This area has been taboo in the religious community for far too long. The very fabric of our society is at stake. Families are literally being destroyed. Many husbands, wives and children are being affected. The instant availability and anonymity that the Internet provides makes this perhaps the biggest test of our generation.
As Rabbi Yosef Viener from Agudas Yisrael Monsey said in a recent talk on Family Security:
"Not a week goes by that I don’t have to deal with a Shalom Bayis Problem or a problem in Chinuch Habanim or Banos, or a very fine Bochur who will call me up – or at least what is left of a very fine bochur – calls me up crying, begging for help. There is nobody that can claim that either they’re not affected, or a family member, or a neighbor, or the chaver sitting next to them in shul, or the chavrusah sitting across from them in yeshiva. If you discounted it until now, you’re gonna have to take my word for it when I say that there is no single problem facing the yechidim in klal Yisrael and communities at large, there is no bigger problem than this. Nothing even comes close. There’s a Chov Kadosh to do something now before there’s no semblance of Kedusha left in Klal Yisrael. And I don’t say that lightly. Keep in mind, the people who come to me are so frum and so upset about what’s going on, that they’re willing to talk to their Rav. That means that there are thousands of people who would never even speak to their Rav. I hate to sound pessimistic – but if you have unrestricted Internet in the house – Internet that is not both filtered and reported, I would say there’s a higher than then 90% chance that people have already been Nichshal in your house. And if it hasn’t happened yet, there’s more than 90% chance it will happen. And if it’s not happening at home, it’s happening in the office.”
And Rabbi Twerski describes in one of his talks how easy it is to get "addicted" to these things (less than a second) – even when someone was not looking for it, and he bemoans the caliber of people that are falling into this trap today, claiming that Moshiach must be very close.
Guard Your Eyes is helping save lives and marriages every day, helping people retain their self-respect and regain their sanity and connection to spirituality, all of which they had given up for lost thinking they had no hope to ever break free. Finally people are finding that they are not alone and that there is true hope in overcoming this addiction.
There is probably nowhere else in the world where one can find such an awakening of Teshuvah and closeness to Hashem within the religious community. Read the hundreds of testimonials on our website. People write in countless times how they simply break down crying when reading through the website and forum for the first time, realizing that they too have hope!
The Guard Your Eyes network is the only religious network in the world today that deals with this issue in such a comprehensive manner and offering so many tools, such as; a website with hundreds of pages of information, a forum, daily e-mail lists, phone conferences, hot-lines, 12-Step groups, and this groundbreaking program.
On the one hand, what we have done until now has been a considerable accomplishment, yet on the other hand, it's only a drop in the ocean when considering the many tens of thousands of Jews who are either struggling in this area or who are in serious risk of stumbling into these destructive behaviors.
We are in the process of expanding our “Treatment” options by building the framework to accommodate tens of thousands of Jews who may struggle in these areas. We are also expanding our focus on “Prevention” as well by (a) spreading awareness of on-line dangers through educational campaigns and materials aimed at parents, Rabbanim , Mechanchim, and the general public, and (b) by expanding our “Filter Division” to include 24 hour hotlines and support, to assist and encourage people (in the U.S. and Israel) to install solid filtering and monitoring software for their computers and hand-held devices.