Senior Sephardic religious leaders, including Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Shas spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef, have published a harsh letter against the Internet, stating that every person must save his relatives and others from the “spiritual dangers” of the Web.
 
According to the rabbis, this is a superior religious duty – from the Torah.
In their public call, the rabbis warn against technological developments: “We have reached a situation that a telephone device, which every person possesses, can lead to difficult and dangerous sights which are undoubtedly forbidden by the Torah and have extremely destructive results.
 
They quote from the Talmud, explaining that “one must save the oppressed from its persecutor and from all other lurking dangers. Those ignoring this situation are violating the ‘Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life’ command.”
 
As for those whose livelihood depends on the Internet, the rabbis say “it should be used only through filtering software which can tell right from wrong, and asked experienced people… In any case, they must be extremely careful.”

Shas newspaper “Yom Leyom” editor, Rabbi Moshe Shafir, added, “As Jews, who had the courage to jump into the fire of the inquisition, the courage to slaughter their sons and wives and children after the ‘Shehecheyanu’ blessing, will have the strength now to make a firm decision and unequivocally rise up, throw away this device of impurity and abomination and obey the outstanding rabbis of the generation.”