Fantastic news for super-observant Jews: Now you can apply to buy a dumbed-down smartphone

Not Too Smart: New rabbi-approved ‘kosher’ phones are being marketed to ultra-Orthodox Israelis. They are like their high-tech treyf cousins, but disabled to avoid the internet or even phone calls. (Forward caption)


"[H]ow does a smart phone cross from treyf to kosher? It has to be de-smarted. The Haredi objection to smart phones is that they allow free access to the internet, putting all aspects of secular thought, culture and media, as well as sexual content like pornography, at the fingertips of the observant.

“ 'We get new cell phones in the shrink wrap, open them, and modify them,' Rami Levy Communications’ manager Shlomi Gulian told the Forward. The alteration completely disables web browsing. It is, Gulian stressed, irreversible."

-- from Nathan Jeffay's Forward report, "Kosher Smart
Phone Arrives as Ultra-Orthodox Tech Taboo Shifts"

by Ken

Religious zealots like to complain when the slightest provocation makes them feel disrespected -- or "persecuted," as they would probably have put it. Actually, I could probably have ended that sentence at "complain": "Religious zealots like to complain."

Since they never have to listen to themselves, it never seems to occur to them that it's all on them.

Kosher Smart Phone Arrives as Ultra-Orthodox Tech Taboo Shifts
Israeli Rabbis Approve Phones That Don't Surf Web or Call

By Nathan Jeffay

The taboo among the ultra-Orthodox in Israel about using smart phones is no longer, with the launch of models deemed appropriate for the devout.

That’s a real milestone for Haredi leaders, who have denounced the technology as a new form of evil. Last year the renowned rabbi Chaim Kanievsky declared the destructive capacity of smart phones to that of weapons, and another rabbi, Lior Glazer, publicly smashed one.

But on October 22, the cell phone company Rami Levy Communications will start selling niche Haredi smart phones, complete with a certificate stating that a rabbi has inspected the technology.

So how does a smart phone cross from treyf to kosher? It has to be de-smarted.

The Haredi objection to smart phones is that they allow free access to the internet, putting all aspects of secular thought, culture and media, as well as sexual content like pornography, at the fingertips of the observant.

“We get new cell phones in the shrink wrap, open them, and modify them,” Rami Levy Communications’ manager Shlomi Gulian told the Forward. The alteration completely disables web browsing. It is, Gulian stressed, irreversible.

And which model of telephone is his company modifying? “We’re selling the Google Phone -- without Google,” he revealed.
The LG Nexus 4 is widely known as the Google Phone because it was developed by the internet services giant and configured especially to showcase its products, including its search engine -- all of which are deactivated by Rami Levy.

Though there’s no web browsing, the neutered Nexus allows users to do far more than the existing “kosher phones” which only allow communication by voice calls. Users can send and receive text messages and emails, and use apps.

The phones have access to a special application store that contains only applications that Rami Levy’s rabbinic advisors have deemed appropriate. Digital banking, satellite navigation, interfaces for booking health appointments and Haredi-style religious reading are in; secular news and most other general content is out. There are currently 600 approved apps, and the company hopes to increase that eventually to 20,000.

Gulian said that his company launched the phones because in today’s business environment it is becoming increasingly hard for Haredi professionals and businesspeople to manage without connectivity on the go and without SMS messages.

He said it also did so to rectify the situation wherein Haredi consumers “pay more and receive less” -- because when they buy voice-only phones they also then need to purchase extra devices like a GPS units instead of being able to use the apps their phones would otherwise have. . . .

Oh, there's more, plenty more. But let me just throw in one more detail:

The phones retail at $450 or $530 depending on the size of the memory -- less than most other smart phones in Israel. But the general public can’t take advantage of them.

To apply for one, you have to complete a form outlining your reasons for needing a smart phone, and secure the approval of your rabbi, whose name and phone number must be written down so that the company’s supervising rabbis can decide whether they think that you can be trusted to use it responsibly. They accept work-related reasons, but not requests for recreational -- or what they deem frivolous -- use. They decline applications from young yeshiva students who are meant to be focused on their religious studies but do consider older applicants.

These people -- authoritarian religious leaders and nitwit religious followers -- are engaged in a conspiracy of insanity and thuggishness. They deserve each other, the leaders and the followers -- same as any other s&m religious cult leader and followers. But why in the world they would expect anyone else to have anything but contempt for them escapes me.

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