Orthodox School Gives Students Ultimatum: Delete Facebook Profile & Pay $100 Fine — or Face Expulsion
- Posted on March 30, 2012 at 10:30pm by
Billy Hallowell
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Students at the Orthodox Beth Rivkah High School in Brooklyn, New York, have reportedly been given an ultimatum: Delete individual Facebook profiles and pay a $100 fine or face expulsion. Considering the negative elements that hold the potential to come as a result of using the social network, the school has apparently decided that the risks outweigh the benefits. This is specifically true when it comes to the potential for the girls to violate the Orthodox code of modesty.
Now, the all-girls school is doubling down on its stance against Facebook and its potential evils.
“Girls are getting killed on the Internet — that’s the reason for it,” explained school administrator Rabbi Benzion Stock in an interview with The New York Post. “The Internet is a good way to ruin marriages and families. We don’t want them there, period.”
The New York Daily News quotes Stock as saying, “We have an eternal ban. A ban from whenever it started.”
Stock went on to claim that the social media platform is “the wrong place for a Jewish girl to be” and that it isn’t a modest tool for the girls to be utilizing.
The Daily News provides more on the latest developments in “Facebookgate”:
Administrators cracked down further last week after receiving word that girls were still updating their status
es and sharing photos.And the renegades were easy enough to find with a search of Facebook, said Stock.
All 33 girls agreed to delete their accounts, Stock said, and paid a $100 fine that will be returned at the end of the school year.
The students didn’t “like” complying, one of the offenders said.
The Post reports that the crackdown initially appeared on CrownHeights.info, a web site devoted to local news. School officials have countered the news of the ban, which has broken nationally, by claiming that the policy has always been on the books. In fact, the students allegedly sign a contract saying they won’t use social media.
At least one former student has spoken out about the ridiculousness she sees in the crackdown. After being kicked out for using Facebook and dressing without modesty, 17-year-old Chaya Tatik claims that the policy is “not right” and that Facebook helps her communicate with her cousins in Israel.
“Everyone uses Facebook. It’s a way to communicate,” she said.
(H/T: New York Post)
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Comments (76)
Watchyer6
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 10:29amSeems like every religion has their fundamentalist or extremist elements. Must be something about religion.
Report Post »Suzanne D
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 1:24pmNo, not really. The non-religious use their power to deny others their Constitutional rights, too. Look at the Obama administration: there are at least three unconstitutional provisions within “Obamacare” alone.
Report Post »Servant Of YHVH
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 4:36pmThere are some people that go overboard on their religion, even orthodox Jews have some. While it would be very good that the girls do not have a Facebook page, it is NOT the schools right, religiously or secularly. The people at the school wind up going against what G_d says and they think that they are morally right. However, they will repent to G_d if they wish to be forgiven. These people are NOT the girls’ parents and they are acting like the liberal teachers and such that think that they have as much right as the parents to decide what the child can or cannot do, this is incompatible with G_d Word. We will be praying for them to repent and ask G_d‘s forgiveness as well as the girls’. Like I said earlier, while the intention is good and they perhaps even meant it in a way to protect the girls that doesn’t make it right for them to do it.
Report Post »junior1971
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 5:46pmCesium; Your intellect is truly unmatched in the Blaze community. To think that Germans in the mid thirties actually thought y’all were arrogant, self rightious, religious biggots who only cared about yourselves and your own communities. What fools they were to stereotype your people. You just did an excellent job of proving them wrong!
Report Post »LoriInNC
Posted on April 1, 2012 at 3:12amI’m not Jewish, but I do not allow my young teenage daughters to have a facebook account.
I made this rule in my household for their own protection — they’re young, and like all young people, make stupid mistakes and say stupid things… I’d rather not have their stupid mistakes broadcast to the whole world on record for all eternity.
They don’t like it now; someday they’ll thank me.
Report Post »davebex13
Posted on April 1, 2012 at 2:47pmCESIUM is an atheist troll who pretends to be a Jew.
Report Post »mamabearCali
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 10:13amI think it is a rather stupid rule. Additionally I think they got facebook mixed up with craigslist on getting people killed. However, it is a private school. Their school, their rules. If you don’t like it pick a different school.
