STANDING ONLINE: Orthodox Jews stand outside yesterday’s overflow anti-Internet rally at Citi Field. (Michael Hicks)
Even the hot-sauce ads were too hot for the Hasids.
Orthodox rabbis yesterday declared such social-networking sites as Facebook off-limits, at a massive anti-Internet event that drew more than 60,000 to Citi Field and neighboring Arthur Ashe stadium.
Those who spoke were shown on the scoreboard at Citi Field between two ads for Cholula hot sauce — with the image of its matronly female trademark covered up.
“Enough with the schmutz — we want to be clean,’’ said Rabbi Waxman of Lakewood, NJ. Waxman, like all other rabbis who spoke, were identified by their last names only.
Speaking before 42,000 bearded men in black hats — no women allowed — at Citi Field and another 22,000 at Arthur Ashe, Waxman said that the Internet, “even with a filter, is a mine field of immorality.”
“Children are being turned into click vegetables . . . I’ve seen people with my own eyes giving 11-year-olds BlackBerrys and iPhones and cellphones. I can’t believe it,’’ he said.
Eytan Kobre, spokesman for the event, organized by The Union of Communities for the Purity of the Camp, insisted, “[Facebook] has left a trail of broken marriages.”
For the women, there were six live video feeds across the tri-state area.
Attendee Moshe Birmbaum, 19, of Toronto, said that he has a Facebook profile, but that after yesterday’s sermons, “I’m going to delete it now. I don’t think I’ll be losing anything.’’
Zev Munk, 19, of Passaic, NJ, said he’d already given up Facebook and Twitter.
“Now, I’m clean,’’ he said.
Older attendees spoke of the Web’s dangers.
“Once you start it, you go from one page to another, but it’s empty. It brings you into a fantasy. It’s an addiction,” said Moshe Soffer, 28, of Brooklyn.
The Union of Communities raised more than $1.5 million for the event.
Tickets sold for $10 and were given free to male high-school students.
But once seats sold out, scalpers took to — what else? — the Internet.
An eBay posting for a single ticket drew a high bid of $117.50, while a Craigslist ad offered six tickets for $613.