Rav Sholom Kamenetsky and Rav Aaron Lopiansky offer insight and advice about technology today
As tens of thousands of women gear up to attend the massive Nekadesh event revolving around this very issue, Rav Sholom Kamenetsky, rosh yeshivah of the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia, and Rav Aaron Lopiansky, rosh yeshivah of the Yeshiva of Greater Washington, share their wisdom and guidance
Humans are social beings; that’s something that’s been part of us since sheishes yimei bereishis. (Adam, of course was created alone, yet, as the pasuk itself says, “lo tov heyos ha’adam l’vado — it was not good for man to be alone.” See also Rambam Hilchos Deios, 6:1). Our desire to interact with society is not merely a reality we must contend with; on the contrary, it is a positive quality, even a vital one. Chazal speak strongly of the importance of not being poresh min hatzibbur. Attaching oneself to a unified social environment is that valuable.
Social media has stepped into what is an essentially positive dynamic and destroyed it. It has created an imagined necessity to constantly be engaged in rapid-fire social interaction with the desperate sense that, unless I am constantly posting, or responding to posts, I cease to exist.
More specifically, three factors contribute to the “unhealthy” nature of social media versus the “healthy” character of natural human socializing.
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