I can’t believe it that there was no outrage of the Press Secretary or the President himself and make a general rule that at a Press Meeting all phones must be turned off or at least on vibrate.
Rabbonim & gabbaim fo years have been begging people to shut off their phones before walking into a Shul or Bais Hamedrash
Rabbi Eliezer Ginsburg does not own a phone and will not have one purchased for him and he has said on many ocassions that the Bluetooth is an Eved Nirtzah and recently he proclaimed that if someone is at a funeral and a cell phone goes off during the Hesdpedim, one should go to the Aron of the Mais and give it a clop, which will of course make a tumult and who knows what , but when the tumult starts , you should scream out and say ” And what , the cell phone that is ringing is not just like a clop on the Aron “.
I think the message hear is that it is very sad that were are writing about the insensitivity of cell phones going off at the wrong time, but the real people getting hurt is the one who’s phone is ringing and all others are in the middle of Shemonai Esrei trying to daven with a little bit of Kavona.
Let us see the light and begin to better ourselves and shut off those phones at shul and levaya’s and during the chupa’s, etc etc