According to Hamechadesh, the owner of the cell phone store in Geula-Mea Shearim that has been the site of many protests, some violent, might be giving in.

photo credit: Avi Parshan 2021

You know how when you rent a car in Israel, you can usually get a discount for Shabbos, if you are Shabbos observant? That is, they generally won't charge you for holding the car over Shabbos, as a rental day, though you will still have to pay the insurance rate for the day.

It is the end of an era.

Actually the era ended a long time ago, but now the door on that era is sealed.

The Ministry of Communications has announced that it is removing all remaining public telephones, aka pay phones, from the streets around Israel. Considering how little use the phones get nowadays, with almost everyone having cellphones, this decision will save them money in the form of maintenance and installations.

They say that there are currently 9500 public phones still in the public sphere around Israel. At their height of popularity, there were 27,000 around Israel. Since then, as cellphones became increasingly popular, the number of public telephones has shrunk consistently. According to the ministry, 83% of the phones, that would be about 7885 of them, get used less than 100 minutes each month and many of those dont even get used at all. The ministry is considering requiring the continued installation of public telephones in essential and vital places, however that will be defined.
source: Calcalist

Truly the end of an era.

I think the real cause of the demise was the lack of a phone booth to be enclosed in. Had they had a phone booth, at least Clark Kent would have continued using the phones to become Superman.

Sam Waterson is quoted as having said "If you are not moving forward, you are falling back". Mikhail Gorbachev is quoted as having said something very similar, "If you are not moving forward you are moving backward".

The point of both is that people always need to be look to progress, how to improve, how to move forward. If you take it easy and rest on your laurels, you are falling behind. You are falling behind all the other people who are moving forward and you are falling behind yourself and your own advancement.

The rav kav system for public transportation finally seems to be running pretty smoothly, but that only means it is time for the next great advancement in transportation technology. Within a few months the next greatest thing since sliced bread will be released to the public, and it will basically put the rav kav system to rest.

The new apps soon to be released will allow passengers on public transportation in Israel to pay using the phone directly, with no rav kav or anything else. According to JPost,

public transportation users will need to open up the app after getting on a bus or intercity train, choose which form of public transport they’re on and then scan a QR code that will be placed on every bus and train that will let the app know which line they’re on, according to Calcalist. The user will then need to indicate how long they’re planning on traveling on the line in order to be charged the correct fee. The app will then provide a payment confirmation, which users can show to inspectors if they’re asked to prove that they paid.

Another benefit of the new system will be that at the end of the month it will analyze the trips the passenger normally takes and recommend the cheapest travel package it thinks is appropriate, whether it be some combination of daily or monthly packages, or accrued money, or bundles of rides...

Interestingly, because many Haredim (and some others) do not use smartphones, a solution for them is also being developed so they can use, and benefit from, the new system. According to the Bizness website, an official within the Ministry of Transportation has said, unofficially for now, that a special bracelet is in development that will work with the new devices on the bus for paying for rides. Other possible "smart" solutions are also being looked into that would not be smartphone-dependent.

I find it cute that they think that Haredi men are going to wear this special bracelet so they can pay on the bus. Obviously it can be kept in a pocket or in a backpack (or gal paz bag), but then why make it into a bracelet rather than just a small coin shape or a disc (similar to a dog tag disc) or something else that can go into the wallet or pocket?

I hope they will make it easy for people to transfer the balance of money people have on their rav kavs onto the new system, be it phone or bracelet or whatnot...

Everyone is excited about the announcement of the approval and release of the "pinched finger" emoji. While it is technically Italian, we Israelis consider it one of our own as well....

My question is when will I get it on my Android phone? I have yet to see it appear in my emoji list on my keyboard app and on the various texting apps.. Anybody know when it will be widely distributed? I could not find any info in the various articles I read about this release.

According to the Lakewood Scoop, a local resident in Lakewood decided to turn in his smartphone for a simple kosher flip phone. When a fellow from Brooklyn heard about that decision, he called up the rabbi of the shul and sponsored a kiddush in the guy's honor, so as to encourage others to switch.

At the kiddush, the rav announced that several members had recently made the switch. One fellow was worried about being addicted to his phone, another gave his up despite using a filter so the kids would see him identifying with the bnei torah, and another to avoid lifnei iver...this particular fellow who the kiddush was honoring made the switch to set an example for his kids...

He turned in his Google and switched it for a kugel...

now here is a good idea; a proactive and unique solution rather than just complaining..



