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The Torah Warned Us About the Dangers of Social Media and the Quest for Validation
In recent years, the lengths to which individuals will go on social media to achieve fame and validation, and the consequent material gains, have grown out of all proportion and reached alarming extremes. A shocking 2022 study by Jean Twenge and Jonathan Haidt found that there is a very strong association between heavy social media use and a decline in mental health in teenagers, comparing its impact to that of binge drinking and even drug use.
The study proves what we already know: there is a significant psychological impact on young people who pursue online validation. It has destroyed countless lives, and the impact on the younger generation is no different from the well-documented ill effects of hard drug addiction.
A particularly tragic example happened just this week. Aanvi Kamdar, a 27-year-old Mumbai-based chartered accountant, devoted all of her spare time to being a social media travel influencer, obsessively documenting her travel adventures on Instagram.
On Tuesday, Kamdar died after falling into a gorge while shooting an Instagram reel. She had gone for an outing with a group of friends to the famous Kumbhe waterfall in Maharashtra’s Raigad district in India. Tragically, while shooting a video intended to startle her viewers, Kamdar slipped and fell into the 300-foot ravine. Despite the efforts of local authorities and rescue teams, Kamdar succumbed to her injuries in the hospital after a six-hour rescue operation.
Another sad example of social media causing the demise of attention seekers is the story of Monalisa Perez and Pedro Ruiz III, a young couple from Minnesota. The couple were aspiring YouTubers who sought to amass followers by performing increasingly risky stunts — and with followers comes fame, and money.
In June 2017, in their riskiest bid for attention, they attempted a perilous stunt in which Monalisa shot Pedro with a gun while he held a thick book against his chest, in the belief that the book would stop the bullet. Tragically, the stunt failed, and Pedro died.
The incident, which was live-streamed, underlined the extreme risks people are willing to take for social media fame and for the material gains that follow. Perez, who was pregnant with their second child when she killed Pedro, was charged with second-degree manslaughter and served time in prison.
Then there is the case of Wu Yongning, a Chinese daredevil known for his extreme stunts performed at great heights. Wu gained a substantial following on social media by posting videos of himself performing dangerous stunts without any safety equipment.
In November 2017, Wu attempted to perform a stunt on top of a 62-story skyscraper in Changsha, China. Sadly, he lost his grip and fell to his death. What is so heartbreaking is that it was Wu’s desperation for social media fame, and the validation that came with it, that led him to take increasingly perilous risks, which ultimately resulted in his demise.
This modern-day obsession with validation and recognition finds a striking parallel in the ancient story of Bilam in Parshat Balak. Bilam was a renowned and gifted gentile prophet, feted by all for his prophetic powers.
But Bilam’s thirst for fame and fortune was an Achilles heel that would prove to be his downfall. He was enlisted by Balak, the Moabite king, to curse the Israelites, a job for which Balak promised he would be paid handsomely. At first, Bilam was reluctant and refused the task. But the allure of royal recognition and untold wealth proved to be just too irresistible. Bilam ultimately agreed to participate in Balak’s reprehensible plan, despite being warned by God not to go ahead with it.
Rashi, the preeminent medieval commentator, provides a profound insight into Bilam’s character and the weakness that led him on a course of action that ultimately resulted in his death by the sword on the battlefield. He explains that Bilam’s desire for honor and material benefits clouded his judgment. Despite knowing the futility and danger of his mission — after all, he was a man of God who knew very well that following this path was a doom-ridden choice — Bilam’s yearning for external validation and boundless wealth led him to pursue it nonetheless.
This is no different from the struggles many face today with social media: the relentless pursuit of external validation and the money that follows leads people to compromise their values and even to endanger their well-being.
Rashi notes that the angel who appeared to Bilam with a drawn sword was actually an angel of mercy. The threatening appearance was intended to stop Bilam and save his life, highlighting the destructive path Bilam was on because of his quest for honor and money. Rashi comments, “The angel was sent to prevent Bilam from sinning and to save him from his own destructive desires.”
The Talmud in Sanhedrin elaborates on Bilam’s character, describing him as someone with immense potential but whose moral weakness led him to misuse his gifts. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch provides further insight into Bilam’s actions: “Bilam’s journey was not merely a physical one but a reflection of his internal conflict, torn between divine will and human vanity. But true worth and honor always come from within, from living a life aligned with divine values and principles, not from the external accolades and approval of society.”
Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin, in his commentary Haamek Davar, suggests that Bilam’s failure to curse the Israelites and his subsequent blessings were not just acts of divine intervention, but also a revelation of Bilam’s true potential when he aligned with God’s will: “Bilam’s blessings were a reflection of what he could achieve when he transcended his personal desires and aligned himself with the divine mission.”
This insight is an indictment to so many who allow their best side to be eclipsed by their darkest desires. Imagine how well they could do if they “transcended their personal desires and aligned themselves with their divine mission.”
Our modern struggles with social media have brought this human weakness into sharp focus. Just as Bilam’s quest for validation led him astray, so too does the obsession with social media recognition lead so many people away from their true selves, and the best version of themselves. The Torah way is to seek validation from within and from our connection with the divine, rather than from the fleeting and often superficial approval of others — even if that approval comes with a payday.
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, in his seminal work Lonely Man of Faith, speaks to this dichotomy between the pursuit of external achievements and the quest for internal fulfillment. He writes: “Man’s dignity lies in his ability to recognize the divine image within himself, not in the accolades he receives from others.”
However difficult it may be, we must work as hard as we can to highlight the dangers of social media. While it may have the potential to connect and inspire, social media also carries the risk of causing irreparable harm to those who use it if they become too reliant on it for validation.
The story of Bilam reminds us of the importance of seeking internal validation and staying true to our values. Just as Bilam ultimately blessed the Israelites, we too can find blessings in our lives when we focus on genuine connections and self-worth, rather than on the elusive approval of the digital world.
The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California.
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University of California Rejects Ethnic Studies Admissions Requirement in Faculty Assembly Vote
Demonstrators holding a “Stand Up for Internationals” rally on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, in Berkeley, California, US, April 17, 2025. Photo: Carlos Barria via Reuters Connect.
The University of California (UC) Faculty Assembly has rejected a proposal to establish passing ethnic studies in high school as a requirement for admission to its 10 taxpayer-funded schools for undergraduates.
As previously reported by The Algemeiner, the campaign for the measure — defeated overwhelmingly 29-12 with 12 abstaining — was spearheaded by Christine Hong, chair of the Critical Race and Ethnic Studies department at UC Santa Cruz. Hong believes that Zionism is a “colonial racial project” and that Israel is a “settler colonial state.” Moreover, she holds that anti-Zionism is “part and parcel” of the ethnic studies discipline.
Ethnic studies activists like Hong throughout the University of California system coveted the admissions requirement because it would have facilitated their aligning ethnic studies curricula at the K-12 level with “liberated ethnic studies,” an extreme revolutionary project that was rejected by California Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2023. Had the proposal been successful, school officials of both public and private schools would have been forced to comply with their standard of what constitutes ethnic studies to qualify their students for admission to UC.
Being indoctrinated into anti-Zionism and “hating Jews” would essentially have become a prerequisite for becoming a UC student had the Faculty Assembly approved the measure, Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, executive director of antisemitism watchdog AMCHA Initiative, told The Algemeiner on Friday. AMCHA Initiative first raised the alarm about the proposal in 2023, calling it “a deeply frightening prospect.”
“Ethnic studies never intended to be like any other discipline or subject. It was always intended to be a political project for fomenting revolution according to the dictates of however the activists behind the subject defined it,” Rossman-Benjamin explained. “And anti-Zionism has been at the core of the field, and this became especially clear after Oct. 7. Most of the anti-Zionist mania on campuses that day — the support for the encampments, the Faculty for Justice in Palestine chapters — it was a project of Ethnic Studies. At UC Santa Cruz, 60 percent of Faculty for Justice in Palestine members were pulled from the ethnic studies department.”
Founded in the 1960s to provide an alternative curriculum for beneficiaries of racial preferences whose retention rates lagged behind traditional college students, ethnic studies is based on anti-capitalist, anti-liberal, and anti-Western ideologies found in the writings of, among others, Franz Fanon, Huey Newton, Simone de Beauvoir, and Karl Marx. Its principal ideological target in the 20th century was the remains of European imperialism in Africa and the Middle East, but overtime it identified new “systems of oppression,” most notably the emergent superpower that was the US after World War II and the nation that became its closest ally in the Middle East: Israel.