Report Post »scrapadapolis
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 10:09amControling kids from home outside of your relm..They use FB at home not at school thats for their parents to say yea or ney.So is the jew school looking for that 100 bucks?
Report Post »13axes
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 10:01am@mlcblog Who needs my personal things aired in public? NSA FBI CIA DHS DEA UN Obama re-election team..,i could go on and on
Report Post »Numa1
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 9:44amFace Book (ok, I don’t even know if that is one word or two) is not allowed in our house either. My children are 13, 12 and 10. They have better things to do than spend hours on our home computer posting that they just got a hair cut, that they saw a cute boy at the mall, that they hate me because I made them mow the lawn…. And who on earth REALLY has 1,347 friends anyway? Do these people remember you at Christmas time? Do they CALL you on your birthday? Are they there for you when it really matters?
All of my children know that they are to pay half of their college tuition, 100% if I find they have a social media account. Thankfully, they value a dollar more than the instant gratification of seeing that someone has just “friended” them for posting a cute photo of their new puppy.
I’ve lived 47 years, moved 12 times and I can count the number of truly good friends on one hand. But if I were in need, they’d be at my doorstep before I could put down the phone (ok, or log off).
Report Post »babylonvi
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 12:23pmYou are the parent and you make the rules, however irrational they are. If you choose to pay for their college or not is also your choice. And once the children leave home, they are not required to ever look back of contact you. All your choice, but moving every 4 years(average) if you’re not in the military or witness protection, what are you running from(could THAT be the reason you don’t want them on Facebook?
Report Post »Numa1
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 12:49pmTo Babylonvi
I moved that many times because my father was an FBI agent. We lived 6 months in North Dakota, 3 months in Georgia, moved 3 times in the state of Michigan… I moved 8 times before I was out of high school, so none of that was by choice and I wasn’t running away from anything.
Yes, my kids have choices, but as long as I am paying the bills and they are living under my roof, I get to rule the roost.
Report Post »teddrunk
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 9:35amAn excellent idea. Facebook and other social sites are the work of the devil. Only idiots would spill their guts for the world to find out.
Report Post »Jenny Lind
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 9:52amI agree, no one should let their teen girls(or younger) on there. even boys shouldn’t be. Not anymore, it’s filled with danger and just plain ignorance.
Report Post »SamIamTwo
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 8:00amAfter all it is ORTHODOX…clue one to those attending…and if they want to rebel they can…and if the school wants to say no…they can.
It is not a public mind melting funded school that pushes crazy secular agenda.
And as far a FB goes or any social-media…I know to stay away from them…Never believed in them…
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on April 1, 2012 at 12:06amORTHODOX is not a label that means that you give up your Consitutional Rights. School does mean that you must be Educated to enter Society in the Modern Real World. Now, if they are just training girls to be Brides for Select Men… then they should call themselves: a Harem!
Report Post »holy ghostbuster
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 7:05am“Religion poisons everything” -Christopher Hitchens
Report Post »SamIamTwo
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 7:53amThat is simply his view point which fits into the religion of Atheism. And you are free to believe what you want…simply do not push your agenda on other religions…
Report Post »kickagrandma
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 8:23amDifference between JEWISH FAITH, CHRISTIANS and other “religions”: we follow the ONE, TRUE GOD, THE CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH. Ours is a lifestyle,a relationship not a religion.
Report Post »MMSands
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 5:39amIt just gets more like the vision of “1984” all the time. Sure: you have to think and act the “right” way, the way everyone else thinks and acts, the way the government tells you you should think and act. If you don’t keep up with current “groupthink,” why you’re wrong wrong wrong, and should get with it or get punished and should definitely be despised, mocked, and turned into a pariah. I mean, what kind of narcissist would take it personally that it should be up to the parents to decide what rules and morals their children should live by while under the parents’ roof? Sheesh! George Orwell, here we come!
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 2:38amFacebook is about the Face. Yep that’s it.
Report Post »Lesbian Packing Hollow Points
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 2:15amI’ve been on the Internet since it was called the ARPAnet. I don’t have a Facebook account. I never will. I get along on the webbertubes just fine without.