That picture is from a shul in Elad. The gabbai of this Haredi shul came up with a solution to the global problem of people bringing their cellphones into shul and using them to chat or work or browse and use social media rather than pray and pay attention during lectures. The gabbai spoke to people asking what it would take to get them to stop using their cellphones in shul and after trying other ideas, he came up with this plan - he installed cubbies in the shul, with both locks on each cubby and phone chargers inside each cubby. So now people feel comfortable leaving their phone in a locked cubby and know that it is charging while they are praying or learning rather than draining.

According to Behadrei, so far so good. People are actually using them as intended. I guess the test is over time if people will continue to use them or not. Other shuls should probably adopt a similar solution. Even if it does not solve the issue 100%, it looks like it can decrease dramatically the amount of cellphone usage in shul.

The Supreme Court has upheld the police position, and the law as defined until now, by rejecting the appeal of a Jerusalem driver who had been ticketed with a 1500nis fine, and revocation of his drivers license, for holding his cellphone while driving.

The driver first appealed in the lower courts and lost his appeal twice, so he continued to appeal further to the Supreme Court. he must have money to burn, considering he had already lost on appeal twice.

Mr Driver felt he had a good case, admitting he had been holding his phone but claiming he had not been using it. Further, he claims to have been stopped at a red light at the time, and not actually in motion.

The courts decided to accept the claims of the police that he was actually in motion, though they also stated that being stopped at a red light is still considered being in a traveling vehicle and is the same as being in motion. The court therefore upheld the punishment levied on Mr Driver.

I would add that it has been stated before by the courts that just being stopped is not enough and one would actually have to have put the car in park - though I do not know if you put the car in park at a red light if that would be good enough or if you have to first pull over to the side of the road and park properly.

Back to the case, the Supreme Court stated that a driver of a car must hold the steering wheel (or handlebars) with both hands whenever the car is in motion. The driver can remove one hand from the steering wheel only if he needs to perform an action necessary for the integrity of the car or for fulfilling the rules of driving. As well, the court stated, his use, or lack thereof, of the phone while driving is irrelevant, as simply holding the phone while driving is prohibited and punishable.
source: Maariv

I would guess that this means to set the blinkers to warn drivers of your impending right or left turn, to hit the hazard button, to adjust the windshield wipers, and the like. As I have asked before, I do not know why it is ok to fiddle with the radio, considering the severity of the laws of holding cellphones and recently even holding or drinking coffee (and other drinks) or checking waze while driving. Adjusting the radio has nothing to do with rules of the road or integrity and safety of the car, so I dont get why adjusting the radio is not a ticketable offense. Or maybe it is and now it is time to figure out those newfangled buttons on the steering wheel that control the radio.

Regardless, drive safely. Forewarned is forearmed. Get a dash mount, keep your phone in your pocket, put it in the glove compartment, leave it at home - whatever, just don't hold it while you are driving.

Smartphone owners have been targets of derision and punishment in the Haredi community for a while now. We've seen smartphone owners be declared unfit to daven for the amud, get aliyas, blow shofar, hear shofar, witness weddings and more.

The latest, in the Gur community, is separate classrooms for children of people with smartphones -and that is for people with approved kosher smartphones. Anybody in Gur who claims to need a smartphone, can get permission to obtain a kosher smartphone with filtering. It seems that so many people have gotten permission for the smartphones that they are going to be opening separate classrooms to filter out those kids from the kosher cellphone kids.
source: Actualic

Classroom segregation makes me wonder if we will soon see separate water fountains and bathrooms...I guess at least they aren't throwing the kids out of school and rejecting the applications of such kids.

According to a Turkish newspaper, Hurriyet Daily, a Turkish academic is claiming that Noah, of Great Flood fame, had a cellphone and used it to communicate with his son shortly before the flood began.
(disclaimer: I have no idea as to the veracity of the story or the quality of this online publication or news source. But I like the story)

To Quote:

Speaking on state-run channel TRT 1 on Jan. 6, Yavuz Örnek, a lecturer at the Marine Sciences Faculty of Istanbul University, said Noah communicated with his son via cell phone as they were a long way from each other.
“There were huge 300 to 400-meter high waves and his [the Prophet Noah’s] son was many kilometers away. The Quran says Noah spoke with his son. But how did they manage to communicate? Was it a miracle? It could be. But we believe he communicated with his son via cell phone,” Örnek said.
He also claimed that Noah himself built the ship made of steel plates and this ship used nuclear energy.
“I am a scientist, I speak for science” Örnek added.

This reminds me of the joke that after digging deep into the ground archaeologists have determined that the lack of ancient cabling is proof that hundreds and thousands of years ago they already had cellphones and wireless technology.

