Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Is half shabbos really an MO phenomenon?

Caveat lector, and all that, but here's a comment left on my blog by PJS
For what it's worth, and just for the record:

It was my post on the kavannah blog which was quoted in the Jewish Week article which has triggered this flurry of postings on 'half-shabbos'. I reported that while returning from some friends on the first night of Rosh Hashanah last year, I came across a group of kids in a local park, texting. They were not -- repeat, definitely not - MO, but charedi male and female teenagers (black hats, black velvet yarmulkahs, Beis Yaakov-type clothing). So, if that is the basis for the report,stop discussing this as an MO phenomenon, and start discussing why frum kids from frum families, who go to charedi schools, are standing around in a park on the first night of R H .... texting.
So, how did the genius journalists at the Jewish Week decide half shabbos is an exclusively MO problem? Steve Lipman [steve@jewishweek.org] I'm talking to you. And while you're at it, please explain how you concluded that 50 percent of MO teens text on shabbos. Oh, I know, what you wrote --  "some say half of Modern Orthodox teens text on Shabbat" --  but can you give us their names and credentials?

For Many Orthodox Teens, ‘Half Shabbos’ Is A Way Of Life, Steve Lippman, Jewish Week

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