Israeli Haredi Radio

In her book "The Israelis, Ordinary People in an Extraordinary Land”, Donna Rosenthal dedicates a chapter focusing on the Haredi Ultra Orthodox communities in Israel. Among many issues she discusses how the Haredi culture of adhering to strict religious guidelines faces difficulties in the modern day society of mass shared information and communication. The Haredi community is suspicious of and looks down upon most forms of shared information in fear of pollution of morality as a result of secular influence.

On page 189 Rosenthal states that most Haredim do not own a television, they believe the shows and news are full of immoral temptations that will evoke in people the “Yetzer Ha-Ra”. Even more so than television, Haredim officials despise the internet. According to Rosenthal, a Haredim Rabbi bulletin calls the internet a “danger one thousand times greater than television” and most Ultra orthodox Rabbis require followers to delete home browsing links from their computers (pg 199). The Haredi community in Jerusalem known as “Edah HaChareidis” forbids all links to the internet calling it “a deadly poison which burns the soul”.

While television and the internet are not supported, Haredi radio is an aspect of mass communication that Haredi families such as the Steins, written about in Rosenthal's book, are allowed to partake in. According to the text, radio is one of the only accepted and openly utilized forms of mass communication in the Israeli Ultra Orthodox community. These Israeli Haredi radio stations are a unique feature of the countries diverse identity.

In his book “God, Jews, and the Media: Religion and Israeli Media”, Yoel Cohen discusses the role of radio in the Israeli Haredi community. He mentions that a 1995 survey conducted by the Israeli Advertisers Associations found that 56% of the Haredi community didn't listen to any radio at all while 26% listened to Orthodox religious radio. Cohen mentions that perhaps numbers were so low because most ultra orthodox stations were not approved by the Israeli Government.

In 1996, recognizing that the religious communities needed their own station; the Israeli government approved the establishment of Radio Kol Chai (The voice of life) which was geared towards both the Haredi and Modern Orthodox communities. Cohen explains how the station quickly shifted to a strictly Haredi station in order to attract the stricter religious audience to cope with low ratings as a loose religious station. When the channel made the switch they had to tighten up the programming as to not offend some Haredi listeners, such as by removing women singing (which is forbidden in the Haredi community in accordance with Kol Isha)

Image accredited to Kol Chai Radio

According to their website, Kol Chai is the most listened to Radio station in the Haredi Israeli community. They cover a range of topics including family, food, music, and news. Interestingly the radio station is available online as well, enabling listeners to tune in from outside of Israel, while utilizing the internet that many in the Ultra Orthodox Rabbinate condemn.

Kol Chai is not alone in the field of online Israeli Haredi radio station broadcasting. Kol Barami is an Israeli Haredi radio station that began broadcasting in 2009 and also utilizes internet broadcasting along with FM radio. According to their website about 200,000 households listen to the station everyday that broadcasts programming approved by Haredi rabbis, spiritually accepted public figures, and religious public leaders. The website also mentions how the station emphasizes listening habits supported by the Haredi community as reflected in public opinion surveys conducted regularly.

These Haredi Israeli radio stations provide an avenue to express the strict religious traditions of the Ultra Orthodox utilizing mass communication.

Rosenthal’s point of view reflected in her book “The Israelis”, looks down upon the Haredi community as expressed through the tone and scope of information she provides. She focuses on what the community does not allow in accordance to shared information and quickly overlooks the importance of the Haredi radio stations. She also failed to mention how the radio channels are broadcast over the internet along with the FM radio stations.

Yoel Cohen also somehow skips this vital internet radio factor in the chapter on Haredi radio in his book. This however does not imply a negative viewpoint of the Haredi community because he goes into depth about the issue of the internet amongst Israeli Haredim in subsequent chapters of the book. Cohen successfully holds a central point of view, showing both positive and negative aspects from both sides of the argument. The data in Cohen's book is reliable. Cohen is a well established writer and the book was published by Routledge, the worlds leading academic publisher of the Humanities and Social Science

The websites representing the two Haredi radio stations (Kol Chai & Kol Barama) both hold a favorable point of view towards the Haredi community and obviously their respective radio stations. Like any business they talk highly of themselves and even higher of their audience. The programming while done in accordance to rabbinical standards is also shaped by the audience’s opinion, and the majority of the audience for Kol chai and Kol Barama are the Ultra Orthodox. Both of the websites have a point of view that is highly favorable to the Haredi community. The data referred to in this blog post taken from these two websites is reliable. Both radio stations are mainstream in Israel and are supported by the Israeli Knesset which governs the radio stations and their websites accountability.

The Haredi radio stations in Israel serve an important niche of Israeli society. The Ultra Orthodox communities, with their strict guidelines on exposure to information, needs these radio stations to safely share information to their community.