Following the barbaric massacre of mispallalim in the Har Nof shul this week, HaRav Mendel Fuchs instructed his kehilla that they should be certain family members do not go outside alone. He also permitted carrying a cellular telephone on Shabbos in one’s pants pocket on Shabbos, not one’s shirt pocket.
Rav Fuchs is mora d’asra of Beis Knesses Nachlas Azriel in The Ramot neighborhood of the capital. He instructed mispallalim to bring a phone in their pockets on Shabbos in the event of an emergency chas v’sholom.
The notice adds “in any case of doubt one should call the emergency police 100 number and one needn’t do so with a shinui”.
Rav Fuchs is a Mo”tz of the Eida Chareidis.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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12 Responses
Please be clear before publishing seemingly far-fetched psakim, people shouldn’t learn davar m’toch davar. There is actually nothing far-fetched about this psak, and he is not really being matir anything for pekuach nefesh since a pants pocket is a separate piece of material sewn in to the garment unlike a shirt pocket this is not even considered tiltul min hatzad or tiltul b’gufo and there is no issur involved. So much so that the poskim rule that if someone notices something muktza in his pants pocket on shobbas the poskim rule not to shake it out, just stay like that the whole shobbas. Even if it does fall out the pocket itself remains muktza for the remainder of the shobbas with a din of bosis and one may not put his hand in it.
It should also be pointed out that one must be careful not to mistakenly touch the pocket of which the phone is in.
All this applies only to pockets which are made from a completely seperate material sewn into the garment, the heter would not apply to a cargo pants pocket or a small jeans front pocket in which part of the pocket is the material of the pants turning the whole pants into a bosis l’davar ha’asur, and it would be forbidden to wear these pants on shobbas.
Good Shobbas, and stay safe.
Huh? Something is wrong here. Doesn’t make sense.
I am in Rav Fuchs’s שליט״א shul every day. He has instructed the Kehilla to do this because the area in Ramot Daled where the Shul is located is relatively close to an Arab Wadi (you will notice the sign says ובעיקר במקומות הקרובים לוואדי meaning Wadi, not vadai) and therefore there is a higher level of threat in the neighbourhood, hence the necessity of such a Psak.
It should be noted that people should not take this Psak and use it anywhere – it is specifically for that neighbourhood. One should consult their Rav about carrying a phone on Shabbos in other areas.
Maybe every Shul should hire armed Gaurds, during the Tefilos rather then getting mispalelim to bring phones on Shabbos.
Torah is the only thing that can save us.
#5, how’d that work out this week?
Why post stupid comments?
#1 David Cohen – It’s nice of you to share these halachas with us. However, it would be appropriate to quote your sources for those that want to look it up or inquire with their Rav.
I’m curious to know why a psak about carrying guns is not touched on being that we are talking about pakuch nefesh.
#5 It just so happens that when it comes to dealing with bnei yishmael; the seforim say (At this time I cannot rememebr who, but I just heard it in a shiur I attended last thursday night) tefillah is the way to stop yishmael.
and #6, really? A week like this and all you can say is “how’d that work out for you?” YOU ARE THE ONE WHO SHOULDN’T BE POSTING COMMENTS!!
When my wife was in 9th month, was also told to have cell phone with me on Shabbos, albeit with a contraption with a string and cell phone being part of the contraption around my waist. So all this is nothing new, and no Chidush. Actually, it is no different than people carrying guns on Shabbos, which are Muktzo, but because of perilous situation, are allowed to have on Shabbos for safety.
A phone is a kli shemilachto leissur and is mutar betiltul letzorech goofo umekomo and does not make a bosis
Not knowledgeable in the halacha but from a technical aspect some types of phones may have GPS and track a person’s movement? Also, some include types have sensors that know when it is being moved or held. last, if a person is going in and out of buildings or walkways which changes the reception causing the phone to initiate a process of searching for towers be an issue?