Friday, July 03, 2009

Is the Tube dangerous for your soul?

According to Hamodia, religious educators have warned parents not to let their children travel alone on the Piccadilly Line, as they might overhear unsuitable announcements over the loudspeaker system.

Apparently, Tube drivers have been given a book of quotes which they are being encouraged to read from over the intercom to break the monotony of their passengers' journey.

(Apparently it's ok to drive a train and read a book at the same time - although any car driver attempting the same would be arrested. This might also explain a lot about train delays.)

The quotes come from Shakespeare, Gandhi and Einstein, among others, but according to Hamodia, "may oppose Torah oppose Torah hashkafah [outlook] or even be divrei kefirah [heresy]".

"I would advise parents not to let their children travel alone, so that if they hear anything contrary to daas Torah [the Torah view] the person accompanying the child would give the Torah's view on the subject", said a "leading mechanech" (educator).

Let's leave aside the obvious impracticality of forbidding children to travel alone on the Tube - advice that will surely be ignored by the community; the assumption that the adults will be able to counter the "kefirah"; and the implication that a quote or two from Shakespeare might be enough to shake the worldview of a young Charedi child, and requires immediate intervention.

Has anyone heard any of these announcements? What quotes are they worried about?

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