Cell Phones in Shul

 I admit I've been on the warpath. It has gotten so ridiculously out of control. Sounds emanating from cell phones during davening are distracting and disturbing. And people laugh it off as if "There's nothing that can be done."

I've heard of shuls who "fine" people (as in a donation to the shul, money to tzedakah) when their phone disturbs the davening.

But really I just want people to be mindful, aware, and to be "an adult" about this.

Because there's a simple solution. Other than not bringing it to shul - which is a great solution too!

Train yourself to put it on airplane mode as soon as you step into the building for davening. You don't need to use your phone down to the wire until davening begins. You certainly don't need it during davening. "Siri, turn on airplane mode." "Google, turn on airplane mode." It avoids the dreaded "turn off" and it also blocks ALL notifications (except your alarm which you forgot to turn off).

I spoke about this issue a few times in the last few months - on Shabbos, when thankfully no one has a phone. But we also announce DAILY before EVERY TEFILLAH to "Please turn off your phone" "Please silence your phone" "Please turn off notifications" "We don't want to hear your phone" "We know you're not calling yourself, but you're also not preventing that call or notification from coming through" and STILL in just about every Tefillah service, a phone rings, we hear notifications. 

During davening I've heard news reporters, a GPS giving directions, a football score (the roar of the crowd) - all because people can't put the device down.

Of late I’ve tried a different tactic, inviting people to help us create a “Culture of Commitment” to turning off the cell phone and not using it AT ALL for the entire duration of the davening experience   

And for those who argue "I use it as a Siddur" - really? How did you ever manage to daven in shul before you had a Siddur App? Be honest... you are feeding an addiction. USE A SIDDUR.

Close to a decade ago, I wrote this article, cleverly titled "Celling Your Soul" - will it have an impact?

This past Shabbos I addressed the topic in the context of describing one mission Moshe had, which was to help the people get out of any kind of slavery other than being Avadim to Hashem. (Reproduced below)

Subsequently I found out that Charlie Harary was a guest in a different shul in the neighborhood, and he also spoke about phones in shul. And that Dovid Lichtenstein, in his podcast, also very recently dedicated two podcast episodes to the topic of phones in shul (and the addiction to phones in general).

[For the record, there are several shiurim on YUTORAH.ORG on the subject of whether using it in shul, as a siddur or otherwise, should really be forbidden.  Listen here for example to Rabbi Daniel Hartstein's take on it]

My view:

1. Leave it at home

2. If leaving it at home is not an option, leave it in your car at shul

3. If it is unwise to leave it in the car (might invite thieves), then train yourself to put it in airplane mode when you enter the shul building, and put it away (in the morning, zip it into your tallis bag or tefillin bag to make it out of sight), not to take it out again until davening is over

4. Don't use it as a Siddur when you are in shul [A siddur app can be used when you are traveling, or don't have a siddur, such as at a wedding.]

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My recent comments in shul - this is from Shabbos Parshas Bo 2026 (January 24)

In the public dialogue conducted last Saturday night with Rabbi Penner he offered an idea for our consideration for handling a problem that somewhat plagues our shul, and I know is a problem everywhere. That is - how to control the addiction to the phone we have, when it comes to being in shul.

First off, like any addiction, the problem is that it really controls us. So we are a slave to it unless we put ourselves in the drivers seat. That is a much larger problem, so I just want to talk about it in shul, and I will use 3 arguments: Emotional, Intellectual, Logical. I’m not even going to use a Halakhic argument that it is forbidden! We all know it is! We also know Lashon Hora is forbidden.

Before my 3 arguments I can proudly say that I overcame this over 10 years ago by discovering that if I simply put my phone in airplane mode when I come into shul – no notifications, no internet, no distraction – problem solved.

Emotional: Eight years ago I came across a blog of a young husband and father named Daniel Lansky who was dying of cancer. In one of his last blog posts – because he died two months after he wrote this – he made an appeal, which I can offer with commentary to apply to concerns in our own lives, but I’ll just let it speak for itself.

“Am I scared? I am petrified. I hate asking for favors. HATE IT. It is so torturous being in a position where I need something from someone. There are so very many emotions and personal characteristics of mine that make me cringe and run from the idea of asking another to do something for me – but now is not the time for me to think of me. I have a wife, I have three little kids and I have cancer. I need your tefilos. 

“In a few days I will be having my first scans since I started treatment. Those scans will show what Hashem wants to be seen. No more – no less. So here I go – I am going to ask you for what I need from you.

“SHUT YOUR PHONE OFF BEFORE ENTERING SHUL. PLEASE.

“There is nothing – nothing – that can’t wait. Respect the Makom tefillah. Don’t put it on vibrate – don’t silence the ringer – simply turn it off. Please. I wish that this could be a rule in every shul – before entering make sure your phone is off.”

Intellectual: You turn it off in a meeting. You turn it off in the theater. You turn it off when you need to have an important conversation with a person, because we know it is rude to respond to anything other than an absolute emergency. And you turn it off when you know it is a distraction from being present. A phone on in shul is a distraction from being present. It means we are serving the phone and not paying attention to why we are here. Rabbi Penner suggested that davening replaced bringing Korbanos, sacrifices. And that while we don’t bring animals anymore, one of our most precious commodities, in general, is our time. Let us consider that when we turn off our phone we are sacrificing our time – as we weed out distractions – and this is a token of SERVICE / AVODAH of the Almighty.

Logical: A friend of mine just told me this two days ago. Once upon a time, people had bathroom reading material. Newspaper? Comic books? Whatever it was. We would never dream of bringing those things into shul. Or if it was in some backpack or briefcase, no way it was being brought out during davening. Don’t raise your hand. I don’t even think I need to bring the analogy full circle. THIS is what we have in shul? THIS is what some people use as a SIDDUR when there are perfectly good siddurim available?

Undoing the full enslavement is a different discussion. My main goal now is the 30-45 minutes on most weekdays, and the hour on Rosh Chodesh, Fast Days, and Chol Hamoed. We have the power to turn it off or on airplane mode, and to put it away. We just have to ask ourselves who is in control? The Yetzer Hara? Or the Yetzer Tov who tells us all the time that we DON’T NEED THIS DURING DAVENING.