Dear Rabbi Twerski,
Here's a PDF file called "The GYE Lighthouse" (right-click and press "Save Target/Link As"). It has a link to a short audio clip from a speech that the Rav recently gave (on Chanukah). It also documents a few of the many cries for help that we are getting from the best and brightest of our community... There's even a letter inside from a Rebbe of children ages 11-14 (!) who claims that many of these kids are addicted to this stuff and don't even know it's wrong!
I wanted to ask that when the Rav speaks about this issue in public gatherings and forums, if the Rav could please mention our work at GuardYourEyes.org?
There is nothing out there like what we have going on today at GYE. We have currently 4 different 12-Step phone conferences (all anonymous), we have over 1,100 members on our two different daily Chizuk e-mail lists, we have two websites, hundreds of tips and stories, a thriving forum with hundreds of members, tons of FAQ and Q&A pages, and lots of great guidance and correspondence from the Rav... We also have handbooks set up, with step by step information and guidance on how to beat this addiction in all it's many different stages.
We are B"H getting in testimonials every single day of people whose lives have been changed around completely through our network.
Thanks so much for everything!
I recommend GYE at every opportunity I get. I can't put it in Hamodia because they are not permitted to acknowledge that internet even exists.
I'm sending you here (below) an article that was in Hamodia. I don't know if you want to use it.
Twerski
Not a week goes by that I don't get several calls about new casualties to the internet. Some people call in desperation about themselves, feeling trapped into a habit from which they have unsuccessfully tried to extricate themselves. Others, equally desperate, call about a family member. There is no immunity. People would be shocked to know the caliber of the people who have fallen prey to this problem.
While restricting access to the internet would appear to be a logical solution, it is simply not realistic. The use of internet, even just for business needs, is widespread. Filters can be effective to prevent accidental exposure to improper scenes, and can be helpful for people who sincerely want to stop. But the Satan has become overpowering and is claiming victims, destroying spiritual lives, marriages and families.
A man recently told me that he is traveling to a city 600 miles distant by car. Why? Because he is in contact with his infant grandchildren and is afraid of exposure to a carrier of the swine flu virus at the airport or on a plane. The awareness of the gravity of the problem and the possible consequences warrant his driving ten hours! This man has no false illusions about immunity. Even if we are secure about ourselves, we should be seriously concerned about our children. The technology is advancing every day. There is no safe place to hide out.
What can we do? One phrase comes to mind, that of Avraham Avinu to Avimelech, "There is just no fear of G-d in this place" (Bereishis 20:11). Whatever else one may do, if there is no yiras shamayim, everything is possible, even the most immoral behavior.
But don't we have strong yiras shamayim? B"H, we have wonderful yeshivos and seminaries. We have glatt kosher meat, chalav yisrael, pas Yisrael and kemachyashan. But listen to the Talmud. When Raban Yohanan ben Zakai was in his last days, his talmidim asked for his beracha. He said, "May your fear of Hashem be as great as your fear of people." His talmidim were shocked. "Is that what you think of us?" Raban Yohanan said, "Halevai you would achieve that! When a person does an aveira he is concerned that no person should see him. It does not bother him that Hashem sees him" (Berachos 25b).
Just think of it! The talmidim of Raban Yohanan ben Zakai! People whose greatness in Torah and kedusha is beyond what we can imagine, yet he felt that they might be lacking in yiras shamayim. How can we say about ourselves that we have adequate yiras shamayim? Remember what Chovas Halevavos says, "You may be asleep, but the yetzer hara is awake." Awake and unrelenting.
What can we do to increase yiras shamayim? Rashi provides the answer." To observe those mitzvos that we tend to trample on" (Devarim 7:12). B"H, we do not trample on kashrus,on Shabbos, or on chametz on Pesach, but unfortunately, we may trample on middos: kaas, lashon hara, kinah, sinah, ga'ava, shekker. We should keep before us the words of Rebbe Chaim Vital, that we should take even greater precaution with middos than we do with aveiros! Middos is the key to yiras shamayim. Middos gives the person a sense of kedusha and dignity that he would not allow himself to soiled with the tumah of the internet.
Let us be honest with ourselves. Do we sometimes lose our temper? The Talmud says that this is equivalent to avodah zara. Do we sometimes listen to or speak lashon hara, which is equivalent to the three cardinal sins of avodah zara, shefichas damim and ariyos? Do we sometimes deviate from the truth? No amount of chumros can be considered yiras shamayim if we are not meticulously careful about middos.
It is easy to buy kosher food. It is not easy to become master of our middos. It may be the most difficult challenge of our lives. But think of the person who will drive ten hours for fear that he may be exposed to the swine flu virus and how disastrous this can be to his grandchildren. If our homes do not become fortresses of true yiras shamayim, our children are at risk of being infected by the virus of the internet. Remember the words of Avraham Avinu "There is just no fear of G-d in this place." Without true yiras shamayim nothing else will work.