UC Santa Cruz’s Critical Race and Ethnic Studies (CRES) department is a case study in how the ideology leads inexorably to anti-Zionist antisemitism, AMCHA Initiative argued in a 2024 study.
Following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, CRES issued a statement rationalizing the terrorist group’s atrocities as political resistance. Additionally, the department days later participated in a “Call for a Global General Strike,” refusing to work because Israel mounted a military response to Hamas’s atrocities — an action CRES called “Israel’s genocidal attack on Gaza.” Later, the department held an event titled, “The Genocide in Gaza in our [sic] Classrooms: A Teaching Palestine Workshop,” in which professors and teaching assistants were trained in how to persuade students that Zionism is a racist and genocidal endeavor.
Imposing such noxious views on all California students would have been catastrophic, Rossman-Benjamin told The Algemeiner.
“The goal of admissions requirements is to make sure that students are adequately prepared for college,” she noted. “Their goal was to use their power to force students to take the kind of Critical Ethnic Studies that is taught at the university, with the goal of revolutionizing society. The idea should have been dead on arrival, being rejected on the grounds that there is no evidence that it is a worthwhile subject that should be required for admission to the University of California.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post University of California Rejects Ethnic Studies Admissions Requirement in Faculty Assembly Vote first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli FM Praises Paraguay Decision to Label Iran’s IRGC, Proxies Hamas and Hezbollah as Terrorist Organizations
Paraguayan President Santiago Peña praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Dec. 12, 2024. Photo: The Western Wall Heritage Foundation
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar praised Paraguay’s decision to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, and to broaden the country’s previous designation to include all factions of Hamas and Hezbollah.
The top Israeli diplomat congratulated the South American country and described President Santiago Peña’s decision as a “landmark move” in addressing security challenges and fostering international peace.
“Iran is the world’s leading exporter of terrorism and extremism, and together with its terror proxies, it threatens regional stability and global peace,” Sa’ar wrote in a post on X. “More countries should follow suit and join the fight against Iranian aggression and terrorism.”
I commend Paraguay and @SantiPenap for the landmark decision to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hamas, and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations.
Iran is the world’s leading exporter of terrorism and extremism, and together with its terror proxies, it threatens… https://t.co/OzWACbWcno— Gideon Sa’ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) April 24, 2025
On Thursday, Peña issued an executive order designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization “for its systematic violations of peace, human rights, and the security of the international community.”
The executive order also expanded Paraguay’s 2019 proscription of the armed wings of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, the al-Qassam Brigades, and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terrorist group in Lebanon, to encompass the entirety of both organizations, including their political wings.
“With this decision, Paraguay reaffirms its unwavering commitment to peace, international security, and the unconditional respect for human rights, solidifying its position within the international community as a country firmly opposed to all forms of terrorism and strengthening its relations with allied nations in this fight,” Peña wrote in a post on X, emphasizing the country’s strategic relationship with the United States and Israel.
Iran is the chief international backer of Hamas and Hezbollah, providing the Islamist terror groups with weapons, funding, and training. According to media reports based on documents seized by the Israeli military in Gaza last year, Iran had been informed about Hamas’s plan to launch the Oct. 7 attack months in advance.
Last year, Peña reopened Paraguay’s embassy in Jerusalem, making it the sixth nation — after the US, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, and Papua New Guinea — to establish its embassy in the Israeli capital. During the same visit, he condemned the Hamas-led massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, calling the perpetrators “criminals” in a speech at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.
The Trump administration also praised Paraguay’s decision to officially label the IRGC as a terrorist organization, describing it as a major blow to Iran’s terror network in the Western Hemisphere.
“Iran remains the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world and has financed and directed numerous terrorist attacks and activities globally, through its IRGC-Qods Force and proxies such as Hezbollah and Hamas,” US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement.
The US official said Paraguay’s action will help disrupt Iran’s ability to finance terrorism and operate in Latin America — particularly in the Tri-Border Area, where Paraguay borders Argentina and Brazil, a region long regarded as a financial hub for Hezbollah-linked operatives.
“The important steps Paraguay has taken will help cut off the ability of the Iranian regime and its proxies to plot terrorist attacks and raise money for its malignant and destabilizing activity,” the statement read.
