Respect for the Law
A lawyer told me that he was in the middle of a hearing when his cell phone rang. Out of habit, he took the call. Immediately, the judge stated that he was fined five thousand shekel, as answering a phone call in a court of law is considered contempt of court.
When I heard about this incident, I was terribly disturbed. Every day, we meet three times in Hashem’s House of Prayer, a miniature Sanctuary. More often than I care to remember, I notice fellow Jews who have the audacity to speak with others or involve themselves with their cell phones. They are causing tremendous insult to Hashem and to His Sanctuary.
If, in a court of secular law, the cost for contempt of court is so steep, who knows how expensive it will be for one who made a mockery of a Beit Hakeneset?!
It is our moral obligation to respect a Beit Hakeneset at least as much as we respect a court of law. Mundane matters should never be discussed there, and cell phones and other forms of communication must be turned off. As we stand in prayer, we must feel a sense of respect toward the King of kings, Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
