Israel - Synagogues Seek Cell Phone Jamming Equipment |
|
| |
News Source: Philadelphia Bulletin
Text Size
|
|
Israel - The leadership of synagogue boards in Northern Israel have become fed up with cell phones ringing in the middle of prayer services.
As a result, they have decided to take action and have sought a permit to install cell phone jamming equipment and have sent the Israel Communications Ministry a request for it to examine the possibility of authorizing the use of equipment that disrupts cell phone reception in synagogues in Northern Israel.
The initiative was born after Shlomo Burzuki, the sexton of the Yad Lebanim Synagogue in Kiryat Shmona complained about cell phone usage during prayers and asked for assistance. “Unfortunately this has become something damaging to the country. In the same place where we are trying to connect spiritually, with all our ability, people are getting dragged into worldly silliness.”
“I regret to say that it’s become a state-wide plague,” said Mr. Burzuki. “In the very place where we’re supposed to connect to the Holy One Blessed Be He with a quiver in our bodies, people engage in the inanities of the world.”
Mr. Burzuki, who wanted to put an end to cell phone use in his synagogue during services, took the matter up with Ofer Cohen, chairman of the Lobby for Jewish Values.
Mr. Cohen sympathized with the sexton’s problem and said that he suffered from the same difficulty in Tiberias, where he lives.
“The situation has become insufferable,” Mr. Cohen said in a shocked tone of voice. “People come to synagogue and, instead of cleaving with the Creator, they listen to third- and fourth-generation conversations.”
Mr. Cohen drafted a petition that seeks to prevent the use of cellular telephones in synagogues.
He also submitted a request for a license from the Communication Ministry to use jamming equipment that would affect a radius of between approximately 165 and 230 feet — equipment that would be installed in synagogue prayer halls.
Such jamming equipment is often used in sensitive Israeli intelligence venues and in combat units in the Israeli army to prevent conversations from being conveyed to Hezbollah and Hamas.
More of today's headlines
“New York, NY - A band of brazen thieves ripped off hundreds of New Yorkers by rigging ATMs to steal account and password information from bank customers. They used...”
New York, NY - Identity Theft Thieves Rigged ATM's to Steal $500K
Tehran - Iranian-American Journalist Freed from Prison
Total24
Read Comments (24) — Post Yours »
1
May 11, 2009 at 07:02 AM Anonymous Says:Report as Inappropriate
Hoorray!! Hope it passes and sets an example for all other shuls, chupas, levayas etc.
2
May 11, 2009 at 07:22 AM quiet at religious places Says:Report as Inappropriate
GO FOR IT, and then add the techo material to cemeteries also.
3
May 11, 2009 at 07:51 AM a shul is not a market Says:Report as Inappropriate
I would be very interested in such equipment, I would like to install it in the shul that
I daven.
any suggestions?
4
May 11, 2009 at 08:10 AM think b4 u leap Says:Report as Inappropriate
when they installed it at the shule where I daven, I & all the other doctors stopped davening there until they removed it. Note: I have NEVER spoken on a cell phone in shule during davening
5
May 11, 2009 at 08:39 AM ely Says:Report as Inappropriate
While I think its a good idea, but you have to think as well for in case of emergency must shuls don't have a phone where you can call out for an emergency help.
6
May 11, 2009 at 08:37 AM avi Says:Report as Inappropriate
This is a machala of mageifa proportions! It is impossible to be poneh lebeinu l'Aveenu Shebashomayim anymore without a cacophony of cell phones going off during davening.
7
May 11, 2009 at 08:35 AM Anonymous Says:Report as Inappropriate
In the US Cell blockers are not leagal
8
May 11, 2009 at 08:35 AM The Truth Says:Report as Inappropriate
I hope it is installed in every shul soon.
9
May 11, 2009 at 08:30 AM Aron Says:Report as Inappropriate
While on the surface this sounds like a good idea, I have strong reservations. In this day and age we rely heavily on cell phones in case of emergency.
I would try to avoid any place that blocks cell phone service.
I would also try to avoid any shul where someone can feel comfortable to talk in shul (whether on a cell phone or not).
10
May 11, 2009 at 08:04 AM rabbi think ahead Says:Report as Inappropriate
What chas vshalom u need to call someone emergency or someone needs to call you?
11
May 11, 2009 at 08:57 AM Anonymous Says:Report as Inappropriate
As long as the system allows to call to hatzolah members,it would be excellent for any beis hamedrash or shul.
13
May 11, 2009 at 08:51 AM Anonymous Says:Report as Inappropriate
I actually looked into it for my shul and currently the sale and use of cell phone jammers is limited to military and law enforcement entities only.
15
May 11, 2009 at 09:14 AM Expatriate Owl Says:Report as Inappropriate
First of all, in my shul for one, there are several people (physicians, EMTs, firefighters and the like) who are subject to bona fide emergency calls.
Secondly, what sort of message is being sent when the owner of the offending cell phone is a rabbi?
My suggestions:
A) Any cell phone that rings in shul gets immediately confiscated (this is what they do, and what I have seen done, in the various courtrooms of New York and other jurisdictions.).
B) Impose an $18 (or, for all I care, $180 or $1,800) fine for ANY cell phone that rings during davening, NO EXCEPTIONS, NO FREE PASSES!
C) At about the same time you are training your children to use the potty, train them to put their cell phones on silent vibrate mode when in shul, court, classrooms, or other such place. That way, A and B above magically become irrelevant non-issues.
