For many talmidei yeshivos and avreichim, Matzah baking ahead of Pesach provides a badly-needed opportunity to boost their income. According to the Wednesday 22 Shevat edition of Hamodia, matza bakeries have informed workers they may not have non-kosher telephones. The report states that matza bakery owner Shmuel Katina purchases kosher telephones for his employees and is going to fine anyone caught with a non-kosher phone by deducting 10% from his salary. He is giving them the kosher alternative at his expense.
The report adds rabbonim involved in the Pesach matza production warn against using the non-kosher phones. Hamodia cites one case that an employee with a non-kosher phone was dismissed from the bakery. The worker apologized profusely and begged to be rehired and management complied, explaining there are no second chances.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
13 Responses
Erev Rav dressed in garbs Of “Fundamental Religiosity ” rears its ugly face again !!
Its a private company and the owner can hire & fire based on his own criteria. Like any job, you have to play by the rules. Why should this be any different?
I just don’t understand, why does the boss have to provide his employee’s with any cell phones bichllal?
The problem I do have with these Matzah bakeries, is the illegal price gouging that goes unchecked! I guess Choshen Mishpat doesn’t apply to Matzah’s & Esrogim!
He’s got a good boy phone, and a naughty boy phone.
I think that firing a worker who has a smart phone is illegal even in Israel.
I don’t understand the last 2 sentences. Management complied? With what, his pleading? Its policy and therefore did not rehire him?
How do we find out which companies do this, so we can use someone else?
The whole issue attacking smartphones as the reason for all the world’s ills is insanity and a society run amok.
There are significant benefits to smartphones that can even save your life. Anything can be abused. It’s like the anti-gun campaign that says “guns kill.” It’s the people who can do right or wrong with any product, not the product itself.
This just smacks of a society that refuses to take individual responsibility and blame an inanimate object instead. How many of these same people have computers, which could be far worse than a smartphone? (Filters are no argument, they can be disabled)
On what basis do you (Feb.11,8:36) say that the pricing of matzos and esrogim is illegal? First check into the cost of kashering the factories, and of renting them. Then see how many workers they need – those that constantly clean the rolling pins, etc. so that little crumbs of dough don’t get stuck and turn to chametz, those that roll it at great speed and very hard work, those that stand in front of the boiling ovens the whole day putting the matzos in an out, and the mashgichim. Also remember that these are temporary workers who always are payed more than permanent workers, and the owners also have to make a profit.
As far as esrogim are concerned, there is a great choice of prices and quality and from which field the esrog was grown and everyone can choose the price he wants.
I dont understand, is the phone affecting his “l’shem mitzvas matza”?
#1 all the gedolei yisroel are against it, yet you call it fundamental religiosity. rav chaim from bnei brek erev yom kippur said someone with an unfiltered internet is besakna gedolah le’yom hadin.
lbj #9 Reality of the situation even the children of these “Gidolim ” will be walking around in few generations with these phones whether they like it or not . It will become the norm of the world as cars and public transportation which can also be “Besakana” .
What a true Gd fearing person must do is learn how to use technology to bring oneself and nation closer to the creator, it is he who granted the world with the great wisdom that is technology . Wake up !! don’t be the bird whos head is in the sand .
Agutyar,
Back to the beit midrash to learn seder Nezikim. Price gouging is asur.
the torah will eb the same afew generations from now if moshiach is not here then it is now if it is ossur now it will be ossur then if they dont have ot now nothing willchange later. ypu dont put a burning sakanah in the hand s of ppl the yetzer harah will get them to be nichshal if your internet is unfiltered you are in a sakanah gedola
Stop making fun of this Matzah baker. He is 100% correct.
First off, the guy is offering “kosher” phones. So he’s not against cellphones. It’s obvious what he is against is Chamatz! And as a Matzah baker that is 100% what i want and need. Because as you know there is no “Bittal b’Any-amount” in terms of Chamatz on Pesach.
Have you seen what some people do with their phones?
There are people who sit Al Keyse HaKodesh, while talking on their cell phones. Dan l’Chaf Zchut, i assume they washed their hands. Dan l’Chaf z’Tech, i assume they did not wash the phone!
I went to change the battery on my wife’s cell phone the other day. I don’t know how she managed to do this, and nevermind the space between the case and the phone, but inside the “sealed” battery compartment, there where crumbs. Not many, but i get this guy’s point.
May i also suggest a Kosher l’Pesach keyboard… just pop off the space bar and have a look-see… yuck!