Rabbonim of Golders Green in London have placed an order for 6,000 kosher cellular telephones from Eretz Yisrael, the weekly BaKehilla reports. According to the Belz-affiliated paper, certain events that compelled the rabbonim to meet were directly related to cell phones, compelling the call for ‘kosher’ cell phones from Eretz Yisrael.
6,000 phones were purchased and sent to Israel to have the experts remove the phone’s SMS text messaging abilities disabled, as well as other services and features deemed unsuitable for the chareidi community.
It is reported that when the phones return to England, the rabbonim will release a kol korei for members of the chareidi community to use kosher phones only.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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4 Responses
this won’t catch on. you really think self employed or busy people will chuck out their blackberrys and iphones for some frum brick phone?
standard chareidi vague reporting also applies – which rabbis? which features? why?
It is the user not the hardware that renders an activity kosher.
And why object to text messaging – less chance of misunderstanding is someone sends the shopping list as text than as words.
I assume these phones will be super-cheap. When I get the cheapest phones, they usually don’t have many features, objectionable or otherwise. If someone is charging extra, they are ripping people off.
The mistake with “kosher phones” is that once you give a full heter to an otherwise unspoiled teenager that its perfectly fine to carry a “kosher” cell phone, the laws of nature dictate it is only a very short time before they trade up to a full featured cell phone.
Same thing goes with adults obviously. Plus when a child sees the adult sporting around a full featured phone, they legitimize owning one themselves. Fair is fair they say.
Besides, even a “kosher” cell phone allows the kid to make and receive phone calls to and from any undesirable friends at any location he or she may be, which in itself is a nisayon that is unfair to unleash on any teenager.
Another example of shtetel mentality that cannot adapt to the demands of the modern world. If the anonymous “Rabbonim of Golders Green”, would announce that none of them will any longer take money from anyone with a regular cell phone, that would show some degree of principled behaviour. However in just the same way as they, in company with Rabbonim world wide, jump through hulla hoops to justify accepting money from brazen mechallelai Shabbos (and I believe chillul Shabbos is still [just] more serious that sending an SMS message) they will continue to take whatever they can from the businessmen who rely on modern technology to make their money. Yiddishkeit would be a lot better off without all the hypocrisy practised on a daily basis. Sorry but that is just how I see it, like it or not.
I also agree with UKbloke. Who are the Rabbonim? Who has paid for the phones, which cellular company in the UK will run the private network needed to make sure it involves some effort andf expense to re-doctor the phones etc. etc. I understand that the Israeli kosher phones can be easily converted back to regular lines; ask any Yerushalaymer yeshiva bochur who wanders around with a “kosher phone” with a shtempel but with a regular SIM card.
Your reporting is usually more on the mark. What happened this time?