Report Post »4xeverything
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 6:53amI see your no facebook and raise you no cell phone either. I like to look people in the eye and speak directly to them. This site and one other are the only sites that I comment on and even that is tough when you never know how someone is going to read your post. Probably not with the same inflection with which it was written.
Report Post »ReynMansson
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 8:28amPosting here using my Facebook profile!
How sad, social media is a useful communications tool that expands its user’s horizons, exactly what controlling religious groups would fear a woman have a easy route to.
To the one who’s so proud to not have a cell phone, you are just being silly. My dad had a radio phone in his Lincoln in 1973. I got a car phone in 1986 and my first mobile, a Nokia Bag phone that cost $2500, in 1988. I haven’t had a land line home phone since 1998. I sell hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in media to people I will never meet in person using social media, cell phones and internet tools. I bet it’s easily 15 years since I have sent a hard copy letter for business purposes. It has been least a decade since I’ve sent press releases by postal services.
Report Post »Yesterday, I had to teach a guy who works for me how to attach files in an email, this is an employee I inherited when I bought a company last month. He’s a couple years older than me, I’m 59, just didn’t know how. He thought some special application was required, talked him through the process, over my smart phone, and now he has a new skill at 63. I surveyed the sales staff I got and found several sales people will limited computer skills, they will upgrade or get discharged. A requirement for all my staff is a smart phone, a FB page and certain basic computer communications skills.
Look up Luddite, if the wooden shoe fits, wear it!
Lesbian Packing Hollow Points
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 7:18pmI see your no cell phone and raise you no Skype account of VoIP of any kind. If I make a phone call, it’s a POTS landline.
Report Post »ThorLoser
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 2:08amHow does someone go about getting killed “on the internet”?
Report Post »MMSands
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 5:31amEver hear of the Craiglist Killer? There’s one example. There are plenty more. Try using your imagination. I‘m sure you’ll come up with something if you try really really hard.
Report Post »troymac20
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 9:45amBy not using it with common sense.
Report Post »13axes
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 9:54am@MMSands If you have a hand grenade,will it kill you if you just look at it?No,you would have to actually pull the pin.Do you believe guns or people kill people?The internet does not kill people.The action one takes after viewing the internet,could lead to death,if that person was not street savvy or just plain ignorant,sorta like-yeah and i can stay on the sidewalk until the cars goes by or i can step out into traffic and be killed.Was it the sidewalks fault for allowing me access to the street?To say the internet kills people is ridiculous.
Report Post »captainutah
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 3:41pmI think @thorloser‘s point is that you can’t actually get killed on the internet unless you electrocute yourself while using your computer, even then it’s not exactly the fault of the internet so much as your equipment. It’s more a comment on clumsy wording from the thoughtless Luddite who implemented this rule.
I agree that it’s a private school and they have the right to put whatever rules they want in to place, thankfully that right has not been legislated against yet. This rule does, however show a lack of understanding of modern technology. Is it true that girls are groomed by predators online? Absolutely, as someone who used to work in digital forensics and recover the evidence used to convict such criminals I know this to be true. The danger comes in banning the most popular (and, thus far) safest social network as well as the concept of social networking and, if I infer the meaning of the Rabbi’s “eternal ban” correctly, the internet itself. There are social networks out there that are far less safe than facebook and forcing these girls off of facebook may push them towards those sites.
As to the wider question of parental response to social media/internet usage in general I would advise that total prohibition will just foment resentment and rebellion, sensible monitoring and counsel is a far better approach in my opinion. But hey, whatever works for you is right!
Report Post »mlcblog
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 1:52amI am really excited to read this as I have just made the decision to get out of Facebook myself. Fools names and fools faces are often seen in public places.
Who needs my personal things aired in public? I admit it is kinda fun but I am good with my choice here. I think it has more dignity, so good for this school. Yes!!
Report Post »ct-lady
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 1:39amThe school has a good idea. I know a family that is arguing through facebook and hanging out all their dirty laundry. They argue back and forth–more members get involved, coworker get involved, for what–all for nothing but 15 minutes of fame and no more private life. Once it is out there you cannot take it back.
Report Post »SerikFox
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 1:16amScrew that – I’d have left the school.
Report Post »kickagrandma
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 8:24amAnd you would be the worse for it.
