the ad clearly promoted a modern liberal escapist attitude, not a Jewish one of emotional and mental refreshment.
In Torah Judaism, we often mention chizuk, strengthening & encouraging ourselves and each other. Inspiration. "Growth." Building character. Refining our middot.
Taking a break or unexpectedly experiencing a yeridah/descent (which is a normal part of growth, paradoxically)?
Yes.
"Escape"?
No.
But encountering this attitude of "escape" or "taking it easy" or "need a vacation" all the time imprints an impression in one's mind, whether we mean it to or not.
It particularly prickles me when ads target Jews living in Eretz Yisrael to leave the Holy Land to spend a particularly meaningful & holy chag in Prague or wherever.
In short:
The problem is not arranging an inspiring holiday or religious program for Jews stuck (whether intentionally or not) in a particular location.
The problem is the intent to lure Jews from solid frum areas to celebrate a holy and profound holiday in a very goyish or even occultist and immoral area and promoting ideas like "entertainment" and 24-hour gluttony, and promoting vacations to goyish or immoral areas with the same idea, including concepts like "escape."
Promoting Transgressions — Uh-Oh...
Long-sleeved and with closed necklines, one of the shirts was the color of cherry red.
An entirely cherry-red shirt for Jewish teenage girls is 100% forbidden:
https://shulchanaruchharav.com/halacha/wearing-red-colored-clothing/
(This link offers the basic uncompromising halachah, and includes differing opinions regarding red highlights or reddish shades (like maroon) — all with sources to the original posek.)
As you can see in the above link, the law against Jewish women wearing a red garment comes from the Shulchan Aruch itself, the Rama — and Rashi finds an allusion to the prohibition within the Chumash.
(Even Jewish men aren't supposed to wear a wholly red shirt: https://dinonline.org/2019/11/04/man-wearing-red-clothes/)
UPDATE: I recently learned the Zohar (don't know exactly where) advises anyone who wishes to experience compassion and mercy should wear white and visualize Hashem's Name in white letters.
Yet anyone who wishes to experience judgement should wear red and visualize Hashem's Name in red letters.
So just the act of wearing red (regardless of your gender) awakens Heavenly judgement.
In other words, the fundamental halacha across the board forbids the wearing of an all-red garment (offering practical reasons for this prohibition) while the Zohar offers us the kabbalistic reasons (i.e., the spiritual physics) for not wearing an entirely red garment.
Altogether, we have an air-tight case against any Jew wearing a completely red garment.
In short:
There is absolutely NO HETER for a teenage Jewish girl to wear a shirt that is entirely RED.
This is not a garment a frum company should ever produce and, even worse, promote as modest clothing to sell to frum girls, and certainly a frum publication should never advertise such a thing.
So why is a frum publication promoting a forbidden shirt as modest wear for frum teenage girls?
And why is a frum clothing company producing a forbidden shirt?
What will they do next, start promoting miniskirts & heavy makeup?
(Actually, they already do, but — appallingly — they use little girls to do it. Please see more on that topic here: why-its-so-hard-to-know-today-whats-authentic-judaism-what-is-not.)
Perhaps non-kosher restuarants?
In short, this stands as another example of extremely problematic, even forbidden, promotion within a publication produced by and marketed to charedim.
The Inescapable Internet
The publications never mentioned Internet except as a discussion within an article.
Sure, a lot of frum Jews had Internet at that time, but not everyone. Many still didn't even have email.
Ads did not feature a website address.
Email addresses only appeared in a professional business-only sense in the magazine's masthead: a way to contact the editors or various departments within the magazine.
This worked as a buffer to keep unholy aspects from gaining social acceptability and becoming a norm.
Yet now the publications are saturated with the Internet.
The publications presently work according to the assumption that everyone has Internet and some kind of smartphone (even if it's strongly filtered).
This means a frum person without Internet and without a smartphone who turns to a paper publication (because they reject Internet & maintain a willingness to pay for non-digital reading) will still be inundated with all sorts of promotions to access what they need via email, social media, and websites.
I know many insist we have to go with the way business is done now, but there is a difference between "a few references" and "inundation."
The publications are saturated with all sorts of promotional ads to use websites and social media, in addition to references popping up throughout articles, columns, and fiction.
And for people who turn to these paper publications because of their commitment to Sabbath observance?
Again, their Shabbos experience becomes filled with all sorts of Internet lures (in addition to non-Jewish stuff, which we'll address next).
In short, these publications are run by charedim for charedim, yet they've chosen a path which refuses to accommodate the charedim who actually wish to go by the da'as Torah of charedi rabbanim of refraining from Internet and Internet devices.
(Needless to say, the less people access digital reading, the more likely they are to read printed publications.)
Creating a Mixture of Anti-Torah Philosophy with Torah Thought – Just Try & Tell Them Apart...We Won't Make It Easy!
