JERUSALEM (RNS) A new Internet search engine is making it possible for ultra-Orthodox Jews who use computers to obtain information online– but not on the Sabbath, when the site shuts down.
Dubbed Koogle (a cross between Google and kugel, the name of a Jewish noodle pudding), the Hebrew-language search engine is being touted as a kosher portal for devout Jews who almost universally shun the Internet because many online sites are religiously inappropriate.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews, known as haredim, live according to the strictest interpretation of the Torah as interpreted by their respective rabbis. They usually live in insular communities where access to secular culture is severely restricted. TVs are banned while computers and the Internet are tolerated strictly for work purposes.
In their mission statement, Koogle administrators said the site’s goal is to “filter the appropriate information from different Web sites that are relevant to our target audience in a way that does not contradict the values of our traditional Jewish audience.”
Koogle is not a filter for surfers who want to access secular Web sites. Rather, it is a compilation of Israeli resources deemed inoffensive by the administrators. It includes news, business directories and links to realtors, kosher restaurants, hotels as well as mohels, or ritual circumcisers, and rehab centers.
While many listings include both contact information and a link to the business’ Web site, the one for lingerie provides only addresses and phone numbers.
In keeping with the norms of the haredi community, no photos of women — no matter how modestly attired — are permitted on Koogle. Nor are there ads for TVs, DVD players or other “unkosher” products. Koogle does not operate on the Jewish Sabbath, which begins on Friday night at sundown and ends 25 hours later.
By Michele Chabin
Copyright 2009 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.
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posted June 17, 2009 at 6:04 pm
That is totally cool.
posted June 17, 2009 at 7:14 pm
Cool? This is a website for ultra-orthodox men, only. The women can read it? Probably just make Kugle pudding.
posted June 17, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Henrietta, did it say women couldn’t use the site? I didn’t see that if so. It just said there would be no photos of women on the site….
)
If indeed women can’t use it…not as cool.
posted June 17, 2009 at 8:11 pm
If women can’t have their photos on the site, it gave me the feeling that they are being purposely ignored because they would be a distraction for the men. I wonder how many ultra-orthodox women have computers? Keep the women in the nursery and kitchen I would think would be the order of the day. I may wrong, if I am I apologize.
posted June 17, 2009 at 9:02 pm
It said no one would be challenged by anything they see there. A sign of great cowardice in the people for whom it’s aimed.
posted June 17, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Another religious control issue, nnmns. We can hope that those using the computer might go outside the site and learn more of the outside world.
posted June 20, 2009 at 10:10 pm
Koogle seems interesting and possibly a boom to the haredim. The addition of an easy accessed English translating mechanism would make this search engine even more interesting.