Prominent dati leumi community rav and rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Tzvi Tau Shlita, who serves as President of Yeshivat Har HaMor, announced that anyone with a smartphone should distance themselves from his shiurim. He made the announcement during a shiur last week.
“This tuma (impurity) and evil will soon vanish from this world so its uses the height of its power to infect everyone and use all its materialism and list as the new technology which tries to persuade and influence us and mankind at large. This is a global pandemic” state Rav Tau during a shiur pertaining to tefilla which shifted to matters of practicality.
“First of all the institutions in our yeshiva must be cleansed. It is inconceivable that a talmid yeshiva has a smartphone that contains some of this impurity, that he holds these tools in his hand during a shiur. I ask such people not to attend my shiurim. Those who have them and use them, don’t come to me. You cannot become sanctified and achieve any level (madreiga) of significance or any degree of spirituality when this impurity exists”.
The rav continued, explaining that even non-religious Jews and non-Jews are aware of the damage and moral destruction that results from these phones along with pornography and a destruction of the value system – those who are busied all day with WhatsApp and the like and the destruction is immeasurable and therefore, such devices cannot be permitted in the yeshiva.
Rav Tau explained it was first thought only men would use them but clearly women are on board too and this is leading to a breakdown of barriers that must remain in place. “There is no place for such a device in an institution of Torah and Yiras Shomayim”.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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5 Responses
I am absolutely shocked that i am hearing this type of machaa from a dati leumei Rav. And how true it is beyond me how someone can claim to be a Ben yeshiva and walk around with unabated Truman in his pocket all the dictums of chazak hakedishim are to distance oneself from aveira
Why did chazal assu yichud your not touching or even looking at anybody and they still assured yichud even if you do nothing. why? And if the Torah didn’t assur it then why did they…To distance oneself from averirah! and so are all the takanas of the chachomim to distance oneself from aveirah and here a person takes the greatest stumbling block to any ruchnius and puts it in his pocket without any concern.. even if you don’t go to the inappropriate websites it is assur because you are not allowed to bring yourself to a matzav of nisayon.
It is quite a stretch to associate harav Tau with the D”L community. But he is certainly prominent and influential in the Charda”l community.
I just davened minchah using a smartphone siddur. On the way to work my smartphone gave me a Tanakh shiur; on the way home I will listen to a gemara shiur.
so hard to know what to do, some people are using it for good things only
Lbj:
Isn’t it ironic that you’re on the Internet talking about the tumah of the smartphone!
I love these anonymous baalei mussar!