I wonder if his cellphone worked during the flood or if he had trouble getting reception. Anyways I guess he would have had nobody to call, except the others on his family plan inside the Ark.

If Al Gore only invented the Internet in the 1980s and 1990s (a claim that Snopes says was never actually made), how would the cellphone have helped Noah pass the time in the Ark? Unless maybe they had Intenet back then as well!

Anyways, even if Noah did have a cellphone, surely it would only have been a kosher phone. I can envision Noah as the star of an upcoming marketing campaign...

Rabbi Steven Pruzansky is now banning bringing cellphones into his shul in Taeneck, NJ (Congregation Bnai Yeshurun) and using them.

According to Jewish Link NJ:

The largest Orthodox synagogue in Teaneck has begun the new year a little quieter, with a little less noise intrusion from the outside world. Congregation B’nai Yeshurun’s mara d’atra Rabbi Steven Pruzansky has banned the physical presence or use of cell phones during minyan times in shul.“So addicted are we to devices, that some have found it impossible to break away,” Rabbi Pruzansky told The Jewish Link, explaining that phones should not be brought into holy places because of our kavod (honor), our yirat shamayim(reverence of heaven) and our wish to daven to Hashem with kavana (focus). “I think this can really revolutionize our tefillah,” he added.  “It is no secret that we all struggle with kavana in davening,” he wrote in a letter to his congregation, noting that cell phones intrude on davening with a persistence that is both mystifying and vexing. "The last thing we need is a tool that is designed to distract us [from being] present and active during davening, time during which we are supposed to focus on our relationship with God. Yet, too often, the mere presence of the phone has enticed holders to check their emails, respond to texts, read the paper or even (I was once told) play Scrabble during P’sukei D’Zimra, Chazarat Hashatz and other times during davening. It is as much a desecration of the shul as it is a squandering of the precious time we have to stand before God in prayer.”
“Effective immediately in the new year, the entry of cell phones into shul is banned,” Rabbi Pruzansky wrote. “Signs will be posted advising people of this change and boxes will be placed outside each davening location allowing each bearer to place their turned-off phone inside before entering the shul to daven.”
“If use of such phones can be banned or deemed culturally unacceptable in courtrooms or movie theaters, it stands to reason they have absolutely no place in shul,” Rabbi Pruzansky wrote. “But the addictive qualities of these devices has led many people to genuinely feel that they cannot part with them even for the 30 minutes that the morning and afternoon davening requires, or even the eight minutes for a Mincha or Maariv davened separately. Using these devices as siddurim exacerbates the problem, and we are blessed with enough siddurim in a variety of versions that no one needs to use a phone as a siddur.”

I have no problem with the rabbi banning cellphones in his shul. I have no opinion on the matter, and I understand where he is coming from. Cellphone use in shul is inappropriate - yes, some people use it for the siddur app, but most are not. The siddur app is wonderful, and is a big help when one finds himself out in the field, somewhere with no siddur available. In shul the siddur app is almost never necessary, so the expected benefit of banning them should override the minor benefit some people get by using the siddur app.

I will say this. even if it is a fine thing, banning the cellphone from shul will not help.

I am not even referring to the preponderance of devices that he will not be able to keep up with - the smart watches, the smart glasses, and whatever else gets developed next to keep us online for even more of our day. He won't be able to keep up because in these days of advancing technology, there will always be some new device that he will not have banned yet. And when he adds those to the list, there will be even newer devices. Though this does not mean he should not try.

The cellphone is really just the latest flavor in what distracts us from our davening. If cellphones get banned from shul, it will be a book, or a magazine,  or the guy sitting next to him, maybe a chumash or gemara, maybe the signs on the bulletin board, maybe the shul newsletter, the parsha sheets or something else. For those of us with not much kavana who do not connect well to the essence of tefilla, there will always be something in shul to distract us.

 I have no opinion on if this is a good or bad move. I understand the idea that cellphones might be inappropriate in shul - and that is not even referring to the potential for browsing inappropriate sites. However, I do not think banning cellphones will help anybody connect more to tefilla. Those who love tefilla and daven well generally aren't on their cellphones in davening anyway, while those who do not will always find a way to pass the time, whether it is with a cellphone or with something else. That does not mean he should not try, I just see it helping.

Rav Dovid Cohen, rosh yeshiva of Chevron Yeshiva, recently spoke at a national conference of heads of institutions (Haredi schools) about the need for them to hide their [kosher] smartphones form their students, as the students don't understand that they need to send emails and be in contact with others...

briefly, you can basically do what you want, as long as you make sure other people don't see...

I have heard similar explanations of how this society works from other rabbonim...

I am not sure what the point of this report is..

