Torah Lecture Danger: Cellphone (10 Minutes)

0:20Do not play with your phones. And even the people that are watching this online, don't make comments. If you want to make comments in the beginning, you know, Chazak u'Baruch, hi from Alaska, from Zimbabwe, from Chicago, and so on. One comment, that's it. Don't start conversing with each other, start asking each other questions, and start answering each other's questions. Why? If you want to do that, go do it somewhere else. You're distracting everyone else. It's not a threat for everybody to converse. It's a threat for you to watch the shiur. And you can say hi. And we can see, Baruch Hashem, that we have students from Alaska and Australia and different places. And you also have the Satan coming in different forms. You have Christianity and Messianics, and sometimes Chabadniks who think that the Rebbe is Mashiach or God. And sometimes it's people that hate me because I told them the truth about wigs. And so on and so forth. The Yetzer Hara comes in different ways. But if you continuously go back and forth in the thread,

1:25Not only are you not paying attention to this, but even if you're hearing it in the background, that doesn't mean you're paying attention. This is not music; this is Torah. Not only are you not paying attention to this, but on top of it, you're distracting everyone else. This is because now, whoa, there's something going on in the shul; there's some action in the thread. And where do you think it's not going to get them at all? Look, the guy mentioned something irrelevant, and then they start up, and everybody forgot about the shiur. Everybody forgot about this, you know. Same thing with the phone, same thing with the phone. I must have said it on Sunday, maybe seven, eight times, seven, eight times. I mentioned it: stop playing with the phone, stop playing with the phone. I'm specifically talking about one person. The guy wouldn't hear it in his mind. He didn't realize. And he's the one talking on the phone the whole time, he's on the phone. It's like the Gemara says: a person does not see any wrong in himself.

2:26He thinks I'm talking about, yeah, yeah, you should stop talking on the phone. Stop. I don't understand these people. Yeah, yeah, cut it off. What's wrong with you? It's you I'm talking about. People don't see the wrong in themselves. Why? A person needs to understand. Torah is something holy. If we're learning holy Torah, that means the Shekhinah is with us right now. Hashem is here. He's not like in the sky. He's here right now. Right here. What does He say in the Gemara? He says in the Gemara that when people study Torah, even if two people study Torah, the Shekhinah is right there. Three people, the Shekhinah is there. Five people, the Shekhinah is there. When we learn Torah, the Shekhinah is there. So you know, even though you can't see God, you should be aware of His presence. But if you knew he was here for a shiur, you'd still play on your phone? Oh, let me check my stock for a second. Oh, no, no. No, no, I'm talking about Torah. You have to understand a few things. Number one, if you're playing on your phone, you're not paying attention. Number two, you're distracting to everyone else. Why? You're getting their yetzer hara to act.

3:36You're getting their yetzer hara also to act. Why? You remind them they also have a phone. So now they're going to check their phone. They're going to check the text message. They're going to check, oh yeah, he's looking at the phone. The Rabbi didn't say anything. The Rabbi didn't say anything. So let me check the phone. All of a sudden you start, and everybody's taking them out of their pockets. It looks like everybody's dancing. And you keep taking the phones out of the pocket. And last but not least, you are distracting the speaker. Because unlike what most people think, the speaker can see better than everyone else. Why? You're all looking in one direction. The speaker is looking everywhere. He sees everything. I'm right in front of you. I see that you're not paying attention. I'm not blind. I see that you're on the phone. And the guy's under the table. Like I'm blind. I don't know that his hands are under the table in an unusual way. What's wrong with you? Just pay attention. It's a couple of hours and then you go back and play with your phone until next year for all I care. You're distracting. Why? The Rav is thinking what? I see that you're on the phone. And the guy's under the table like I'm blind. I don't know that his hands are under the table in an unusual way. What's wrong with you? Just pay attention. It's a couple of hours, and then you can go back and play with your phone until next year, for all I care. You're distracting. Why? The Rav is thinking what?

