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The article says Yiddish is "spoken mainly by the Jewish ultra-orthodox community that refrains from using computers." Well that's half true: (ultra-)orthodox J

by jzwinck 13y ago

The article says Yiddish is "spoken mainly by the Jewish ultra-orthodox community that refrains from using computers." Well that's half true: (ultra-)orthodox Jews are a major part of the Yiddish speaking world, but the idea that they do not use computers is ridiculous. I wonder where this idea comes from...you can even Google it to learn that some rabbis advocate for their members to censor their internet access, which implies they do have computers. They even post on YouTube.

_delirium 13y ago
I believe that's kind of a fallback position, that now that they've lost the battle against computers, 2nd-best is to try to figure out what to do with them. At least as of a few years ago there was an active campaign to discourage the use of computers and especially the internet in haredi communities: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/rabbis-rage-against-net-abominations-1838204.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/rabbis-r.... According to that article, the Vizhnitzer Hasidim even threatened to expel any children whose homes had an internet connection at all from attending the community's schools. And there were some high profile stunts where rabbis smashed smartphones and similar. But now it does seem that they're moving towards being okay with computers as long as they don't include unrestricted internet access: http://forward.com/articles/184099/kosher-smart-phone-arrives-as-ultra-orthodox-tech/?p=all http://forward.com/articles/184099/kosher-smart-phone-arrive...
CPLX 13y ago
Not only do Orthodox Jews have computers, they apparently have enough of them to sell me my last 5 laptops and desktops. (source B&H Photo)
- hnriot 13y ago
  the only web site that has open hours. I find that amazing that half the time I look for something there the web store is closed for some Jewish holiday - of which there are many.
  - pmjordan 13y ago
    Not the only one. If you access them from a German IP address, most game download services will only let you buy games that are rated 18+ in Germany between 10pm and 6am CET/CEST or some such time range. (I found this out because I have a VPN tunnel that terminates in Germany)
- badman_ting 13y ago
  I don't see the connection.
- _delirium 13y ago
  True, the American form is a bit different. The version of Haredi Judaism in New York is somewhat more moderate, in the sense that it engages with the modern world (even if, perhaps, only out of necessity). Unlike in Israel, where many Haredim reject secular work and devote themselves exclusively to Torah study, Haredim in NYC do do things like run camera stores. There are also a good number of Orthodox Jews in the U.S. who aren't Haredi at all, mostly under the "Modern Orthodox" label, a position that embraces Orthodox Judaism theologically but doesn't follow the Haredi cultural rejection of modern society, e.g. modern clothing, the science & philosophy of the Enlightenment, etc. One key part of Haredi culture is not only Orthodox Judaism, but a wholesale rejection of the Jewish Enlightenment and modernity, which they hope to insulate their community from by building a parallel society separate from what they see as modern degenerate society. That tends to lead to suspicion of new technologies, especially new forms of communication that might short out the insulator.
lotharbot 13y ago
It's also commonly believed that the Amish, Mennonites, and related sects don't use computers. It's true for some parts of those groups, but not the whole groups (source: I'm a Mennonite.)
rasz_pl 13y ago
mmm ultra orthodox, gotta love them http://youtu.be/Bx2LgeGFW4A?t=33m44s http://youtu.be/Bx2LgeGFW4A?t=33m44s
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
cachvico 13y ago
Also, Yiddish is basically German but written with the Hebrew character set. The explosion of Yiddish translations is probably and simply because the Translate team at Google just got round to implementing Yiddish translation, which was relatively simple for them as they only needed to combine German translation (already mature code) with the Hebrew character parsing/writing code.

by jzwinck 13y ago

_delirium 13y ago

I believe that's kind of a fallback position, that now that they've lost the battle against computers, 2nd-best is to try to figure out what to do with them. At least as of a few years ago there was an active campaign to discourage the use of computers and especially the internet in haredi communities: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/rabbis-rage-against-net-abominations-1838204.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/rabbis-r.... According to that article, the Vizhnitzer Hasidim even threatened to expel any children whose homes had an internet connection at all from attending the community's schools. And there were some high profile stunts where rabbis smashed smartphones and similar. But now it does seem that they're moving towards being okay with computers as long as they don't include unrestricted internet access: http://forward.com/articles/184099/kosher-smart-phone-arrives-as-ultra-orthodox-tech/?p=all http://forward.com/articles/184099/kosher-smart-phone-arrive...

CPLX 13y ago

Not only do Orthodox Jews have computers, they apparently have enough of them to sell me my last 5 laptops and desktops. (source B&H Photo)

hnriot 13y ago
the only web site that has open hours. I find that amazing that half the time I look for something there the web store is closed for some Jewish holiday - of which there are many.
- pmjordan 13y ago
  Not the only one. If you access them from a German IP address, most game download services will only let you buy games that are rated 18+ in Germany between 10pm and 6am CET/CEST or some such time range. (I found this out because I have a VPN tunnel that terminates in Germany)
badman_ting 13y ago
I don't see the connection.
_delirium 13y ago
True, the American form is a bit different. The version of Haredi Judaism in New York is somewhat more moderate, in the sense that it engages with the modern world (even if, perhaps, only out of necessity). Unlike in Israel, where many Haredim reject secular work and devote themselves exclusively to Torah study, Haredim in NYC do do things like run camera stores. There are also a good number of Orthodox Jews in the U.S. who aren't Haredi at all, mostly under the "Modern Orthodox" label, a position that embraces Orthodox Judaism theologically but doesn't follow the Haredi cultural rejection of modern society, e.g. modern clothing, the science & philosophy of the Enlightenment, etc. One key part of Haredi culture is not only Orthodox Judaism, but a wholesale rejection of the Jewish Enlightenment and modernity, which they hope to insulate their community from by building a parallel society separate from what they see as modern degenerate society. That tends to lead to suspicion of new technologies, especially new forms of communication that might short out the insulator.

lotharbot 13y ago

It's also commonly believed that the Amish, Mennonites, and related sects don't use computers. It's true for some parts of those groups, but not the whole groups (source: I'm a Mennonite.)

rasz_pl 13y ago

mmm ultra orthodox, gotta love them http://youtu.be/Bx2LgeGFW4A?t=33m44s http://youtu.be/Bx2LgeGFW4A?t=33m44s

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

cachvico 13y ago

Also, Yiddish is basically German but written with the Hebrew character set. The explosion of Yiddish translations is probably and simply because the Translate team at Google just got round to implementing Yiddish translation, which was relatively simple for them as they only needed to combine German translation (already mature code) with the Hebrew character parsing/writing code.