What Would the Chofetz Chaim Say About Bringing Phones Into a Shul or Beis Medresh

Progress. Okay, for those of you who have been uh listening to the show and you may have heard us mention that you know, this device that many people carry upon them, which disturbs them the entire day, lo- inoy nachon claw to bring into the show. You should not bring it in show. How you supposed to davin if you're being buzzed every millisecond? How you supposed to learn if you're being distracted? You may have heard us mention inoy nachon claw, not uh to put it on vibrate, not to turn it off, not to have it with you in show. So, [snorts] you say, "Oh, you can't make up new things." Uh first of all, it's not making up common sense is not a new thing. When God created man on the sixth day of creation, vayipach ba'av nishmas chayim, he gave him common sense. So, it's not a new thing. It's as old as the hills. But besides that, look what I found in the Chofetz Chaim. The Chofetz Chaim talks about it. Mamish this thing. You say, "What?" Yeah, watch this. Hopefully, we could pull this up. In Sefer Shmiras Halashon, the Chofetz Chaim says, "The great benefit that will accrue to someone who is shomer piv, especially for those who are kove'a itim laTorah." Says the Chofetz Chaim, "This is in Chasimah HaSefer, perek beis." He says, "Especially if somebody has a set time to learn in the Beis Medrash, how beneficial the midah shmiras halashon will be for his learning, that he won't interrupt. Otherwise, somebody who is prone to get involved in conversation, alul ma'ishei yigara lei ayye deizeh meylimudei bechol yam hayam. It will detract from his learning daily, cuz he'll constantly be conversing. And vegam limudo yehei piskei piskei. His learning will be chopped up. He'll learn a Mishnah and then he'll start schmoozing somebody about politics. He'll learn another half a Mishnah, and he'll schmooze about sports. Then he'll learn another half a Mishnah, and he'll schmooze about other items. The Chofetz Chaim says, "It is known the great punishment of somebody who interrupts learning to involve in chatter." The Chofetz Chaim says from the Gemara that it's not very pleasant. I don't want to get into all the details, but basically, they take hot coals, and they they feed it to the person. Which is, by the way, that's not a good thing. That's not That's not a pleasant thing. But, you could iron sharp if you want to know exactly what the repercussions are. Now, the Chofetz Chaim has a footnote. Chofetz Chaim says, "I would like to give some unsolicited good advice." I was so happy when I saw this, because I would argue the hanhaga of not bringing a phone into shul, it's just what the Chofetz Chaim would say in this generation. What does Chofetz Chaim say? Uve'emes hoyo nerely betoyras eitza. Lemisha roitza lishmor piv leshaina me'indibur masrim. Sheyargo es atzmoi shel loy lasuach klal beveis hamedrish uveveis haknesses. Get into the habit of not speaking in a shul. Kimilvad shumitzva raba belav avara umishum derabim aside from that, it's a great mitzvah not to have conversation in a beis medrish or beis knesses like the sforim say. There are many benefits that come from it. Number one, your Torah and your tefillah will be shalem. You won't miss amen. You won't miss amen yehei shmei rabba. You won't miss kedusha. You won't miss barkhu. So, what would the Chofetz say the Torah's itzah about bringing a phone? I am positive he would say nearly the Torah's itzah let me share lishma people not to bring your phone. You know why? Cuz this way tisharlai Torah's utfilasav bishleimus shiloy shiloy asamin. Next. Says the Chofetz Chaim, if a person's careful not to speak in a shul it will ensure that at least you'll have in the course of your life 10 years of not speaking dvar masurim. Why? Most Jews spend every day in the base medrash at least 4 hours. >> [laughter] >> Okay, what's the cheshbon? Um it for the davening and some time after the davening. So, it sounds like he's giving uh about 2 hours for shacharis and 2 hours for mincha maariv. So, so you'll say no no no, we don't do that anymore. Okay, how much time do you spend in the shul? You spend an hour a day in the shul? Okay, so you'll have 2 and 1/2 years of your life that you didn't speak uh dvar masurim. Says the Chofetz Chaim, wouldn't it be nice when you go upstairs, you come and say, "Look, a quarter of my life I didn't say one dvar assur." Say, "Why is that a quarter?" Um that's basically a quarter of every because also when you're sleeping, most people, even though they sleep talk, usually they're not speaking lashon hara. >> [snorts] >> Even though yesterday I saw a guy a guy who mumble a guy mumble he's a guy he mumbles under his breath. He's always mum- mumbling under his breath. But he doesn't think people hear him. But he's mumbling a nasty word under his breath. Okay. That's That's not a typical case. Anyway, now this second advantage, I don't think has anything to do with the phone. You'll say, "Even if I have my phone out, I'm not going to be speaking lashon hara." Number three, number three, the Chofetz Chaim says that if you are careful not to speak in a shul, then the rest of the day you'll have an easy time since you've already trained yourself that at least he's uh the Chofetz Chaim is up to about five or six hours a day while you're in the base medrash, you're not speaking var maserem. But you definitely have the first benefit. The first benefit is if you don't have the phone with you, then your learning and your davening will not be pisky pisky. And learning that's interrupted ainanu nachon. It's not the right way to do it. So, I think if the Chofetz Chaim was writing this today, he would say, "Be Torahs eitzah l'meesha roitzah lishmor Torahsai not to do it with your phone on you." Have a great day, everyone. >> [snorts] >> By the way, it's very important for Shavuos. Uh I I think, you know, I think there's a lot of learning, but there's not necessarily a lot of uninterrupted learning, retzifus. Retzifus is very important. It's like charging up your cell phone. You know, you ever see you charge up your cell phone for 5 minutes, it does nothing. For 10 minutes, it does almost nothing. You have to let it You have to let it go. Once you let it go, you come back after an hour, it's charged, you know? You got If you want to charge yourself spiritually, you need retzifus in avodas Hashem. Okay, so tomorrow 9:00 we'll do something short on Shavuos. And uh uh have a good rest of the day. Bracha v'hatzlacha. Recording stopped. Have a good day.