hen Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin was assassinated in Tel Aviv about 30 miles from the home of Tzadik and Sheva Vanderhoof, the couple heard nothing about it until they received an email from a relative in Canada, 5,000 miles away. After moving to Israel from the United States, the Vanderhoofs made their home in a small settlement of ultra-Orthodox Jews, called Kiryat Sefer, in Israel's occupied West Bank. The community allows information only from ultra-Orthodox, Hebrew-language newspapers. All other media are considered to be "secular," and are therefore forbidden. But the Vanderhoofs hunger for outside information because Israel's shifting political tides directly affect their lives. They keep in touch with friends and relatives around the world through electronic mail and log on to the CNN Interactive website to monitor political events -- even those in their own backyard.
|
