(VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)
Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin was released from jail a month ago, and has met with hundreds of Rabbonim, Admorim, Roshei Yeshiva and community activists. He has been delivering words of Chizuk at many of the places he visits.
Last week, Rubashkin celebrated his month of freedom at an event held at Chabad world headquarters, 770 Eastern Parkway.
Rubashkin spoke at the event, and among his words to the gathering he mentioned the use of smartphone.
“Take your stupid phones, and become smart yourselves, and put it away for heavens sake,” Rubashkin said.
He then took it one step further, and blasted those who walk into a Shul that have shelves full of Sedurim, yet they choose to Daven off their smartphones.
“Looking from a perspective from a guy who was removed from society for 8 and a half years, I walk into a Shul and see a guy Davening to his phone”, Rubashkin continued.
“A Siddur has the name of Hashem in it, you can’t take it into a bathroom. Why wouldn’t you want to hold a Siddur over a phone”?
(Yossi Taub – YWN)
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56 Responses
Rav Rubashkin is a tzaddik. One of the lamed vov. Klal Yisroel is greatly enriched by his presence among us.
He has a certain perspective as he himself points out, we who are growing with the latest technology are oblivious to habits we pick up due to its ease but when one sees this with a honest observation, like after 8 years away from society, it’s extremely obvious the oddity of the manner. I’m sure he can point out a awful lot.
I’m in one of those places in my mind I have nothing much to write here. I think the smartphone is getting blasted in general over the past couple of months. Not good for kids, not good for this and that. Waste of time in general. You could be learning Toirah.
With all due respect, they are not davening to their pone. Just like I can hold a siddur, I can hold a phone and look at the same words and daven.
phone*
Very well said! Meile if you are away from a shul or home, & no siddurim are available, OK. But if they are around, why not use the siddurim?
he is so right. why do the Rabbonim from the Schuls don’t forbid this horrible practice ?
Give me a break. This convicted felon is now giving mussar to everyone else. Yes, I understand that his sentence was disproportionate, however, after serving time in federal prison, he is in no position to lecture others how to live their lives. He should not be treated as a hero nor a moral authority.
Siddurim don’t have adjustable text size.
Since when has Mr. Rubashkin become the new gadol hador.
Shalom Mortcha, you’re so zees! Your presentation is so seichel’dik. In fact, Yidden have always had a minhag to kiss their Siddur upon the completion of teffila. Do we also kiss our smartphones? שוין איין מאל
With all due respect, this is an issue best dealt with by Rabbonim and their mispallim. Rubashkin is free and we are all happy for him but enough is enough.
If even only 1 person abandons his/her smart phone because of this sermon, what an incredible Zechus for President Donald Trump, and how much more so, if the masses abandon their smart phones.
Rubashkin is giving musar about davening and not looking for kulas, unreal , stealing money and giving musar , is defrauding a bank a kula or a chumrah
AN OPEN LETTER TO REB SMR עמו”ש
Dear Reb SM;
Although I am ‘with you’ all the way for years and especially with the גאולה, and daven for you, etc., let me say that you HAVE NO RIGHT TO CRITICIZE tiere yidden about smartphones, OR even to mussar us about the use of smartphones.
Besides the fact that you are mistaken in this, but even if you were 100% correct (as many gedoile yisroel indeed adapt this line), you personally are not allowed to discuss this. And I’ll tell you why, my dear reb Sholom.
In מצרים Hashem did not allow Moishe rabbeinu to hit nahar neelus EVEN TO PRODUCE A NAIS because that water helped Moishe Rabeinu survive.Think about that for a moment.
Now jump to 5778.
How much achdus was generated regarding YOU reb Sholom via the Internet AND in particular the SMARTPHONE? How many tears were shed for YOU Reb Sholom on the smooth plastics of smartphones (the devices you make fun of our gestures of life on this plastic). tablets, and keyboards?
