Orthodox Jews have for years mastered the art of the pithy and withering exchange in closed groups on apps like WhatsApp. Shulim Leifer, a Hasidic Jew who is active on Twitter and who identifies with the left - a rarity in his community - said in an interview that Raichik’s mastery of Twitter should not be surprising. “It’s more okay for a woman to see immodesty” on social media, he said. Poupko explained that any restrictions on women engaging on social media are less severe than for men, a function of the belief that women are better equipped than men to withstand temptation. Within both haredi communities and the Chabad movement, women increasingly engage on social media, sometimes developing influencer personas under their own name on topics as diverse as religious observance, fashion, parenting and antiracism. Others have pointed out that, among Orthodox Jews, Chabad has carved out a unique space in its embrace of new media to spread its movement’s message. “Whoever starts to surf will not easily stop or retreat,” Gilad Malach, an expert on the haredi Orthodox at the Israel Democracy Institute, told the newspaper. He pointed to an analysis last year in an Israeli newspaper, Yisrael Hayom: Experts on the haredi Orthodox were quoted as saying that the community’s desire to influence heated Israeli debates over coronavirus prevention drove the community’s leaders to ease restrictions.
#GAY TWITTER SEX TV#
“It’s okay to admit you’re using it, but not with your name,” said Poupko, likening it to the joke about Netflix that he says circulates among the haredi Orthodox: “It’s okay to admit watching Netflix, but God forbid you have a TV in your house.”Īs politics play out increasingly on social media, Poupko said, it becomes harder to avoid the arena if you want to defend your values. It’s all right to engage, but it’s better if it’s done anonymously, he said, which may be one reason that Raichik and her supporters have lashed out at The Washington Post for revealing her identity. “There is a larger tug of war for the hearts and minds of the public and like most communities with convictions, the Orthodox community participates,” he said.Įlchanan Poupko, a Modern Orthodox rabbi who is a frequent poster on Twitter, said that there remains a degree of stigma associated with posting on social media among haredi Orthodox Jews, who historically have been discouraged by their leaders from using social media and even smartphones. He likened Orthodox engagement on social media to the community’s longtime activism in government lobbying. They have values they are committed to, if you want to see those values reflected, one of the arenas of debate has become social media,” he said in an interview. “The Orthodox community is a reflection of the larger population.
The hesitancy among many in the Orthodox community to engage in online culture wars has fallen away over the last decade, as Orthodox Jews have come to see how influential one may be on social media, said David Bashevkin, an Orthodox educator who writes about the community’s engagement in the secular world. In the runup to the 2020 election, Orthodox Trump supporters rallied in the streets for him in Brooklyn and demonstrated against the pandemic restrictions he mocked the son of a prominent Brooklyn judge who led a national Orthodox synagogue group was present among the rioters, while some Orthodox publications blamed leftists for the siege or downplayed the gravity of the Capitol mob’s actions.
She claimed to be present during the Jan. Raichik, in previous incarnations on Twitter, has embraced former President Donald Trump’s lies about the results of the 2020 presidential election. It also is renewing conversation about how deeply some members of the Orthodox community are embedded in the American far right. Meanwhile, the Post’s revelation of Raichik’s name and of her faith affiliation spurred outrage among conservatives, who accused the newspaper of antisemitism and of “doxing” her, or revealing her identity in order to harm her. Who Chaya Raichik is, and if and how she might be connected to that dynasty, spurred speculation among many Jews on Tuesday. Raichik is a prominent name associated with Orthodox Jews in South California, where Rabbi Shmuel Dovid Raichik was an early emissary of the Chabad movement and where his son Shimon was a top leader until his death last year. Get The Jewish Chronicle Weekly Edition by email and never miss our top stories The newspaper reported nothing else about Raichik’s Jewish identity, but it said she recently moved from New York City to Los Angeles. That information was contained at one point in Raichik’s Twitter bio, where users often share elements of their identities, The Washington Post reported.