It’s the dreaded sound at any live performance – a ringing cellphone.
That’s what happened Tuesday night at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall during the final movement of Gustav Mahler’s Ninth Symphony by the New York Philharmonic. Maestro Alan Gilbert was forced to stop the orchestra until the phone was silenced.
The Wall Street Journal reports that when an iPhone’s distinctive “Marimba” ringtone initially went off, Gilbert turned his head to signal his displeasure. But the ringing from the first row persisted and minutes went by.
Gilbert asked that the offending noise be turned off and finally stopped the orchestra until it happened.
The Philharmonic said it was the first time the music director had ever interrupted a performance due to a cellphone or other disruption.
(Source: WSJ)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
11 Responses
well, i know why this is on YWN:
it’s supposed to give us mussar, that if it doesn’t “pass” (in Yiddish) to have a cellphone ringing at an orchestra, kal v’chomer not at davening and learning !
And this is in the Yeshiva World because….?
I would hope that the phone’s owner was ejected from the performance as well.
To finish #2’s question:
…it’s a slow Jewish news day. Baruch Hashem.
“It’s the dreaded sound at any live performance – a ringing cellphone.”
Actually, just about any live musical performance you would not be able to hear, let alone be bothered by, a ringing cellphone. Rap, rock, pop, or whatever style, it’s actually quite surprising that the phone was loud enough to disrupt a (probable) 100+ piece orchestra.
#2 – see #1
At work we have a daily Mincha minyan. We also have a Muslim janitor, but he is an ‘erlicher’ who has worked for Yeshivos and Jewish companies for over thirty years. (If I mention his name, I am sure that many people would know him.)
He once overheard a cellphone ringing while we were davening. He later commented to me that on the door of his mosque they have a sign detailing the rules. The first time a cellphone rings, it costs you a $25 fine. The second time it’s $50. (I am not sure what happens after that!) But he said that they enforce it, and with incentives like that, it practically never happens.
Our shuls are open to all and are not membership-based, so we probably cannot start making rules that are enforceable against total strangers. But the least we could do is to stop ignoring it and acting as if it is acceptable. The shliach tzibbur should stop, and everyone in the shul should start Noo-ing the offending person until he shuts it off. And if it happens again, a mob should march over and throw him out – or at least his phone. The first part I already do myself, and though I haven’t yet, I often feel like doing the second too!
There are people that claim that there is nothing wrong with using a smartphones as a siddur. Unfortunately, it is numbing or blinding people to the otherwise obvious wrongness in taking out a phone and reading emails or whatever they are doing in middle of shul – even not during Tefilah. Phones should be assur in shul with no exceptions. There are plenty of siddurim. Hey – lets be ‘green’, shut off the phones and conserve some power for one hour a day! The old fashioned siddurim are very energy efficient!!
“just me” it becomes a problem as #1 stated, during davening and learning. Phones become a problem when people put their driving in danger because they feel like using them. Phones become a problem when I am given a shidduch resume and the girl places in her interests “can’t live without her phone”. I hope the owner of the phone during the performance was not Jewish.
Q – Is there any difference between davenning from a siddur and davenning from a smartphone? A – Have you ever seen a person kiss his cell phone after davenning?
There are two issues with phones by davening: 1. The public disruptive quality of having a an irresponsible/selfish individual’s phone disturb everyone, like the story here, and 2. The (more) private, (more) bein adom lamakom issue of reading divrei chol, or using an instrument that is primarily for divrei chol, in a holy place. The second issue is what is more controversial, and is entirely different than the first one. #7, your last paragraph, seemed to be taking your (mostly) good points on issue 1, and appropriate feelings (if not display of) public outrage, and applying them to issue 2 which at the very least requires a more private, individual solution.
When someone takes out a cellphone and reads his emails in middle of Chazoras Hashas (or even Kerias Shema!) it should disturb everyone. Not because of any physical noise, but because of the Chillul to the kedusha of the place and the tefilla.
Also, the two issues are actually related, as I attempted to say. Because #2 is not protested, it leads to #1.