How many people started dancing with your simcha exactly with a smartphone in hand? Wether via, YWN, Whatsapp, or similar media, ON A SMARTPHONE!
(Reb Sholom! Where would you be now if not for these technologies (that Hashem chose to be shluchim for YOU) ? )
Please Reb Sholom, be makir tov, not only for the דומם devices that so happily helped your cause and continue to do so – as we speak- but to the many yidden that use these devices as a life line to Torah and Hashem and Klal Yisroel.
Please respond to this open letter here on YWN, (You can use a plain old keyboard to do so:)
Thank you much.
אמונה בטחון גאולה
Genius15, may i suggest the better name that suites you: “Morron100”. If you are a “genius” as you claim to be, can you please enlighten the rest of us of exact crime Rubashkin has committed? Before you open your filthy mouth spreading loshon-hora about Rubashkin take a good look at the mirror and see if you fit the description of an “innocent” man.
Yechi Donald!
He is not so right! he didn’t mention what’s wrong with davening from a smartphone. So many people have them and are addicted to them, using them for texting watsapp skype email and what not, everything but good things, why shouldn’t they usethem for good things at least? there are many helpful apps nowadays that can be accessed through a smartphone, apps that have the entire tanach shas halacha sforim tehillim sidur bentching sfiras haomer and so much more all on your finger tips, there is nothing wrong with using these gadgets and technology for kedusha and torah, much better than devorim betailim and sichas chulin. It might not be so common to see people davening from a smartphone in local shuls in brooklyn or lakewood, but i have seen many baale batim davening mincha in their work places, baale tshuva, israeli soldiers, teenagers in camp on a trip using their cellphones to daven, and for some it might be just more convenient than using a siddur, but it’s bad a “bad” thing.
although I am not a fan of smartphones, I do have one and use it on occasion to daven. I see NOTHING wrong with using them to daven.
BTW: as a former sofer stam, KNOW a siddur does NOT have kiddusha to it since it was PRINTED on PAPER. We do treat it with respect, but it does not have kiddusha as a Torah scroll, or mezzuzah does have (if written properly).
So the comparison to a smartphone to a siddur is a bit off.
he is right people can’t face the truth
Everything has to he put on context. Reb sholom Mordechai is not giving mussar. He was at a chassidic farbrengen, which is a time when chassidim strengthen each other in avodas hashem. This is very common by a farbrengen that the one speaking brings out something that he feels is wrong.
Secondly, he is a hero and not a fellon. The reason why they went after him is simply because he was fighting a new definition of kosher that was being instituted by the reform movement. Kosher be ethical and human and not halachik. Besides for someone to sit for 8 years and have emunah they way he did shows that he is from a different caliber.
Time to get the world ready for moshiach and stop looking for negative. When you want to see clearly you can, you just have to choose to.
kishot atzmecha … why not teach people not to steal and create a massive chillel hashem like you big tzadekal before you give musser and preach holier than thou. what a joke for this guy to give us mussar. was a sad generation.
kol hakavod!
I was waiting for a comment such as that of ‘Genius15’: “Convicted felon giving mussar” bla bla bla.
Don’t examine the messenger, focus on the message!
Everyone is certainly happy that he is out of prison and most believe that his sentence was disproportionate to his crimes. However, the chillul Hashem that he is responsible for is something that cannot be measured. Most of Klal Yisroel has been negatively impacted by his actions. While I do not daven from a smartphone and generally agree with the sentiments in the video, it is the messenger not the message that is hard to take from many.
Ask yourselves this: had he been sentenced and fined appropriate to his crimes would you be holding him up as some arbiter of good or what is right for the Jewish people.
Wait I don’t get it. Is the whole problem because Rubashkin said it? If so then there are plenty of gedolim who have been saying this for years, so are they wrong?
By Davening from a phone one loses subconsciously his chashivus for seforim.
I’M NOT SAYING THIS, THE GEDOLIM ARE.
