Message from the Publisher

On December 28, (10th day of Tevet), as this paper is delivered to many locations in the New York area, the Jewish people will once again be fasting because of the destruction of our Holy Temple, the Bet Hamikdash. This day was when the Babylonian Empire laid siege on the city of Jerusalem for several years, causing many calamities, disease, and famine - and finally the destruction of the first Bet Hamikdash.

Our Rabbis tell us that the root cause of the destruction of the first Bet Hamikdash was avoda zara, idol worship. It is interesting to note that when we hear of idol worship, we think to ourselves: Who would do such a silly thing as to believe in a doll, stone, or tree?

Putting aside this silly belief, we have something today that has somewhat become an avoda zara in our generation and we do not even realize it. Almost every individual in today’s modern society has some sort of sophisticated technological device such as a smart-phone. Many of these devices come equipped with a feature called Siri, Alexa, Cortana, or some other high-tech program to which one can speak and the device will talk back, feeding you all the information you’re seeking. Interestingly, the Chofetz Chaim used to say that a recorder was invented for us to be able to understand how our words can be recorded and played back to us after “our 120 years” in this world. Without a recorder, one would think that this is an extreme impossibility; however, with the invention of modern technology, we now can understand how the words of our sages make lots of sense. Video recorders, telephones, instant messages, FaceTime, and other technologically-advanced features give us a clear understanding of how Hashem is hearing us, recording us, and will eventual show us all the good and not good that we have done.

Many people are slowly being swallowed into the realm of avoda zara without us even realizing it. Countless times we see children who cannot keep their eyes away from an iPad or an iPhone. Teenagers are attached to their phones to such an extreme that they cannot function without it, as if it were their heart. And that’s not speaking of the many adults who use and abuse the gadget and blame their excess use on business or work. In my former pizzeria, children would not eat unless their parents would set up some type of a movie, game, or some other media distraction so that the child could keep the mouth moving. When my wife and I were raising our children, I had to make funny faces while she would feed the child. Nowadays, it’s just a click of a button and the parents are “free” to do what they want - which in most cases is to get back to their own phones or computers.

Where is the bond between parent and child?  Is there a bond nowadays or do the kids bond closer with their phones, which would most likely be a source of a lot of danger? Unfortunately, our impatience is driving our young ones to be drawn into this era of high-tech media frenzy. Children as young as five or six years old either have phones or are begging their parents for one. Toddlers seeing their parents on phones mimic their every motion and gesture. It is just an unbelievable site that is unfortunately becoming a tremendous epidemic. When everyone is attached to something that is not so easily rid, is that not “idol worshiping”? We truly cannot be without our phones.

We have to make a concerted effort to be able to have control over ourselves and not let our phones and gadgets control us. All too often people get into bed with their phones and tablets, only to find themselves in the morning with their phones by their sides. They don’t even know the moment they let go of this “thing” in the middle of the night; they just remember blacking out at some point. Control must be exercised in all matters, especially with this particular issue. Thank G-d we have Shabbat, where we are forced to let go of our gadgets - but even then, we cannot wait until the end of Shabbat, when we dash to the phones after havdalah to see what messages we received.

The chachamim tell us that in each generation we have to fast and grieve over the destruction of the Temple, for each generation is just as at fault as the generation at the time of the destruction. We have to constantly work on ourselves and our midot (character traits) to be able to overcome our desires and temptations. We must limit our time on various technologically advanced instruments and increase our time on family, spouse, and learning Torah. Only through this diligent effort we can maintain our tradition as the Jewish people that our fathers have been able to do for thousands of years.

Until next time.