A Cry of Anguish and Appeal to Our Jewish Brethren

We must realize that the day will come when each of us will have to account for all of our actions, and we will be hard-pressed to justify how we could have permitted obscenity and indecency to enter our homes, to be absorbed by our children, the pure Jewish souls entrusted in our care. Lately, especially, each day's programs seems to outdo in perversity those of the day before, as wanton murder and violence, immorality and nihilism, are protrayed for the pleasure of the viewers.

How can we Jews permit ourselves to watch these prroceedings - and that, with complete equanimity? How do responsible parents allow their sons and daughters to sit and look at continuous graphic depictions of the three cardinal sins of Judaism - immorality,` murder and mockery of faith? Is this the formula for raising an upstanding generation, developing students of Hashem's Torah, refined in character and striving for Yiras Shomayim?

Even non-Jews with a sense of decency are deeply dismayed at the moral deterioration that society has suffered as a result of the television-spawned culture, the terrible toll it is taking on the country's youth, and how it is directly responsible for the unrestrained, insolent attitude that prevails in the land.

What, the, are we to say - we who are commanded to keep the mitzvos, we who are instructed to excrcise restraint and to distance ourselves from all manner of licentiousness? We are enjoined both by the Torah and by all standards of derech eretz and deecensy to purge corruption from our midst.

We must free ourselves and our children, once and for all, from the addictive task-master - the television set - that rules our entire lives. If until now we've been remiss about this, it is high time we take strength and encourage one another, to eliminate from our homes this spiritual pollutant that toxifies the very atmosphere.

It is incumbent upon every man and woman, every family and circle of friends, to purge television-viewing fromm their homes, therby fulfilling the commandment that "our camp be holy," our eyes pure, and our hearts noble, bringing blessing upon the Jewish people - achieving a life of sanctity, and proving worthy of the Torah of Life, "whose ways are ways of pleasantness."

In response, may Hashem Yisborach accept our teshuva and our tefillos with compassion, and ave us from all our flaws, so that we can serve Him wholeheartedly, and soon merit the full redemption

Rosh Chodesh Elul 5752

From "Jewish Observer" October 1992