And to the former Sofer Stam to say that a printed siddur has no kiddusha is appalling and a disgrace. I hope I don’t have any of your mezuzos.
Very true, couldn’t agree more. He is not saying anything against or for Smart phones generaly speaking. He is talking about people coming into a Shul where there IS a siddur available and they chose to daven out of their phones. If there is an inyan to daven inside you should certainly to it with a siddur as it has sort of a Kedusha over a smart phone. Asides the fact that it doesn’t look right. I can not understand why people have any issue with that!
I guess some are so carried away with technology that they can not even comprehend simple logic like that. If you can not understand what he is trying to convey, you should really have good look into your own self.
@Garlic,
Just because it does not have the SAME Kedusha as STAM does not indicate that it does not have any Kedusha at all. It sure has and, according to many Poskim ‘dfus’ has the same status, if written Lishmah. Whereas, computer text is not even considered as a Ksav.
There are many legitimate reasons to use a cellphone to daven from in lieu of a siddur. With are respect, who made Rav Shlomo Mordechai, Posek H’dor. Everyone should follow their own local R/P.
Using a smart siddur has some advantages over a printed siddur.
1) Yaaleh ViYavo, Morid Hageshem etc. will be highlighted at the appropriate occasion so you wont forget to say them.
2) you can carry a smart phone into the bathroom, which you can’t do with a printed siddur.
Hi Reuben
SERIOUSLY 🤪?!
MYlb2010
Clarrifying my words.
Chas V’Shalom to open up the Siddur application in the bathroom.
You can carry a cellphone into the bathroom. If you carry around a printed siddur, you can’t walk into the bathroom with it, which makes carrying around a cellphone more convenient than carry around a pocket siddur.
For Heaven’s sake, this was said at a Chassidic Farbrengen. For those that can’t differentiate btw a shiur or a mussar shmuz to a farbrengen, this isn’t your playing field and his words are probably not directed to you. Btw there is an unwritten rule that not everything said by a farbrengen needs to be publicized.
To miyb2010
Yes, seriously. It would be inappropriate to take a sidur into the beis hakisheh to assist in making an “asher yatzar”….no such problem with your iPhone
Genius15: Hear! Hear! Does anything signify yeridas hadoros more than convicted criminals giving musar?
TannaKamma: You heard of Bilom? Socrates?
In Yiddishkeit it matters very much who gives musar. Ideally, someone who is tocho keboro.
Gadol,
This was not meant as a psak, as per Halacha there is nothing wrong using a phone for a siddur. It is not something you ask a Rav. If you can not comprehend his point then there is no point. The only argument you can have is מראית עין, as it looks as someone is looking at his phone in midst of davening.
my phone siddur changes from day to day with the appropriate changes to the davening for that day. Since I first got it, I have many less shmoneh esrei’s that I have to start over because I said the wrong thing.
RichardM:
Nice to see you have x-ray vision that you state with certainty that R’ SM is not ‘tocho k’baro.’
In any event, as was mentioned in several comments, this was said at a farbrengen and not intended to be broadcast across social media. Just underscores the problems generated by the Smartphone!
Rabbi Schlepper. Well spoken. I am one of those who davened for, donated to and followed almost every line of print about Reb Sholem Modche. But I was also a bit disturbed about this attack he made. Many of the people who use a smartphone also davened donated and worried for him. As you say, the internet in all its forms were used to fight his case for years and years. Hakoras Hatov is the Yesod of Avodas Hashem (Shaar Avodas Elokim Chovos Halevovos) and one has to be careful.
Obviously it is better to use a siddur than a phone especially in Shul and I would only use a phone to daven if out somewhere, but that is not the point!
@etzhar My letter to Reb SM was NOT just for what he said at the farbrengen posted in this article. Reb SM has mistakenly (we are all human!) taken on a ‘crusade’ against smartphones, speaking about it all over. I was taken aback when he negatively brought it up when he spoke at the huge gathering in Boro Park for the fire victims. Although I was relieved with his speech at that forum (I was afraid that he would posture and cry etc, but he delivered a great message of emunah and hope), when he made fun of smartphone users, I felt like I was stabbed.
