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Sunday, September 25, 2005

Getting Rid Of The Television

I remember being told that Rabbi Avigdor Miller zt"l once said that having a television at home because "there are some good things on televsion" is like installing a sewer pipe in your home. Perhaps you'll find a dime among all of the sewage that floods your house! (This I heard in the 1980s. I understand that the content of television programs from a Torah point of view has plummeted since then.)

I thought about this after seeing the following in a post by Rabbi Gil Student:
My dilemma in writing this post was that some (most) readers will simply ignore this and continue watching TV. My hope, though, is that in the spirit of the upcoming Yom Kippur season readers will actively reduce their television watching. I don't expect anyone to change years-old habits from one quick blog post. But try cutting down. Think about it. It's easy, fairly painless, and can only yield positive results.
Kol HaKavod to Gil for writing this! My advice, however, is to throw the television away, period. You'll be happy that you did so.

2 comments:

NG said...

I haven't owned a television since I moved to Israel 15 months ago, and I miss it terribly. If anyone reading this decides to throw away a television, would you consider gifting it to a new immigrant who'd like to improve his Hebrew by watching educational programs and the news?

I grew up with television but was semi-restricted to quality or educational programming, though I'm sure I watched my fair share of junk. As a young adult I used television almost exclusively for news and documentaries. I would really appreciate being able to watch the History Channel again.

Cosmic X said...

Shalom Natan,

I do not know what level of Hebrew you speak but here is some (unsolicited) advice:

1) Learn basic grammar. I learned it from the textbook "Hayesod".

2) Learn Misnayot Kehati with a Hebrew/English dictionary handy. In addition to learning Hebrew you'll learn Mishnah.

3) Do the weekly parsha "shnei mikra veechad targum". Instead us using targum Unkelos read a good English transaltion.

4) Learn with an Israeli Chavruta.

News you can get from the internet. History channel...I don't know. Remember that when you get married you probably won't want your kids seeing all of the garbage that is being broadcast on television.

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