“The United States will continue to work with partners such as Paraguay to confront global security threats,” Bruce added. “We call on all countries to hold the Iranian regime accountable and prevent its operatives, recruiters, financiers, and proxies from operating in their territories.”
During his first administration, Trump designated the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO), citing the Iranian regime’s use of the IRGC to “engage in terrorist activities since its inception 40 years ago.”
At the time, Trump said this designation “recognizes the reality that Iran is not only a state sponsor of terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft.”
“The IRGC is the Iranian government’s primary means of directing and implementing its global terrorist campaign,” he continued.
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Yale’s Silence Is Allowing Blatant Campus Antisemitism — and Betraying the Promise of ‘Never Again’
Yale University students at the corner of Grove and College Streets in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S., April 22, 2024. Photo: Melanie Stengel via Reuters Connect.
As darkness fell over Yale University on Wednesday evening, Jewish students faced intimidation that echoed history’s darkest chapters. The following day, as the sun rose on Holocaust Remembrance Day, the world solemnly reflected on the devastating consequences of unchecked hatred.
Yet, disturbingly, at Yale, the shadows of that same hatred linger once again.
For several nights now, radical anti-Israel activists, primarily organized by “Yalies for Palestine,” an anti-Israel hate group, have targeted Jewish students at Yale — in many cases, based solely on their outwardly Jewish appearance.
On Wednesday, protestors blocked walkways, physically intimidated Jewish students, and hurled bottles and sprayed liquids at them — all while campus police stood by and did nothing.
One Jewish student described her chilling encounter with the protesters the night before, on Tuesday: “When I tried to get through, they blocked me, ignored my requests to pass, and handed out masks to those obstructing me. Yale security told me they couldn’t help.”
The immediate trigger for this harassment is the invitation extended by Shabtai, a Yale Jewish society, to Itamar Ben-Gvir, an Israeli government minister. Whether one supports or opposes Ben-Gvir’s politics is beside the point. Notably, Naftali Bennett, a former Israeli prime minister, was also protested and disrupted during a separate campus event in February, underscoring a broader trend of hostility toward Israeli speakers regardless of their political affiliation.
These events signal more than isolated protests; they constitute a redux of hatred that historically escalates when met with institutional silence or indifference.
Yale’s administration, under President Maurie McInnis and Dean Pericles Lewis, has failed to adequately respond. Though Yale revoked official recognition from Yalies for Palestine, its tepid actions have not halted the dangerous slide toward overt hostility. The silence — from both the university and the Slifka Center, Yale’s center for Jewish life — is deafening.
This isn’t the first troubling instance at Yale. A year ago, similar demonstrators disrupted campus life with vitriolic anti-Israel rhetoric, silencing dialogue and fostering an atmosphere hostile to Jewish students.
Earlier this year, CAMERA on Campus documented Yale’s Slifka Center pressuring students to erase evidence of anti-Jewish harassment during a pro-Israel event, effectively whitewashing antisemitism and emboldening extremists.
As CAMERA’s Ricki Hollander has powerfully documented, the rhetoric of anti-Zionism today often revives the antisemitic patterns of the past, particularly those propagated by the Nazi regime in the 1930s. These tactics, she explains, echo Nazi-era propaganda that portrayed Jews as subhuman, sinister, and uniquely malevolent — a narrative used to justify marginalization and, ultimately, genocide.
These dynamics — scapegoating, dehumanizing, and ostracizing Jews under the guise of “anti-Zionism” — are not relics of history. They are alive and active across elite American campuses. And now, unmistakably, they have taken root at Yale.
McInnis must break the silence and condemn the open harassment and assault of Jewish students. She must also hold the perpetrators of the heinous actions and those responsible for the safety of students accountable for their inaction.
This week has revealed a grave failure of moral and institutional duty on many fronts. When law enforcement stands by as Jewish students face intimidation and assault, it sends a chilling message: their safety matters less.
We must demand a full investigation and real accountability. Condemnations of antisemitism are not enough. Policies must be changed to ensure Jewish students and organizations can freely exercise their right to free expression without being subject to harassment and assault. Anything less would betray Yale’s stated values — and the promise of “never again.”
Douglas Sandoval is the Managing Director for CAMERA on Campus.
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