Then best-selling non-fiction entered the discussion — not to discuss its appropriateness or lack of, but as guidance for us.
I readily admit I once thought this perfectly okay and even laudable until...
Rav Avigdor Miller quoted the Gemara, saying we aren't allowed to read non-Jewish works of philosophy. (Yes, pop psychology and a whole load of other material falls under that category.)
Furthermore, as I increased my personal study of authentic Torah classics (Pele Yoetz, Chovot Levavot, Orchot Tzaddikim, Kli Yakar, Strive for Truth, etc.), I gradually came to realize how problematic a lot of best-selling non-fiction actually is.
Despite good intentions, their influence on the minds of frum people is not good.
Then, after not reading frum publications for a long time, I opened a magazine and saw all the references to Harry Potter in a fiction supplement.
Have I read Harry Potter?
Yes. (Although I got rid of the entire series years ago and haven't read it since.)
Have many frum people read Harry Potter?
Yes. (In the first two books, he series started out more innocently than most modern fiction, but as predicted by several Orthodox rabbis, it quickly became more lurid.)
So have ALL frum people read Harry Potter?
No. I personally know frum people who haven't and aren't planning to.
(BTW, part of the reason for dumping Harry Potter was because I didn't like how it made me feel underneath the initial superficial layer of reading-pleasure. Also, whether Muggle or wizard, the world of Harry Potter is wholly Godless. And, of course, it makes the world of witchcraft extremely appealing when witchcraft remains a very serious Torah prohibition.)
Occasionally, the frum publications even discuss a book containing extremely unwholesome passages or scenes. Sure, they leave out the nasty stuff. But it gives the impression the book is okay to read when it should be totally avoided.
This all includes the infiltration of non-Torah thought culled from pop psychology and self-help, including professional advice meant as help, but lacking the appropriate Torah attitude.
So again, any charedi person who actually maintains (or would like to maintain) a charedi lifestyle with regard to what they read is not accommodated by charedi publications.
Inconsistency: He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not, He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not...
For example:
Regarding covid-19, its non-vaccinating injection, and the repulsive leader of the Ukraine (who unmercifully tromps on every mitzvah in the Torah — though most frum journalists don't seem to care), frum publications wholeheartedly supported the stances of the same publications & people they just eviscerated.
It's like they think you cannot at all trust the Ew Yuck Times to accurately report anything about Israel or Torah Judaism or Republicans...but you can blindly trust them on everything else.
Does that make any sense?
No, of course not.
If a publication suffers from a consistent blind spot/lack of ethics while reporting on the Middle East or Torah Judaism, they likely suffer blind spots/lack of ethics when reporting other topics too.
And for frum Jews relying on these publications to filter out the liberal anti-Torah bias, these frum publications do them a great disservice by promoting menuvalim like Ukraine's leader or the obviously ineffective and miscarriage-inducing covid-19 injection.
Why do frum publications suddenly take them so seriously and refuse to do their own research regarding other topics?
The Unhappily Increasing Failure of Many Frum Publications to Accommodate Actual Charedi Readers
(Heck, I myself obviously referenced Harry Potter just now and also in this post: harry-potter-haeckel-hades-and-holy-men.)
The problem lies in:
- producing reading material meant for the charedi public
- marketing it to that public under the guise of being appropriate for the charedi public (including claims of rabbinical supervision for your publication)
- while actively promoting or referencing ideas consider problematic or even forbidden by da'as Torah
- doing so in a way that makes them seem acceptable, unavoidable, or even ideal
This blog, for example, exists on the Internet and is not meant for people with no Internet access (obviously).
I do not promote my blog as "charedi" (though that is the group with which I personally associate myself) and do not make claims of any kind of rabbinical supervision, consultation, nor do I market the blog as charedi.
Furthermore, I strive not to promote anything that isn't within halachah or my personal hashkafah.
Maybe I'm not always successful; I know I made mistakes, but I honestly try.
As a recent example, someone very nicely requested I link to their site on mental health. Their approach toward psychotropic medication fit in nicely with my own research and I admired their efforts to improve mental health and prevent suicide.
Fantastic!
However, a whole section of their site seems dedicated to the idea of covid-19 (with its survival rate of over 99%) as a dangerous disease and promotes the covid-19 injection.
Now, I do not see the covid-19 injection as always harmful. Many people seem to suffer no ill effects.
However, many people DO suffer ill effects.
Furthermore, I personally encountered people injected as many as 3 or 4 times who still contracted covid-19, in addition to women who suffered miscarriages or stillbirths after receiving the injection while pregnant.
And most strikingly: I have seen NO PROOF the injection actually vaccinates!
So until PROVEN otherwise, I view the injection as totally bogus — useless at best, harmful at worst.
After serious consideration, I decided I could not link to this site despite their admirable efforts regarding mental health. Their research in mental health seems good, but their research regarding covid-19 and its injection do not jive with my own research or personal observations, and I do not want to promote information which seems useless at best, harmful at worst.
