Its unsure who won round one of R' Aviner vs. Srugim, but round #2 is going to be messy.The Maaleh Religious Film School's website has an Q&A section. (Laizy Shapiro, the series director and screenwriter is an alumnus of Maaleh.) A question was posed to R' Aviner who filmed his response:
Question: Respected Rabbi. Why does the Rabbi forbid watching the "Srugim" TV series? Finally, a religious director gets up and directs Jewish content, why shouldn't we support him? What is the forbidden content [in the series]?
R' Aviner's answer is as follows:
Interesting quotes:
"I havent seen this series,but I have read the reviews [J@TM: I wonder if he reads the Muqata?] I understand it isn't good."
"The show arouses the senses. it is not modest. One shouldn't involve themselves with such base things. The yetzer hara is good enough at this without needing additional encouragement"
"The show is libelous against the religious Zionist sector."
Clearly, R' Aviner wants Maaleh graduates to sugar coat any and all depiction of religious zionist life in Israel. You can't film or write about the life of religious singles in Jerusalem, divorce, agunot, or abuse.
I just hope R' Aviner's "power of influence" doesn't get Srugim outlawed -- the same way he pressured Israel's Education Ministry to ban the "revadim" program from Israeli schools.
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