Are Rabbis Informed? Mass Media Information and Jewish Clergy in Israel

Abstract

A clash of cultures exists between the world of the rabbi and the mass media environment given that the rabbi, whether in Israel or in the Jewish diaspora, emerges from a conservative culture representing established traditions and religious structures, and is confronted with accelerated cultural change exemplified by the media. To be true, the synagogue has for hundreds of years been losing its monopoly of forming moral values. If religion in traditional societies was based upon authority vested in religious bodies, in complex industrial societies there is increased emphasis upon personal choice in moral and religious matters with religious and spiritual issues increasingly mediated through print and electronic technologies. Mass media has in effect become a secondary causal agent of contemporary religious identity.