Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel

When Johann Gutenberg (1394-1468) unsheathed his new invention in 1454, this great device changed European civilization forever because it led to the advancement of literacy in all areas of human interest. It is interesting that the Catholic Church originally had some misgivings about Gutenberg’s new invention. They felt somewhat ambivalent whether the Word of God ought to be mass produced by a machine, instead of being written by the hands of pious scribes.

The main supporters happened to be the local churches. And by 1480, printing presses could be seen everywhere in towns and cities throughout Europe. Within twenty years, there were already over 238 printing presses. Literacy exploded. People actually learned to read the Bible alongside with the works of Aristotle, Plutarch, Cicero, Caesar, Marcus Aurelius, and Aesop’s fables, not to mention Boccaccio’s love stories.

History changed forever with the twinkle of an eye.

But it wasn’t just the sciences that changed with the invention of the printing press. Among the books reprinted was Ptolemy’s classic work, Geography. Once the maps were mass-produced, they soon led to exciting voyages across the globe. Explorers led their crews to the discoveries of uncharted territories. One explorer in particular, a Italian (Jewish?) man named Christopher Columbus, would soon use to discover the New World.

Gutenberg’s daemonic invention was more dangerous than the Catholic clergy dared to imagine. With the explosion of literacy, scientists like Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and others liberated Europe from the Dark Ages. The Gutenberg printing press gave people the freedom to express their ideas, which ultimately led to the collapse of the Catholic Church as the omniscient source of wisdom.

To put things in perspective, think of the Gutenberg printing press as a precursor to the Internet. The same kind of impact that Gutenberg had on Western Europe can be seen in how the Internet is fostering literacy, freedom, and self-empowerment to peoples all over the globe. Not since the 15^th century have we as a people witnessed the expansion of the human mind and its potential to encounter endless disciplines with a mere keystroke.

The Catholic Church was not the only agency that felt threatened by the printing press. Islamic culture in the medieval era was once the leader in mathematics, sciences, technology, music, and philosophy. However, after Genghis Khan destroyed the centers of Islamic culture in Iraq and Persia during the 13^th century, Islamic culture withered and died. Although Muslim scholars believed that the sciences were necessary, in actuality, they looked upon scientific innovation with suspicion. The sacred and the profane represented two separate domains, and the commingling of these two disciplines had to be partitioned.

Islamic culture retreated into a ghetto made by the clerics, as they attempted to insulate their world from the new ecumenical and technological advances that gave rise to modern secular culture. Had it not been for the Ottoman Turks in the early 18^th century, literacy in the Muslim would have arrived much later than the 18^th century!

Why did they oppose the printing press? Clerics felt that the Word of God would be defiled by anything that touched an iron or wooden press. Even today, it is not uncommon to hear mullahs decry the sins of technology because it engenders secular values, and undermines people’s belief.

They are not the only ones who felt this way.

Today, in the 21st century, a new movement afoot in New York, New Jersey, London, and Jerusalem by Ultra-Orthodox rabbis, who are demanding that their followers “ban the Internet.” Today’s Haredim are remarkably similar to the retrograde forces of Christian and Muslim societies in the medieval period.

They fear the openness of modern society.

Many of the Haredi rabbis claim they are trying to protect their followers from pornography, but what they are really terrified is freedom of thought. In the insular world of the European Shtetle, the rabbis of old could easily control the masses. The ghetto facilitated their influence, and they ruled like kings.

Not anymore.

Now their leader’s crimes and foibles are available for all to see. There is no place to hide. Sooner or later the people will revolt once they realize their leaders wish to control their bodies and souls.

Yet, the genie is out of the bottle.

Change is not only necessary for the denizens who follow the Haredi and Hassidic communities, it is inevitable. No rabbi or rebbe has the power to hold back progress. Change shall come crashing down upon their artificial environment with the force of an Asian tsunami, or with the same power that brought down the walls of Jericho.

Just wait and see . . .

Censorship is the real issue that is at stake. Although books can be burnt and computers can be broken, ideas—especially new thoughts and dreams that challenge the status quo—cannot be so easily ignored, or squashed by religious demagogues.