16
May 11, 2009 at 09:11 AM Frum Doc Says:Report as Inappropriate
“ As long as the system allows to call to hatzolah members,it would be excellent for any beis hamedrash or shul. ”
What about MD's are we not as critical as hatzolah?
17
May 11, 2009 at 08:59 AM Anonymous Says:Report as Inappropriate
Such jamming equipment is currently illegal in EY for the same reason as in the U.S....because of the need for emergency communications. In EY, the IDF now uses cellphone technology and bandwidth to communicate with reservists for emergency call ups...same with paramedics. It would be a lot easier for the rabbonim, some of whom are the worst offenders if you watched the Lavayah for the kedoshim from Mubmai, to simply say: If your phone or blackberry goes off during davening and it is not an emergency, you will be asked to leave the shul and will have to join a hareidi minyan.
18
May 11, 2009 at 08:58 AM Anonymous Says:Report as Inappropriate
How about the fact that part of being an Observant Jew is that we are to learn a little bit of self restraint in all matters? We actually need a "nanny" to prevent us from misbehaving? How about respect for others and courtesy. Of course Doctors etc need their phones. set them on vibrate.
19
May 11, 2009 at 09:37 AM Frum Doc Says:Report as Inappropriate
I remember back in the good old days B4 cell phones, there were pagers, all they did was beep and most people did not have them, their used seemed to have been limited to MD's and emergency personnel, then we got voice pagers and alphanumeric pagers and it seemed like every "MACHER" in BP had one. Now the cellphone has become as ubiquitous as the pager and you are not a "Macher" today unless you have 2. It most disturbing to be in the middle of Shimona Esrey and have multiple phones going off, I like the idea of a cell phoine blocker, however that would put a strain on MD's and emergency personnel. Perhaps all gabboim would indicate that davening will not begin untill all cell phones are put on vibrate or switched off. That really is the easiest, simplest and cheapest answer to the problem. F.Y.I. there are a number of Doc's who are going back to pagers for emergency calls, in this way they are able to limit the number of people who call the pager and limit calls to true life threatening emergencies.
20
May 11, 2009 at 12:22 PM PMO Says:Report as Inappropriate
If you could honestly be so disrespectful as to not turn your cell phone ringer off, or worse to actually answer your phone in a shul while others are davening, you should be immediately chased out of the shul! (MD's and Hatzoloh calls do not apply).
I can honestly give this message to 99.8% of the people who read VIN (myself included):
You are not that important. Nobody desperately *NEEDS* to get hold of you. There is nothing about you or your life that requires that kind of urgency. Answering your phone in a shul while others are davening shows a complete lack of respect for every single person around you, and a completel lack of respect for H" and His Torah. A stupid, obnoxious, music ring tone sounding at full volume is enough to destroy anyone's cavonoh.
Nobody around you is interested in your phony sense of self-importance. I don't need to hear you yapping about what your wife needs from the kollel store, or who you are meeting for lunch, or even worse - the latest gossip about people we all know.
I am all in favor a shuls setting a rule that if you either don't turn your phone to silent, or you answer a call, you leave and don't come back. It is no better than turning on a portable TV.
21
May 11, 2009 at 12:51 PM Anonymous Says:Report as Inappropriate
Well that is one way to get everyone to respect the davning... There is, of course, another way: we can show them the beauty of davening. And if we can not show that, then it is time to close the shuls... Forcing people never works.
22
May 11, 2009 at 01:42 PM Anonymous Says:Report as Inappropriate
Let each person use common sense and leave the phone off or on vibrate with a 0 tolerance form the tzibbur...
23
May 11, 2009 at 02:20 PM Milhouse Says:Report as Inappropriate
Where are the "dina demalchusa dina" brigade? Why are they not loudly denouncing anyone who would install such a system in an American shul?
24
May 11, 2009 at 05:51 PM PMO Says:Report as Inappropriate
“ Where are the "dina demalchusa dina" brigade? Why are they not loudly denouncing anyone who would install such a system in an American shul? ”
The way the technology works, there is no way to limit the blocking to the shul itself. That is why these systems are not legal in the US. A completely effective system would interfere with people outside the shul as well. In a congested neighborhood (like BP) the neighbors of the shul would probably be blocked as well.
While I respect the right of the members of a shul to determine whether or not they would want to implement something like this, if it interferes with anyone else outside the shul, it should not be done. We don't have the right to infringe on anyone else's cell phone use.
25
May 11, 2009 at 06:49 PM PMO Says:Report as Inappropriate
“ Where are the "dina demalchusa dina" brigade? Why are they not loudly denouncing anyone who would install such a system in an American shul? ”
The way the technology works, there is no way to limit the blocking to the shul itself. That is why these systems are not legal in the US. A completely effective system would interfere with people outside the shul as well. In a congested neighborhood (like BP) the neighbors of the shul would probably be blocked as well.
While I respect the right of the members of a shul to determine whether or not they would want to implement something like this, if it interferes with anyone else outside the shul, it should not be done. We don't have the right to infringe on anyone else's cell phone use.
26
May 11, 2009 at 08:16 PM Rabbi Says:Report as Inappropriate
“ While I think its a good idea, but you have to think as well for in case of emergency must shuls don't have a phone where you can call out for an emergency help. ”
I agree that phones should be set to vibrate, or "off". But what happens when it's YOUR wife calling the Rav from the mikveh or YOUR child in a store asking if something is kosher? Do you want YOUR family guessing what to do, or should they be able to reach someone and get the answer they need?