Q&A: A yeshiva head who banned his students by a 'konam' because they possessed a phone
A yeshiva head who banned his students by a 'konam' because they possessed a phone
Question
Hello and blessings.
A recording was publicized here of Rabbi Rozen, head of the Or Yisrael Yeshiva (brother of …), who learned that some of his students were secretly holding, Heaven forbid, a "kosher" phone (a basic phone, not a smartphone). In response, he gathered everyone together and forbade the offenders by a konam prohibition, with curses and threats. When they refrained from getting up and leaving, he announced that he was throwing the entire class out of the yeshiva.
Here it is: https://www.kikar.co.il/325971.html
I wondered what I would do in their place, and I was uncertain:
A. Does a yeshiva head have property ownership over the yeshiva, such that he can forbid them with this kind of prohibition?
B. If we say that he can forbid it, does the fact that they pay tuition mean that the konam does not take effect, since they are not benefiting from him for free?
C. Assuming the konam takes effect, must the student leave that very moment, even though by doing so he brings shame and humiliation upon himself? After all, human dignity is of great importance. Perhaps the student may remain until after the assembly, and then find a way to leave the place quietly.
D. Is it proper for a yeshiva head to impose a collective punishment on an entire class, so close to the next school year? By announcing their expulsion at this time, he prevents them from being accepted into other yeshivot.
Answer
I didn't quite understand. Is even a "kosher" phone forbidden there?
In any case, it is accepted that the yeshiva head is the one who decides who stays and who goes. The entire agreement and payment are on that understanding.
As for collective punishment, that really is a problem. But it is possible that he understands there to be contributory guilt or backing from the entire class. One would need to know the details in order to form a position.
Discussion on Answer
Rabbi Michi,
Apparently you're a bit out of the loop on these matters.
In many Haredi yeshivot, it's forbidden to have any cellphone at all (even a kosher one; a non-kosher one is out of the question), because it distracts from learning.
By the way, I, for what it's worth, do indeed see logic in the rule.
Indeed, I'm a bit out of the loop. I understand from you that this isn't because of any defect in the phone itself, but because they don't want such devices in the yeshiva since it interferes with learning. That's a different matter, which is accepted in other places too (not necessarily Haredi ones), and indeed there is a certain logic to it. I had thought this was an extension of the disqualification inherent in smartphones as objects.
Certainly the expulsion was over a kosher phone. A non-kosher phone is considered an accessory to sexual immorality.
See also here:
https://www.kikar.co.il/325946.html