He owes us an apology (already accepted!) and a promise that he will stop this particular rhetoric. And please not buckle to ‘Askonim’ that might be advising him on this topic.
Reb Sholom! We are awaiting your tshuve on this.
Thank you.
You are all fooling yourselves and looking for different excuses why to negate the message here! Smart phones have caused much damage to klal Yisroel and if you can’t admit that you’re in total denial! Many Rabbonim have come out with statements against smart phones and the internet ! We have lost many Yiddishe neshamas from this! Don’t excuse yourselves and don’t fool yourself!
His ordeal, while terribly unfortunate, does not qualify him as a leader whose opinion should be valued and sought. In terms of daas Torah, he’s like any other person. I’m not arguing with the point, he’s entirely correct, just taking issue with the fact his serving time has somehow given him a special status regarding his opinions.
Rabbi A Mamin
You are missing the point. I do not argue about smartphones. I in fact use a kosher phone as my main phone and have a smartphone aswell for business uses such as email, banking etc and do not carry it everywhere,and in particular not in Shul. This method was recommended by The Rebbe Reb Leibish of Antwerp shlita among others. My point and I believe that of Rabbi Schlepper was that he (reb SM) should not be doing the attacking. The quote about Moshe rabeinu is one I mention often in relation to Hakaros Hatov
I also reiterate my deep respect for Reb SM and his amazing Hanhogos and Bitachon over the years.
I have to declare my disgust at the postings about the alleged criminal activities.
Any of those posters involved personally to even know first hand just what happened?
The only source of information is a prosecution that began its case with an anti-Semitic canard at the bail hearing (part of the court record – no disputing this), and, (from the 2009 disclosure document released in 2017) a judge whose spouse not only held shares in private prisons but bought additional shares shortly before the big raid (and sold the additional shares a few months afterwards).
And this same judge had her entire interpetration of the alleged immigrant’s crime (and from there the prosecution) over-turned unanimously by the Supreme Court (9 to 0 vote).
@shlepper + @iacisrmma & all the other tiere yidden out there (whose comments i didn’t read -i was busy writting mine)
After watching the video it is my feeling that he wasnt coming to attack like a guy who has an agenda or because he looks down at others c”v. I feel like he as a side note wanted to express that this phenomenon of people davening from a smart phone DEEPLY pains him. And i think if we are honest with ourselves we can all ask WHY…
I want to share a short story, i was driving my Rosh Yeshiva and he wanted to say tefillas haderech and asked if anyone in the car had a siddur, we told him that we had forgotten to bring one along but the phone with the waze (and i stress ONLY waze ) may have tefillas haderech as well (it turned out it didnt). I am not sure if i can accurately describe the face he made or remember his exact words (i was driving) but I know for sure that the idea to daven from some smartphone deeply hurt him. (i would even say that he was repulsed by the idea to the extant that he had a tzad that it was better to mamesh make mistakes rather than use it? he was chyzer because lemaysa that particular phone was only able have waze and everything else was blocked)
וכל כך למה ???
I once heard Rav Don Segal Shlita make a point which at first thought hit me as something i had never thought of before, but right after it hit me that the following is a pashute zach, He asked “Why were smartphones created? “I know we would all say (myself included) that we use it for parnassa… He chalenged this by saying “and what happened before smartphones, there was no parnassa, there were no rich/successful people?! Certainly there were. So we are back to square 1, The answer is (and it is pashut) that the Yetzer Hara advocated for this device to come to the world to give him a fighting chance before mashiach comes & he will be finished (bmeira byamenu)” . When you look at it from this perspective you can understand why davening from a smartphone can cause tremendous pain to an emesse yid. (in my mind it is comparable to lighting up a cigarette from a burning shul – i don’t know why but that’s how i feel)
In addition to what i wrote over from Rav Don Segal i want to add a point of my own,. The Gemara says in a home where a family member was hung [by the gov’t] you don’t say “Hang up..[the coat etc.] – this is [pashtus] because of a sensitivity כמובן. In a similar way i think it is slightly insensitive to Hashem to walk into His home and daven from a device which has ruined the yiddishkiet of so many of His dear children.
