Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel

The frum world (a.k.a., the Orthodox world) is experiencing a healthy dose of adolescent rebellion. More and more frum kids are observing what’s called, “Half-Shabbos” Evidently, teens love text-messaging one another-even if it happens to be the Sabbath!! Parents be careful how you deal with this problem. If you come down hard, I can promise you your kids will rebel in other religious areas, e.g., dining out, free love-you name it. Follow the path of Hillel instead of Shammai and offer unconditional love-or suffer the consequences.

The halacha regarding electronic writing is quite fascinating. It is debatable whether electronic writing on the Sabbath is even forbidden. Consider the following illustration. Ask yourself according to Halacha, is erasing God’s Name permitted or forbidden to do on a computer screen? You would be surprised to know that erasing God’s Name is not considered a crime. In fact, my Bar Ilan Torah database allows me to remove God’s Name from the text!! To use another analogy, is writing on a steam-covered mirror considered writing? Not really, because the act of writing must be permanent to be considered writing. Now, in the case of a computer, once the writing is printed-then it is a different matter…

In one conversation I had with some congregants about this subject, I mentioned that the Orthodox ought to consider following the approach of the Amish, who allow their young people to experiment with the world before making a formal commitment to become a member of their community. Oddly enough, most return to that lifestyle. I do think that the more we put pressure to religiously conform, the more we are encouraging our kids to leave their faith. Take my Uncle Sam (no relation to the picture above), who was the son of Orthodox immigrants. As a young boy he loved playing baseball, but his parents were so frum and told him that he was forbidden to play. Well, after he became an adult, he never went back to a synagogue for the next 60+ years. When my students tell me they wish to do something on the Shabbat, e.g., playing ball, or date-I always tell them to have a great time. Judaism-regardless of the denomination-must never become a straight-jacket.

In Freudian terms, the adolescent (this applies even to the pre-adolescent) looks at the parent and realizes, “I am not my parent, I am ME.” This budding awareness of self-realization marks the beginning of a life-long journey toward individuation, and becoming a whole person. The more parents try to force their kids to become “Mini-Me’s,” to quote the movie hero, Austin Powers, the more frustrated parents will become. A very large percentage of the Orthodox world is made up of ba’ale teshuva--”born-again-Jews” to Orthodoxy. Just as most of them rebelled against their parents form of Judaism, it is quite possible the next generation will rebel against their parents’ religiosity, which they may feel is either too austere, or too hypocritical.

The early 20th century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein observed that all language is really a game. Like a game, language has rules, e.g.. syntax, and a goal: to communicate ideas in a free and unfettered way. Truthfully, the entire Halachic enterprise is also a language game-however, the players can often change the rules of the game. In fact, that’s what adults do all the time. Whenever I play Scrabble, I love to modify the rules a little bit with my partners-just to make the game a bit more interesting. Why can’t we do the same with Halachic discourse? The mechanism is there, and much of the Responsa literature proves that Halachah is seldom ever fixed.

Permit me to illustrate this last point with the following example: I would argue that electricity resembles water more than it does fire. Turning on an electrical switch is not much different from turning on a water faucet. Liberalization of Halacha would make everyone’s life much easier and less neurotic.

Can we do better? With a loving heart and broad-minded attitude, you might be surprised.

The articles I read on the subject neglected to mention something important-most single Orthodox people I know not only text, they also bend the Shabbat rules in other ways too.

There is a solution that could solve this problem for the Orthodox: Start making social groups for teenagers to meet one another on Shabbat. By the way, this would work with having more singles events at people’s homes or at the Shul. The time has come for Orthodox Jews to explore more creative ways for men and women/young teenagers to meet one another without being castigated by the religious fanatics of their communities.

Lastly, wouldn’t be nice to be free from the tyranny of technology for one day of the week?! When my phone rings in the office, it feels great not to answer it!

But can we really free ourselves from technology-even on the Sabbath? I have my doubts, but I think we need to at least try to experience that sensation of Shabbat freedom-even if it is for a few brief moments or hours. At my Shul, I marvel at the congregants who stay for the Shabbat meal, sing zemirot (songs) and study a class in Spanish on the weekly parsha! They often stay till 3:30 PM-pretty impressive, no? I can assure you, nobody bothers to pick up a phone or text a friend during this special time.

Tradition, however, is not always consistent-and neither are the people that practice it. Even the most Orthodox Jew makes use of technology every Shabbat, e.g., whenever he uses a toilet (Moses would have loved this technological invention!), or a sink, or even a refrigerator. I suppose we all make our compromises with tradition.

For me, Shabbat is more a state of mind where I am happy not to interfere with the rhythms of the world, nor am I required to manipulate or control it. If you have not tried giving technology up for one day of the week, try it-you might actually like it . . .