Unfortunately, sometimes I feel I have no choice — like when linking to an important book available only on Amazon (which contains a lot of bad with the good).
Anyway...
In short, the big downfall of charedi publications is a certain amount of failure to accommodate actual charedim who uphold charedi values.
The Honest & Positive Truth about the Vast Majority of Frum Jews Working in Frum Media
I personally know people who worked within frum publications (both charedi & dati) who voiced their concerns or even opposition regarding topics or images they correctly identified as inappropriate.
Yes, they spoke up and sometimes even argued with the one above them calling the shots.
But in the cases I know of, they were overruled by a person in charge. (Maybe it doesn't always end up like that, but it did in the cases I knew.)
Yes, there are literally just a handful of indecent people (among the good hundreds or even thousands), corrupt people who managed to worm their way into some kind of job within charedi media, and who mean to corrupt — like a member of the Erev Rav.
But they're very sneaky and manipulative, so even just one can cause a lot of harm until the publication cottons on and fires them.
But the vast, vast majority definitely mean well.
The Financial Dilemma
Again, their willingness to publish criticism of their advertisements means a lot.
It does not make it okay for them to violate the most basic halachah (like cherry-red shirts for Jewish women).
But at least they allow for the criticism of these problematic ads.
The Big, Massive, Thorny – But NOT Unsurpassable! – Challenge Facing Frum Publications
Many insist a publication conforming to the strictest standards will only consist of dry divrei Torah, which charedim can anyway access in the various centuries-old tomes they already own at home. (They're not so dry, by the way...)
But this claim isn't true.
Yes, it's a challenge. But it can be accomplished.
The popularity of books like Aleinu L'Shabeiyach, with its compelling and illuminating true stories prove you can combine popular reading with kosher & inspiring material.
Or the books presenting intriguing true stories with a brief well-done halachic question and answer at the end — another popular choice.
Well-written memoirs or true stories also remain popular.
A column presenting a Q&A of Rav Avidgor Miller or Rabbi Yehuda Mandel (as in Bitachon Weekly) would prove hugely popular & much appreciated by those who turn to charedi publications to provide them with appropriate reading material.
(Even people who don't appreciate Rav Miller's wisdom still find him interesting, ha-ha.)
Or providing answers to questions everyone wonders about (like here: rav-itamar-schwartz-on-why-hashem-saved-am-yisrael-on-purim-but-queen-esther-needed-to-stay-with-a-jew-hating-idol-worshipping-menuval)
Another example: Rivka Levy's book on the Erev Rav found an audience among readers of totally divergent backgrounds.
Shirat Devorah's blog has been one of the most popular in the Jewish blogosphere and most of the posts are write-ups of Chassidic thought or Chassidic stories.
And there exist many more examples of kosher reading that finds popularity.
The secret lies in presentation of the material.
If the material is presented in an appealing manner to the average frummeh, they'll read it and be willing to pay to read it.
Another is example lies in the popularity of the Kli Yakar posts on this blog.
The Kli Yakar is an innately fascinating and beautiful commentary on the Chumash.
But it's still a scholarly commentary written in classic Hebrew at the dawn of the 1600s — in other words, it's not something easily rendered into English and appealing to the modern layperson.
And I'm not saying I've mastered the ability to do this, but my goal lay in carving out some of the more compelling ideas from the Kli Yakar into digestible chunks for the modern mind.
Since its inception in the summer of 2015, people of all backgrounds & both genders continue to provide positive feedback on their enjoyment of the Kli Yakar posts. It shows up in analytics as a popular hit too.
At first glance, it doesn't make sense that a Biblical commentary from 17th-century Bohemia written in classical Hebrew would be popular with the masses.
But it is.
The ideas are truly compelling and inspiring, plus the goal of making them accessible for the modern lay reader.
Sure, the attempt wasn't 100% successful, but it did succeed to a satisfying extent.
Furthermore, there IS material within charedi publications that conforms to charedi standards AND appeals to the average reader. Charedi publication, for all their faults, do provide some excellent information and inspiration.
So yes, the extremely thorny conflict exists of providing wholly kosher material to a public that either cannot or will not read more intellectual material.
(Having to produce such material regularly to meet a deadline complicates the process.)
So we can view their struggle with the compassion it deserves.
At the same time, they need to do more to overcome the obstacles.
some-cold-hard-facts-to-push-against-the-popular-yet-false-narrative-promoted-in-the-
mainstream-media-which-unfortunately-influenced-the-frum-media-too
2-personal-stories-of-the-covid-vaccine-pregnancy-plus-what-our-real-attitude-should-be-regarding-the-vaccine-and-you-probably-wont-like-it
why-taking-the-position-of-late-adopterskeptic-makes-so-much-sense-regarding-any-new-drugs
why-you-cant-rely-on-journalists-for-the-truth