Report Post »troymac20
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 9:46amI’d have followed you right out the door.
Report Post »VicksVaporub
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 12:33amSo what.
Report Post »VicksVaporub
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 12:19amso what
Report Post »Paul
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 11:58pmhttp://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/03/30/Hoodie-Wearing-Gunmen-Kill-1-Wound-5-in-Rushs-Chicago-District
Report Post »HotFixIt
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 11:42pmNotice this is an Orthodox girls school… it may be related to the extreme orthodox ones in Israel who make women remain separate from men, walk on opposite sides of the street, etc. …. they are as extreme as they get. Those poor girls will never be able to function alone in the real world. … not that they will ever be expected to! (yes, I know, poor grammar….send me back to school.) It would be nice if they would be more up to date with reality and help the girls use FB responsibly and maybe just monitor what and how they use their pages. That would actually be teaching them something but I guess that is not what school is for nowdays.
I too have a FB account that I use to keep updated with family.. without it I would NEVER hear from them. I have a nephew who we literally have not heard from in years. We only know what he is up to and that he is still alive by looking in on his facebook page and see that it has something new.
Report Post »Rowgue
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 11:40pmIt’s a private school that has their own set of rules in order to attend it. If you don’t like the rules then go somewhere else.
Report Post »TORCH9
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 12:04amTrue… :)
Report Post »WeekendAtBernankes
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 12:06amTrue that!
Now, that being said, it does seem pretty quaint.
Report Post »I think they confused it with Craigslist -.-
Laus Deo
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 11:22pmFace the clowns. In the end, loss or gain, you WILL win. Backing down is what they demand.
Report Post »mils
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 11:44pmprivate school, private rules…you do not like. them…leave…very simple
If more schools paid more attention to the students and the morals that surround them..we wouldn’t have the trouble we do…
Report Post »Laus Deo
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 12:49pmBS. It’s an overreach by the school. Shining a light on the matter is more than enough. If someone wants to act like a moron or deviant for all to see, let them. If his/her peers hold moral standards, humiliation will certainly follow.
Report Post »HorseCrazy
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 11:18pmstupid. I have a facebook account I am an adult with friends and relatives all over the world. it allows me the ability to communicate without huge phone bills and sending packages of pictures. This is silly let the kids use facebook but teach them how to do it safely.
Report Post »MAMMY_NUNN
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 11:59pmFacebook is like google try and find a web page or site that is not injected with either. Why when you open a page with the facebook button on it it opens a port to facebook while the other buttons like twitter button does not ? The perfect way to gain access to your computer.
Report Post »If you want privacy a search engine is https://www.ixquick.com/
lukerw
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 10:45pmSchool is suppose to provide an Education that prepares the individual for the REAL WORLD! And, this WORLD is HARSH, EVIL, and full of PREDATORS (we are a Predator Species)!
GET REAL!
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 10:54pmWhat you say is true, but many different groups get by without the latest fad.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 11:05pmWhat about he boys … doesn’t it harm them also?
Report Post »ZengaPA65
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 12:31amThere are Orthodox schools that won’t accept students who have the internet in their house. It‘s between the parents and the school and no one else’s business.
Report Post »VanceUppercut
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 10:43pmWhich one will win out, Blazers, you’re hatred of people infringing on your “rights”, or your hatred of $luts, a.k.a. women? Let the games begin!
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 10:58pmDamn Vance, to adhere to you delusional version of what conservatives are like, all my female relatives will have to stop going to college, quit their white collar jobs & tear up their diplomas.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 11:01pmI do not want to pay (Taxes) to support Sluts… but I believe that each woman has a Right (Free Choice) to be a Slut!
Report Post »nzkiwi
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 11:14pmLol. Good response, Luke.
Report Post »SamIamTwo
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 8:03amhmmm, you may have some issues to deal with yourself, eh?
Report Post »RJJinGadsden
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 8:12amVANCE UPPERCUT, Still trying to figure out those Marvel Comic’s characters?
Report Post »13axes
Posted on March 31, 2012 at 10:08amour hatred for you tops the list you little wanna-be marxist
Report Post »kaydeebeau
Posted on March 30, 2012 at 10:37pmGood
Report Post »