The courts in Jerusalem issued an interesting decision.

A driver was stopped for holding his cellphone in his hand. He was slapped with a 1500nis fine and 14 days suspended license.

The driver tried to defend himself saying that he was not using the phone, just happened to take the phone out of his pocket, as it was bothering him, and was putting it down on the side.

The court decided that it is irrelevant whether or not the driver is actually using the phone, as long as he is holding it in his hands it is a problem. The prosecution has no need to prove what he was doing with the phone, if anything, just simply that he was holding the phone.

Interestingly, the judge said that the fact that the driver did not have both hands on the steering wheel is enough to fine him. I find this interesting because I was not aware that by law one must have both hands on the wheel at all times, even though that is how we learn to drive (think 10 and 2). They could be stopping and fining almost every driver on the road at some point - even though I mostly keep both hands on the wheel, there are plenty of times where I do not.

Another interesting point is that the court also decided that the purpose of the law is to prevent using the phone while driving, and even though the original law was written specifically regarding the usage of talking and sending messages, the law has since progressed automatically and any use of the phone that takes away the focus on the driving from the driver is illegal usage, even if the phone is not in his hand but in a hands-free unit.

Two aspects of that are interesting, and I wonder if the driver could even appeal this decision:
1. the law automatically updates itself to include anything that takes away focus? the law is written to make two very specific acts illegal but automatically includes other undetermined acts? that does not make sense. If they want it to include everything and anything, the law should be written in a way that does, not to include only two specific acts.
2. I was wondering about usage of a phone in a dashboard mount - is it considered hands free just to click on something, as it isn't in your hands, or is it illegal as part of using the cellphone while driving even though you are not holding it in your hands? I guess this provides the answer, though I wonder if it is appealable if someone gets fined or his license suspended for clicking on the mounted phone (let's say to bring up a phone number to make a call, even while sitting at a red light) because the law talks about not holding the phone. and why would this be any different than changing the radio station, changing the air conditioning level or doing anything else in the car, which I dont think has led to fines and suspensions?

source: Kikar

You cannot control everything. You just cannot.

The kosher cellphone market in Israel is already past the tipping point in the Haredi community. i don't think they need to promote it, among the communities that are targeted. Anyone buying a cellphone who pays attention o these things, and unless he has strong needs otherwise, buys a kosher phone. Those who don't want to listen or feel the kosher phone doesn't meet their needs, won't buy it.

Those who feel it is important, such as rabonim and askanim, need to keep it going, but as far as from a promotional perspective we are bombarded far less about it today than we used to be.

Now it seems this is not enough.

until now, people bought the kosher phone, often for social reasons. Schools required it of parents, socially in some places they had to be seen with it, shidduchim, etc. Anybody who was only buying it for social reasons but really wanted a regular smartphone found a solution. Either they would get a second phone, or they'd buy a fake kosher phone, or a dual-sim phone, or some other solution.

Now they want to control the stores even more than before. the stores authorized to sell kosher phones need mashgichim. It has been discovered that these sellers have also been selling treif phones "under the table", and having mashgichim checking the stores will put an end to that.
source: Mynet

It is probably true. Mashgichim checking the stores might be effective and put an end to the under the table black market. But do they really think this will stop the phenomenon of people getting that treif phone they really wanted (out of need or just want)? f they can no longer get it at the local cellphone shop in their own neighborhoods, they'll go out to the adjacent neighborhoods or places further away and find the shops there that sell the phones.

There is no point in having mashgichim check the shops. The people who follow the rules will buy the kosher phones. Th epeople who want to buy the treif phones under the table will continue to find ways to do so.

The only point I see is to give a few more people a parnassa. And at the end of the day, it will be the consumers of the kosher phone market that will be paying for it.

Now, with mashgichim joining the industry, there is probably room for competition at different levels. One hechsher might have a mashhgiach temidi in their stores, while another hechsher might have a mashgiach nichnas v'yotzei...

A dog is man's best friend no longer.

Now a smartphone is man's best friend.

According to judges in Israel's justice system, there is a need to be stricter in handing out sentences to peole caught stealing smartphones from others, as the smartphone is not like any other possession, but has already become man's best friend. The judges also said that the phone holds the life-story of its owner, bearing memories, pictures, information for his daily functioning, phone numbers and addresses, notes, important calendar dates, etc.
source: TheMarker

I don't know if it is a good thing or a bad thing. Or that is just the way it is, not good or bad...

If you thought the kosher cellphone market was just to control usage and access, as well as making some people some money by deals for packages, supervision and unique devices, it turns out you were only partly right.

