On freedom and kosher phones – Anshel Pfeffer in Haaretz:

‘Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of the Kremlin propaganda channel Russia Today, said this week that “No great nation can exist without control over information” and that “They taught us for decades: No no no, society must be free. A developed economy can’t exist without a developed political system or a free political system. All of that is total bullshit. Just look at China. Do you like China’s economy? Do they have any freedom in the political life of their country? In the informational life of the country?”’

(…)

‘If you haven’t been following this fracas until now, here’s a very quick summary. “Kosher” phones are those which are approved by a shadowy “rabbinical committee” and have no access to the internet and many other cellular services. They are blocked from calling a long list of numbers that heaven only knows why have brought down the censure of the rabbis (they include helplines for victims of sexual abuse).
To make sure their followers only use kosher phones, the mobile-phone providers agreed to allocate only numbers from specific sequences to “kosher” phones and despite a law allowing all mobile phone users in Israel to “move” their number with them when they change provider, going into effect in 2007, those using “kosher” phones were not allowed to do so. Because the rabbis feared their flock would game the system, owning a “kosher” number while actually using a “non-kosher” phone.’

(…)

‘The ultra-Orthodox rabbis and their proxies are up in arms. United Torah Judaism chairman Moshe Gafni attacked Hendel calling him a “dictator” and accusing him of “forcing his will upon a large public.” His colleague, Knesset member Uri Maklev described the move as “a devilish and dictatorial attempt to force a different way of life and change the Haredi community.” Of course, the Haredi community has been deprived of nothing. Everyone is still free to buy whatever phone the rabbis tell them and thus deny themselves of proscribed services and numbers. No-one is being forced to do anything.
Another Haredi lawmaker, in the spirit of the festival, said that if this is Hendel’s “gift to us for Pesach, then we will work to get rid of this evil together with the rest of the chametz.” It’s interesting we call Pesach the Festival of Freedom, because from reading the Exodus story and the Children of Israel’s 40-year sojourn in the desert before entering the promised land, we are continuously reminded how reluctant they were to leave their bondage in Egypt and, at times, were even eager to return. And that hasn’t changed.

The great biblical scholar Nechama Leibowitz wrote that “Exodus is a continuous act. In every generation man must take himself out of his own Egypt.”’

Read the article here.

I would say that getting rid of non-kosher phone is a liberating act, but we cannot decide for others what is ‘good’. Yes, you need some laws for a society in order for it to exist, and some basic agreement among the citizens that most of these laws are justifiable, but outside the judicial system we cannot liberate other people against their will.

Freedom is also the decision not to leave Egypt.