Matisyahu Salomon, rabbi who warned of the dangers of the internet, dies at the age of 86

Rabbi Matisyahu Salomon, a longtime spiritual advisor at America's largest yeshiva who led a crusade to warn observant Jews about the risks of the Internet, died Jan. 2 in Lakewood, NJ. He was 86.

The death was confirmed by Rabbi Avi Shafran, director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America, the umbrella organization for numerous Hasidic and other ultra-Orthodox groups. He said that Rabbi Salomon had been ill for years.

Rabbi Salomon's title during his three decades at Beth Medrash Govoha, a religious school in Lakewood whose enrollment of nearly 9,000 students is surpassed only by Israel's Mir Yeshiva, was dean of students. But he achieved far more influence than the title suggests, through weekly lectures and personal meetings that mentored thousands of young men in ethical and pious behavior.

Many of his acolytes became leaders of the teeming haredi or ultra-Orthodox communities in Brooklyn, England and Israel, as well as in smaller enclaves around the world.

He capitalized on that influence in a campaign he led a decade ago to warn observant Jews that new technologies threatened adherence to the laws, traditions and principles that are the backbone of their faith.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews were as enthusiastic about the benefits of computers, the Internet and smartphones as their non-Jewish and more secular neighbors. But it became clear to Rabbi Salomon and other community leaders that these new technologies could also be dangerous, as they could entice devout Jews with videos. images and temporary content that would distract them from their family life, daily religious obligations and activities such as Torah study.

Their concerns culminated in a rally on a Sunday evening in May 2012 that filled the 40,000 seats at Citi Field, home of the New York Mets. The stadium was filled almost entirely with ultra-Orthodox Jewish men — women were offered separate locations where they could watch a live broadcast — and any excess was sent to the 20,000-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium, normally used for tennis tournaments.

Significantly, the meeting was organized by two rabbis from the main streams of ultra-Orthodox Ashkenazi Judaism: Rabbi Salomon, a student of the so-called Litvic school, which until World War II focused on Lithuania's legendary yeshivas and prioritized scholarly study of the Torah and Talmud, and Rabbi Israel Portugal, the great rabbi of the Skulen Hasidic sect, who, like other Hasidic groups, values ​​both the exuberant expression of faith and science.

The meeting's speakers implored attendees to limit internet use to business and other practical matters and to avoid frivolous social media, pornography and other sites that distract from Torah study and human relationships. Rabbi Salomon had told an earlier meeting in Lakewood that the meeting organizers were seeking God's help in combating the “evil tendencies” that drive a person to wander the Internet.

The speakers at the meeting did not call for a ban on the use of the Internet. But they urged the public to fit their computers and other electronic devices with filters designed to block content objectionable to observant Jews. Eventually, Orthodox Jewish communities around the world set up some fifty offices, known by the acronym TAG (for Technology Awareness Group), to provide technical assistance in blocking disturbing content.

Rabbi Salomon, a man with a broad beard, born in England and with a voice that was both compelling and tender, felt that what he was asking was demanding. The following month he gave a talk in Flatbush, Brooklyn, that seemed to soften the tone of the meeting, pointing out that the pursuit of holiness “is presented as a promise, not a commandment.”

“Hashem wants us to know that all we have to do is be holy,” he said, using a substitute title for God that means “the name.” “God knows everyone's difficulties. He just needs to know that you want it and that you understand it.'

“Don't give up,” he added. “Don't say it's impossible.”

Rabbi Binyomin Schonblum of Lakewood, a 43-year-old disciple of Rabbi Salomon, said Rabbi Salomon's Internet campaign and the standalone lectures he gave on ethics Monday evening were “done with love.”

“It wasn't done with a gun to someone's head,” he said. “He wanted what was best for your soul.”

Rabbi Salomon was also known for his teachings on dignified behavior, addressing actions that may not have been explicitly addressed in Judaism's holy books.

After his death, Rabbi Shafran wrote a column in which he recalled hearing of an incident that occurred in Gateshead, in northern England, where Rabbi Salomon grew up and worked as a young man. A police officer who tried to break up a snowball fight between several students that disturbed neighbors was himself beaten down and treated disrespectfully. The next morning, Rabbi Salomon appeared with the chief constable and said to the entire class, “Until you learn to respect the laws of the society in which you live, I cannot teach you the Torah.” To the surprise of his students, he walked out of the room.

Matisyahu Chaim Salomon was born on November 28, 1937 in Gateshead, where there was a thriving Orthodox community. He was one of eight children of Yaakov Salomon, a small store owner, and Ettel (Falk) Salomon. His parents had fled Germany with the rise of Hitler and the Nazis.

After receiving a basic Jewish education in London, Matisyahu returned to Gateshead to study at the yeshiva.

When he was 16, his father died, leaving his mother to raise the children alone, an experience that his students say shaped Rabbi Salomon's compassionate view of Jewish observance. At the Gateshead yeshiva, Rabbi Salomon rose to assistant mashgiach ruchani, or assistant spiritual supervisor. Within a few years he became a senior supervisor, a position he held for the next thirty years.

In 1960 he married Miriam Falk, descendant of a family that had written several important books of religious commentary. She died in 2016. His survivors include three sons, Yaakov Yehuda, Moshe and Meir Salomon; seven daughters, Naomi Jacobs, Nechama Weinberg, Ettel Halpern, Chani Gittelson, Esther Knopf, Rochel Sorotzkin and Rivka Perkowski; two siblings; and many grandchildren.

He was appointed spiritual supervisor at the Lakewood yeshiva in 1997 and remained in that position until his death. According to Rabbi Schonblum, on the first Friday evening after his arrival at the yeshiva, students lined up to greet him with a “Gut Shabbos” and someone cheekily asked, “So what's your plan here in Lakewood?”

“Do you see this line of people passing by?” Rabbi Solomon replied. “My plan is for each of these people to have a bigger smile on their face.”