Ynet recently reported on, and Kikar has expanded on it a bit, a recent discovery that the Committee for holy communication, or whatever they call themselves, that cotrols and supervises the kosher cellular market, has blocked the ability to make phone calls, from kosher phones, to emergency hotline centers for reporting child abuse, violence, kids at risk and other similar national emergency hotlines.

The Ministry of Communication has passed off any responsibility for this, saying the law defines certain numbers as official emergency numbers, and those are all open on available on kosher phones. These other numbers are less clear in the law how these other emergency hotlines are defined, but they will look into it. As well, people sign up voluntarily for the kosher service, and the rabbinic committee does what it does with the agreement of the haredi community. There has not yet been a response from the representative of the committee.

What is lacking in this response of the Ministry of Communications is that people do not sign up for it necessarily voluntarily. While some do, many are forced to sign up for it, or risk being thrown out of schools, yeshivot, etc. As well, people probably do not know that they will be limited in these ways by signing up for it, and even if they do, when they sign up they probably don't think they will ever need access to those numbers so are willing to accept that condition. Only when they unfortunately need it do they find out they can't access it.

The kosher cellphone is not just blocking access to the internet and to SMS messaging...

I have been happy with Golan Telecom ever since I switched. The price is good. I have never yet had a problem of seeing my bill at the end of the billing period and finding all sorts of hidden charges, I have very good reception, customer service has been very good though rarely needed.. though they just did something that made me scratch my head and wonder what is wrong with them..

As you all surely know by now, Israel was originally scheduled to revert off of DST this past Saturday night (really Sunday morning, but who is counting..), but recently changed the law to extend DST until the end of October. As a result, this past Saturday night many smartphones around Israel continued as originally programmed and reverted off of DST. Many Israelis woke up Sunday morning not knowing what time it really was - was the clock on the phone right or wrong?

Some of the mobile service providers had sent out a message during the week prior to the expected problem instructing people how to avoid the problem, by changing a DST setting on the phone to indicate the location of Athens instead of Israel.

Golan did not send out such a message.

At least not last week.

They sent me the message last night, two full days after the incident. And, today they continued to send out such messages to their customers. The text message sent by Golan Telecom read:

בעקבות שינוי בחקיקה בכנסת המעבר לשעון חורף יבוצע השנה ב-27/10. רוב המכשירים החכמים לא עודכנו בשינוי ויתכן שכבר עברו לשעון חורף. על מנת לתקן זאת אנו ממליצים לפעול על פי ההנחיות הבאות. הכנסו להגדרות של השעה והתאריך ושנו את ההגדרה ממצב "אוטומטי" למצב "ידני". לאחר מכן, עדכנו את אזור הזמן לאתונה-יון. יש להשאיר את ההגדרה במצב "ידני" עד ל-27/10 אז אפשר לחזור למצב "אוטומטי" ולאזור זמן ירושלים. יוצאים לחו"ל לפני ה-27/10? מומלץ להחזיר את ההגדרה ל-"אוטומטי" בזמן השהיה בחו"ל. להנחיות מפורטות הכנסו ל- www.golantelecom.co.il.

Translation:
Because of the change of the law in the Knesset, the reverting to winter time this year will be on October 27. Most smart devices have not been updated with the changes and it is possible they have already reverted to winter time. In order to rectify this, we recommend you follow the following instructions. Go into the settings, blah blah blah..

Did they really think that for two days I, and many others, have been trying, unsuccessfully, to figure out what to do about my phone on winter time? Could they not send out this message last week?

Regardless of Golan, with the phones syncing the time off of satellites and internet, one would have thought that there would be a fairly simple solution for members of this Start-Up Nation in getting the new time rules synced as well...

Deputy Minister of Transportation Tippi Hotovely, responsible for the area of road safety has been coming up with ways to decrease accidents. She says that 80% of accidents are due to the driver being distracted. her approach, therefore, is to minimize the possible distractions.

Last week Hotovely recommended an idea that perhaps young drivers, especially with the minimum age now being lowered, not be allowed to use a mobile phone at all in the car while driving, even with a hands free device. The problem is not the phone or the hands, but the distraction of talking. her idea met with opposition and she will most likely drop it.

Now Hotovely has pulled an old idea out of the hat and is resurrecting it. She wants to raise the fine for people caught using their cellphones, including for text messaging, while driving. Hotovely would raise the fine to 1500 NIS from the current rate of 1000 NIS..

The large fine would be a deterrent, and without the mobile phone there would be less distractions. I don't know why 1000 NIS was not enough of a deterrent, but 1500 would be, but if it works and decreases the number of accidents, great!