The secular New Year gives us the opportunity to deal with one of the blessings of the secular world that, in one of its unwanted consequences, unfortunately intrudes on our davening with a persistence that is both mystifying and vexing. I refer, of course, to the ubiquity of the cell phone and smart phone in shul during davening. Rarely is there a weekday davening without a steady chorus of pings, dings and rings informing bearers of those instruments that someone in the world outside desires their attention, and now. To date, no solution, including routine announcements, has worked to stave off this unwelcome visitor.

Effective immediately in the New Year, the entry of cell phones into shul is banned. Signs will be posted advising people of this change and boxes will be placed outside each davening location allowing each bearer to place their turned-off phone inside before entering the shul to daven. Certainly it is preferable that phones be kept at home, in the car (not advisable in extremely cold or hot weather) or even in one's coat in the coat closet. But they really have no place in shul.

Those who carry phones for emergency purposes should notify the Gabbaim or any of the rabbis, and indulgences are available but sparingly granted.  And the Gabbaim in each minyan are duly authorized to kindly and gently remind newcomers or violators who unwittingly take out their phones to remove their phones from the davening locations to one of the boxes outside.

It is no secret that we all struggle with kavana in davening. This reality was already noted in the Gemara, and so the last thing we need is a tool that is designed to distract us be present and active during davening, time during which we are supposed to focus on our relationship with G-d. Yet, too often, the mere presence of the phone has enticed holders to check their emails, respond to texts, read the paper or even (I was once told) play Scrabble during Psukei D'Zimra, Chazarat Hashatz and other times during davening. It is as much a desecration of the shul as it is a squandering of the precious time we have to stand before G-d in prayer.

It is already well known that the mere presence of a phone serves to distract both holders and anyone who sees or hears it. If use of such phones can be banned or deemed culturally unacceptable in court rooms or movie theaters, it stands to reason they have absolutely no place in shul. But the addictive qualities of these devices has led many people to genuinely feel that they cannot part with them even for the thirty minutes that the morning and afternoon davening requires, or even the eight minutes for a Mincha or Maariv davened separately. Using these devices as siddurim exacerbates the problem, and we are blessed with enough siddurim in a variety of versions that no one needs to use a phone as a siddur.

This should not be perceived as a harsh edict that is intolerable but rather as a way to enhance our ability to daven, all of us. If it makes us all a little more serious in davening, and we are also able to attract even more serious daveners to our shul, those are both welcome blessings.

Let us always remind ourselves of priorities and maintain a healthy equilibrium in life, knowing that everything in life has its place. But the place of the cell phone is not in shul. I trust that everyone will not only heed this new policy but will indeed agree with its wisdom, necessity and inevitability, and together we can strengthen even more the beautiful tefilot that we have in our shul.

With blessings and friendship,

Rabbi Steven Pruzansky

Rabbi Steven Pruzansky is Rav of Congregation Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck, NJ