Rabbi Steven Pruzansky Bans Cell Phones in Shul

He makes a good point:

“If the 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.”