Halachic Musings

There are three fundamental problems with the proliferation of cell phones in shul that we have seen in recent years—particularly in regard to BlackBerry-like devices.
1. Talking, ringing, and texting in shul is, in and of itself, a bizayon—a negation of the esteem in which we must regard a makom tefillah, a place of davening. The Shulchan Aruch (OC 151:1) writes that we must have a sense of awe in our shuls and avoid frivolous conversation. The fact that these buildings are exempt from a mezuzah because of the holiness associated with them should give us pause when we look at e-mails and texts in them. We wouldn’t bring a Wall Street Journal into shul; how can we have our cells on—even if they are on vibrate?
2. Having a cell phone on which we can receive phone calls, text messages, and e-mails disturbs our own kavanah in davening, and we are no longer truly “standing before the King.” Davening is the time in which we further our dveikus, our connection, with Hashem. To this end, the Shulchan Aruch (OC 93:2) tells us that when we daven, we must do so only with a sense of awe and submission and not with levity and frivolous matters. Somehow approaching a king or a president with a cell phone in hand does not exactly convey awe and submission. The Shulchan Aruch (OC 98:1) further rules that one must remove any thought that will take us away from the idea that we are standing before the Shechinah. We may not even hold onto a sefer or a pair of tefillin while we are davening. The cell phone, even on vibrate, in our pocket is similar to holding onto a sefer in that it distracts us.
3. We are disturbing other people with our texting, our e-mailing, and our reading the latest communication. There is a little known halacha that is instructive in this regard. The Shulchan Aruch (OC 123:2) writes that when a person finishes the Shemoneh Esrei, it is forbidden to turn around 180 degrees and face the congregation. Why is this so? The TaZ explains that it causes a disruption to the kavanah—the intentions of the others that are davening. In other words, when other people see that we are doing this, and other things such as looking at texts, it lessens the sense of awe that others have. Just as the Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah davening of others around us inspire us to reach greater meaning and greater connection in our own personal prayers, the opposite occurs as well. Rav Nosson Gestetner, in his L’horos Nosson (Vol. XI #9), adds that disturbing the multitudes is counted as one of the 24 things that prevents a person from doing teshuvah.
We often fool ourselves into thinking that whatever we are doing is of the utmost importance. Rarely does a situation arise that warrants our utter disregard for these three fundamental issues. The issue is reminiscent of the words of the navi Yishayah (Yishayahu 1:12,15), “When you come to appear before Me, who has required this from your hand, to tread my courts?... Even if you multiply your prayers, I will not listen...”
When the verse refers to the prayers of the holidays and the Rosh Chodesh, it states, “They are upon Me a burden; I am weary of carrying them.” The Hebrew for a “burden” is latorach—a word whose gematria is equivalent to Pelephone (247), the Hebrew for cell phone. The SMaK cited by the Mishnah Berurah (in OC 151) writes that through the sin of frivolous behavior in the synagogue, our shuls turn into, chas veshalom, houses of idol-worship.
The message is clear. Let’s change our behaviors before we lose our shuls.

The author can be reached
at Yairhoffman2@gmail.com.

Cell Phones In Shul:
An Alternative View
By Aryeh Nisonson
Of course Rabbi Hoffman is right on target, and BlackBerrys, iPhones, or any cell phones really have no place during our avodas ha’kodesh. That said, let us take a moment to address the present indisputable reality of the situation. The cell phone and BlackBerry device has saved our shuls and the borderline misbehavior of many a congregant. Do you remember, just a few years ago, the incessant talking that occurred in shul after people finished Shemoneh Esreih? This is now a thing of the past. Now, no one talks during davening anymore—they are all texting or looking things up on their BlackBerry. In one shul where I daven, one person texted the other that his tefillin were placed crooked. In the past this would have been very disruptive—now it is done through texting.
Cell phones have not solved all the problems of conversation during chazaras ha’shatz, as we are still dealing with the fact that cell phones are not permitted on Shabbos. I’m not advocating cell-phone use on Shabbos; there is, however, a marked contrast these days between the silence in shul during the weekday services and that on Shabbos.
Additionally, now the shaliach tzibbur has a perfect way to know when he should start the repetition of the Shemoneh Esreih. Instead of looking around carefully to see who is actually finished, all he has to do is look around and count. If he sees six BlackBerrys, he can start. In the more stringent shuls, wait until you see ten BlackBerrys out. As far as disturbing one’s personal kavanah, nowadays most owners of BlackBerrys know to look at it after one has finished and are mature enough not to look at it during Shemoneh Esreih. Also, isn’t there something called l’fum tzara agra—we get our merit according to the challenge? If someone has a text message vibration, and he ignores it, doesn’t he get more merit than never having risen to the challenge in the first place?
We cannot simply shun or condemn modern technology today, but rather we have to figure out its place in our daily lives. Certainly, if Hashem wanted to, instead of gathering us all at Sinai more than 3,300 years ago to give is the Torah, he could have downloaded the whole thing to our iPads. We cannot say that Hashem was not capable, chas v’shalom, of utilizing these types of electronic communication devices. Even if He did not want to make too advanced an impression at that time, He could have given us the Torah by gathering us at Sinai and distributing eight-tracks or cassette recordings of the shakla v’tarya of Torah. Hashem did not deem that this was the proper mode of instruction, so He did it the old-fashioned way instead; or at least we view it from our perspective as being old-fashioned.
Also, if this is really an issue for the person, there is even a third setting that a phone can be set to—the completely silent setting, not even on vibrate. Also, let’s bear in mind that sometimes our kids need a ride to yeshiva and they would be late otherwise. Most of our cell-phone use has to do with family matters. There is a strong bein adam l’chaveiro and v’ahavta l’reiacha kamocha component here too. Let’s not forget those issues.
The answer is education—not elimination. We must educate ourselves how to use technology properly. In this case we have to learn how to change the setting to silent—but not to eliminate the cell phone completely. It is no different from something like the Internet. It is something that can be abused, or it can be tamed and used properly to enhance our avodas Hashem. Let’s use it right. v