The cellphone is a great invention, no question about it. Unfortunately, just like many other great inventions, its potential for abuse is great.
One of the darker sides of the cellphone is when it starts ringing when you are in the synagogue. Many synagogues in Israel have a sign at the entrance reminding worshippers to turn off their cellphones before entering. Unfortunately, many people do not heed the warning and the prayers are sometimes marred by the sound of the various cellphone rings/melodies. Here I confess my sins as I too was once guilty of this. My wife had chosen to call me in the middle of Mincha, and the strains of Fur Elise filled the synagogue. I don't think that Beethoven would have been proud.
Since then my cellphone is always set to vibrate, and not to ring. Sometimes I miss calls because I don't fell the "good vibrations". However, this is the price I pay for not having my cellphone "go off" at the "wrong" time.
Why am I writing all this? Recently I was at a funeral. A large crowd with tears in their eyes gathered to pay last respects to the deceased. A rabbi was in the middle of his eulogy. All of a sudden, somebody's cellphone rings with a nice cheery melody! How do you spell inappropriate?
So my advice to all is to keep the cellphone set on vibrating mode, and of course not to waste time on needless conversations.
A Jew's view from the capital of Israel and the future site of the Third Temple, may it speedily be rebuilt.
3 comments:
Look at the bright side -- at least it wasn't the cellphone of the deceased. (unless they were calling!)
I used to set it on Vibrate.. but sometimes vibrate can be almost as loud as a ringtone! Plus, the times when you want your phone to vibrate are not necessarily the times you want to be distracted by a vibrating alert.
I found the best option was to use sProfiles. The phone changes your profile automatically at certain times of day or when it finds a keyword in the phone's calendar. For example if you entered your prayer times into your phone's calendar as 'Prayer' everytime the phone finds that word it would switch the profile to whatever you want it to switch to. So it might switch your phone to a mode where you don't get a vibrating alert either. Also great for meetings!
Don't know what phone you have but I know it works on Nokia Series 60 phones (I have an n-gage) they might have versions for other phones as well.
Jameel,
I once called somebody up to be informed by his family that the guy passed away several years earlier...
Dileepa,
A vibrating cellphone on a table makes a lot of noise but if it is its case its really not noticeable. Your "profiles" solution sounds interesting.
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