I hope you understand us,
An ex-smartphone bearer
ps – it did not hurt my business at all when i gave up my smartphone, if anything business got bigger and better
hatzlacha
Yecheskel18 Everyone should learn Tefillas Haderech by heart. The Rosh Yeshiva likely knew it by heart, you can too.
@Tzadik in Peltz
Of course he knew it by heart. He proceeded to say it by heart, at the same time a yare shomayim will say it inside if he is not 1000% sure that he wont make a mistake, he expressed a nervousness about being משנה ממטבע שתקנו חכמים. i apologize for not being clear about that as that wasn’t the point i was trying to make. (derech agav it is silly that i am even writing this, as my rosh yeshiva is a tremendous talmid chochom, and anyone who speaks to him in learning knows that he is holding in gantz shas and poskim beiyun nifla)
cmon
i must say i am surprised that you read my post. i thought it was too long. ty
Yechezkel 18 : KOL HAKOVID to you for giving it up!!! Hakadush Baruch Hu should answer all our tefilos! Another ex-smartphone bearer! BTW all cars should have a tefilas haderech in the glove compartment.
Some rabbonim clearly prefer to livean insular life style, as is their right, and urge their followers to avoid smartphones, TV, etc. However, the majority of rabbonim have recognized the value and utility of smart phones and have permitted their use, albeit with some filtering devices for those with concerns over their yetzer horah. Yes, yidden did earn a parnassah in the alte heim before they had automobiles, bank accounts, ATM machines and Amazon Prime but thats great if you live in a time warp which we don’t. The majority of the younger generatiion among the frum tzibur are chosing to use smartphones and having a bunch of rabbonim at an asifah about the evils of the internet yelling gevalt doesn’t seem to have reversed the trend. Those rabbonim are entitled to their views just as much as those who choose not to are entitled to their own opinions.
The more siddurim are used the more they fall apart and the more of them get send to geniza to be buried putting a financial burden on the paying members of the shuls.
Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin is 100% right and he has nothing to be ashamed of. He was railroaded by a corrupt process into prison and his conviction on any count is meaningless.
Just for the record Avrohom Avinu was a convicted felon (according to the Medrash) as was Yosef Hatazadik, Moshe Rabenu too (according to the Medrash), and the list can go on until THIS genaration.
Any one who listens to him can discern that he is a genuine person with a real message.
Why would anyone want to use a device that has access to Shmutz and devarim issurim for davening? If a siddur was inserted in the NY Post, would anyone say that its ok to daven from the NY Post? SMR is not telling you to throw your Smartphone away, he is merely saying , put it away during davening, why is that so foreign? If Siddurim are at hand, use a siddur, it has more kedusha than a Smartphone, cant we agree on that?
No Rubashkin fan here, but the guy does have a point.
“If Siddurim are at hand, use a siddur, it has more kedusha than a Smartphone, cant we agree on that?”
Yes we can agree.
Git Meshige
January 24, 2018 12:10 pm at 12:10 pm
Why would anyone want to use a device that has access to Shmutz and devarim issurim for davening?
—————–
Git meshiga:
You are the biggest hypocrite of all. The rabbanim said all along and still say it , that the internet is asser , yet u have no shame to come here and criticise everyone here. Why are u using a device which has accsess to shmutz and dvarim asurim. (As you put it) i came to the conclusion along time ago that those who are screaming the loudest about the bad bad INTERNET and about tznius issues of women are the very same people who are the culprits. Its mind boggling.