Avid Collector Looks to Bring Classic Jewish Media Into the 21st Century
- Posted on October 2, 2011 at 8:20pm by
Christopher Santarelli
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(AP) For ultra-Orthodox Jews who shun secular newspapers, radio and the Internet, the best way to hear the news has long been by literally reading the writing on the wall.
The insular, strictly religious community still relies on black and white posters pasted up on walls in their neighborhoods to hear the latest rulings from important rabbis on modest dress, upcoming protests and the correct way to vote in elections.
Now one avid collector has teamed up with Israel’s National Library to bring this old-fashioned form of communication into the 21st century by scanning more than 20,000 of the posters — known locally as “pashkevilim” — into a digital online archive. The project, which includes an exhibit that opened at the library earlier this month, offers a glimpse into one of the main media used by a group trying to hold the line against the march of modernity.
Yoelish Kraus, a 38-year-old ultra-Orthodox resident of Jerusalem, began peeling the posters off the sooty stone walls of his neighborhood when he was a teenager. Today they fill a windowless, crumbling two-room library. Some are filed by subject. Others lie in piles under a layer of dust and scattered black fedoras.
The posters are typically written in Hebrew or Yiddish and use incendiary language. “Jerusalem is in danger!” one bellows — the danger being a mixed-gender swimming pool.
Others urge the observant to demonstrate and demand the closure of a parking lot because it violates the Sabbath.
The word “pashkevilim” evolved from the name of an Italian statue known as Pasquino, in Rome, where locals pasted satire and protest calls in the 16th century, according to Ido Ivri, digital programs manager at the National Library. Though the Romans have long since abandoned the practice, the name lives on in Jerusalem and other cities home to Israel’s 700,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews, about 9 percent of the national population.
Two years ago, the National Library offered to help Kraus catalog and scan his collection. It was an unlikely partnership: Kraus will not enter the library because it carries secular literature and a boycott of it was announced — by pashkevil, of course — decades ago.
Kraus had been looking for a new place to store his collection. His library ceiling is crumbling. He stored posters in the cellar until mold destroyed dozens of them.
“It’s strange but I have no choice,” Kraus said. “I looked for years for someone to take it.”
The library staff agreed to lend him a scanner and computer with no connection to the Internet — largely banned by rabbinic decrees publicized by pashkevil. They then taught him to use it, as Kraus had never used a computer before. Soon, he was scanning and cataloging hundreds of the posters a day. The project cost about $27,000.
The library has put up 100 of the most striking posters in an exhibit. One warns against computer use by showing a Jewish boy turning into a horned beast after spending hours on one. Another provides a visual guide to women, warning against all the ways a shirt collar can be immodest.
The National Library added Kraus’ extensive collection to its own archive of about 7,000 posters, including many from the Jewish community in Poland in the 1930s.
The pashkevilim have not been completely successful in keeping modern life out of the ultra-Orthodox world. Some ultra-Orthodox Jews use mobile phones, including a model that automatically powers down on the Sabbath. Others filter their Web use through “Koogle,” a kosher search engine.
One service has even taken to photographing pashkevilim and uploading them for smartphone users.
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Asderathos
Posted on October 2, 2011 at 11:55pmThe title of this story was quite annoying, in that it did not say what the “Avid Collector” collected! It should have said avid pashkevilim collector, or poster.
Report Post »Kirsys
Posted on October 2, 2011 at 11:45pmGUYS thats not nice…..We human learn by asking questions. I personally would not have called them hats. I as a non jewish would have love to know why if they wear a kippah why also wear a hat. I live in a hassidic neighborhood in washington heights NYC and they are amazing to see. My husband has to tell me to stop looking. i love their traditions
Report Post »Kvetcher
Posted on October 2, 2011 at 10:34pmAt least they don‘t have to read Michael Moore’s latest blatherings. Seriously Blaze, can you stop covering his blatherings and please, please, do not post his photo!
Report Post »motherof18
Posted on October 2, 2011 at 9:30pmwhy do they wear those black sombreros?
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on October 2, 2011 at 9:46pmTradition
Report Post »Dustyluv
Posted on October 2, 2011 at 10:16pmWhy are you uneducated enough to call them sombreros?
Report Post »mrsmileyface
Posted on October 2, 2011 at 11:01pmJust like drinking 3 bottles of vodka and regretting it later im going to comment on your crappy question…. Mother of 18. Its been tradition since the 19th century. In some sects they even wear the same make of hat that the Rebbe wore. So I have to ask…when you gave birth to your 18th child did whatever assemblence of brain you had also come out with the placenta?
Report Post »loadingmyclips
Posted on October 3, 2011 at 10:08ambecause they look like sombreros, idiot!
Report Post »loadingmyclips
Posted on October 3, 2011 at 10:09amalso they have little dingleberris hangin’ from them
Report Post »NOBALONEY
Posted on October 2, 2011 at 8:53pmI’m willing to bet that the Orthodox Jew is responsible for the expression, ” the writing is on the wall.
Report Post »momprayn
Posted on October 2, 2011 at 9:16pmHa! Yeah – but probably goes back to the biblical story in Daniel 5 about a king seeing the fingers of a man writing on a wall – which was a prophecy re him and Daniel was the only one who could interpret it for him.
Report Post »Platonician
Posted on October 2, 2011 at 8:51pmOnce again Jewish culture has some truth to teach. I’m referring to the ban on Internet, you should agree that for all the good Internet can provide us, it does also enable evil actions. I dare to say that the evil carried out by Internet by far outnumbers the good.
Report Post »pygmalion
Posted on October 3, 2011 at 12:43amlol
Report Post »Johnny916
Posted on October 2, 2011 at 8:45pmThis is a great idea. Many Jews I know and sometimes my family are very conservative when it comes to our lives and how we live day by day. I‘m less strict on some Jewish practices but it’s fun seeing what more Orthodox Jews live their lives and what they see about Judaism and the laws of G-d.
Report Post »ZengaPA65
Posted on October 2, 2011 at 8:44pmFunny, the second link for searches on Koogle.net is erotic services.
Report Post »ZomBrad
Posted on October 2, 2011 at 8:43pmIt’s so strange! They‘re exactly the same since Jesus’ day.
I’d like to see a theological debate with an ultra-orthodox rabbi, and an amish man ;)
Report Post »kwolfburg
Posted on October 2, 2011 at 8:58pm@Zombrad. In the movie, The Night They Raided Minsky’s, the young lady who “created” the striptease was supposed to be Amish. The owner of Minsky’s were Jewish. There is a funny scene of the Amish father of the young lady, and the Jewish father of the manager of Minsky’s arguing over faith. In some ways so similar in belief, even dress. lol
Report Post »scout n ambush
Posted on October 2, 2011 at 8:40pmI wish i could read Hebrew.
Report Post »coryf076
Posted on October 2, 2011 at 8:39pmThey already own Hollywood and the rest of the media….why not this?
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