4:59Where's the Rav thinking? Where's the speaker thinking? First of all, he's thinking about his subject at hand. But now he sees somebody on the phone. And it bothers him. Why? It's like, it's not interesting what I'm saying. It's not interesting. Why? If it was interesting, he wouldn't be on the phone. So now the Rav, or whoever the speaker is, he's thinking, I didn't study enough. Instantly enough, this is not going to have to finish by today. You know what? Maybe I should quit. Maybe I shouldn't have a shiur. You think it's funny. That's a hundred percent true. You started thinking, if I was interesting, he wouldn't fall asleep. If I was interesting, he would actually do teshuvah. If I was interesting, he wouldn't play on the phone. Why is he playing on the phone? It's my fault. It's not his fault. I'm boring; he's dying. He's just doing what he has to do. It's a funny job. One time, actually, Rabbi Mizrachi says, it's a real story, and... A guy falls asleep in the middle of a shiur. The rabbi, who's giving the shiur, notices this. Now, it's not kavod that somebody falls asleep in the middle of a shiur. If somebody falls asleep in a shiur or during prayer, you have to wake them up. It's not kavod. The Shechinah is there. It's not just a matter of honoring the rabbi, it's disrespectful. The Shechinah is present, Hashem is there. He can't fall asleep.

6:23So the rabbi saw the guy sleeping. Okay, once in a while, you know, you talk for a little while, people fall asleep. They're exhausted, they're tired, whatever it is. So he lets him sleep for two minutes, three minutes, five minutes, ten minutes, twenty minutes—the guy's sleeping. He's already in his REM sleep phase. The guy's already getting deep sleep. He's snoring, and the whole neighborhood can hear him. So the rabbi tells the guy next to him, "No, no, wake him up, wake him up." What does the guy respond? "You put him to sleep, you wake him up. You put him to sleep; you wake him up." But the reality, rabotai, when someone sees you, when someone's speaking and sees you playing with the phone, he starts thinking, "I'm not interesting, I'm not this." He starts having self-conscious issues. Now, what happens? You're thinking, "Ah, no, no, he'll get through it, he'll get through it." What if he doesn't? Are you willing to take that on your tab? What if he doesn't? What if one day he has the yetzer hara and he says, "You know what? I'm not going to. I'm going to cancel the shiur tonight." Why? "Yesterday I did a shiur. Half the people were on the phone, and the other half were sleeping. What am I going to do a shiur for? You know what? I'm going to call in sick. Guys, tonight I'm not going to do a shiur." And that night, someone was supposed to show up to do teshuva, whether online, in person, whatever. And now the shiur is gone. Who do you think gets half of the punishment?

7:45The speaker is obviously not good, but the guy that led the speaker's partner into sin. He's a partner in a sin. Why? Instead of doing the opposite, he was supposed to give the Rabbi support. He was supposed to give the Rabbi encouragement to keep going and to show him you're not interested. to show him you're not interested. That's why it was like, actually somebody was supposed to show up yesterday. He didn't stop playing with his phone. He did not stop playing with his phone. Every five minutes, he kept getting up, playing with the water, going to the bathroom, coming back, playing with the water the whole time he was there. He was supposed to come tonight, and I couldn't wait to tell him something before the shiur. Please, tonight, if you're gonna be here, just learn, because I don't want to embarrass anybody in public. Even though you're allowed to in a situation like this because it's distracting to everybody else, yesterday, I remained silent even though for two hours I had to endure this person's behavior. He was supposed to come, and I didn't say anything. I decided that tonight I have to address the situation because this cannot become a habit. It becomes poison; it becomes a cancer to everybody else. They come in, and they feel like they're the only ones in the room.

8:53Yeah, cookie. Hey guys, cooking steak, is this what happens when there are 25, 30, 50, or 100 people also watching the shiur? Why are you the only one here? Everybody else is doing a 20-minute entrance, 20-minute entrance, just to enter the place. 20 minutes before, no shalom; a red carpet takes less time. Hawaii president? President of himself maybe, but the point is, you have to understand that speed; this is a problem when you're not conscious of the world around you.