Monday, July 29, 2013

Does the"coffeeroom" need a hechsher?

This was posted as a comment on a previous post.

The "Coffee room"  on a yeshiva website is also a social network, and even worse, it's misleading as the website is considered "kosher" and "frum."

The website's name implies that it represents the yeshivishe world, and that people from the yeshivishe world can feel comfortable viewing this website because it is kosher v’yosher and free of materials that yeshivishe people want to avoid. But that is very far from the truth. Prominently displayed on the home page of  The site is the “Coffee Room,” which is a very great mich’shol. It looks innocent enough – what could be wrong with networking with others on topics, perhaps for advice or to find out information? And the editors will even exonerate themselves by saying they have a moderator who steps in to stop inappropriate conversations. But it’s a farce! First of all, the very idea of a social networking forum on a yeshivishe website is outrageous! The people who participate in the dialogue on The Coffee Room could be bochurim, single girls, women, men – nobody really knows who one is talking to. And the topics discussed are far from appropriate for boys and girls to be talking to each other about. Some examples of topics that are being “chatted” about between boys and girls, and other anonymous users, are: 

Walking Behind a Woman, Girls wearing boys clothing, Is it untznius for a girl to ride a bike, Wearing Perfume, Divorce Stories, Tznius Support Group – PLEASE WOMEN ONLY, Guys-things that a girl does or says on a date that makes you lose interest, Shidduchim: Girls & Size Zeros, Shidduchim & Weight, Kosher Movies/ Torah TV, Jewish feminism, nail polish, Good Jokes, It's A Man's World, Respected Rabbanim Eating Out, Abused Husbands,  Do Women Need Marriage?

The moderator may step in from time to time, but there should not be an outlet in the first place for boys and girls to chat like this, and certainly not about these topics! And by the time the moderator steps in, so much inappropriate conversation has already taken place! What kind of yeshivishe website is this? It is such a big mich’shol for people who think that the website is kosher and okay to use!
So, in a sense, it's worse than the other social networking sites, which are blatantly inappropriate.

14 comments:

  1. The cup of coffee is enough for share thing. I mean The Coffee Room could be bochurim, single girls, women, men – nobody really knows who one is talking to just need the sip of coffee.

    Regards,
    Kopi Luwak

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's sad, but no longer do the "frum" websites need to concern themselves with the Rabbonim. They are bigger than the Rabbonim.

    ReplyDelete
  3. If one has a filter on his computer, then the filter will block social networking sites. A filter should also block out Yeshiva World, for its Coffee Room is a social network. Just goes to show how unreliable the filters are, or perhaps the ones (like Yeshiva World) who do not register their websites for what they really are!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fotheringay-PhippsJuly 30, 2013 at 1:22 PM

    My feeling about this, and a lot of other things like this, can be summed up in 3 words:

    Luz shoin up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It seems you are a front-line soldier for the yetzer hara, doing his job for him so that he can relax a bit. These are the attitudes which the yetzer hara LOVES, for it makes his job a lot easier. He's very happy with you, for you are trying to convince others to give up the battle against the yetzer hara - yes, says the yetzer hara - "luz shoin up" - just let me infiltrate every aspect of your lives, sap all the kedusha and yiras shamayim from your mind and heart, and don't do a thing to oppose me.

      Delete
    2. Fotheringay-PhippsJuly 31, 2013 at 3:38 PM

      That's very sweet of you.

      But actually the fact is that too much hockerai about this and matters of this sort is counterproductive in all sorts of ways.

      In the history of Klal Yisroel there has probably never been such feverish obsession with tznius matters as there has increasingly been over the past few years. But I don't see any more kedusha or yiras shomayim, not among the frum oilem at large and not among the tznius hockers. (Unless, of course, you define someone as a yorei shomayim simply by virtue of the fact that he hocks about tznius.) The opposite, if anything.

      Luz shoin up.

      Delete
    3. From your comments and responses, it seems you are just 'dreying a kup' - you know the truth, and you're just trying to diminish and push away the facts because it's easier not to deal with it. Luz shoin up is the easy way out in life. So stop dreying a kup.

      Delete
  5. ...and here I thought the author was going to lament the complete lack of civility, the sheker, sinas chinam, derogatory statements on that "Yeshiva" site (and on another site as well)...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Each 'chisaron' is a 'chisaron' in itself. All you've done is just strengthen the author's point about this website not being one that should be accepted by the yeshivishe world as okay to view.

      Delete
  6. It is ridiculous it is called yeshivaworld. what shaychus yeshiva? they are always mefarseim the gnus of chareidim-- we all remember what they did after the machaa

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  7. why not just say that really everything should be osur. just much simpler that way

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  8. That whole site if not only full of loshon hora, rechilus and motzei shem ra, but that is actually what the site is designed for.

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  9. What about te gruesome and graphic pictures of dead people on Matzav? I'm disgusted and horrified by their lack of judgment.

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  10. Many people don't seem to know the difference between a "social network" and a "forum."

    ReplyDelete