Technology break during Yom Kippur urged

Can Jews turn off their cell phones for the High Holy Days?

Can they resist hiding their BlackBerrys under their prayer books? Can they thwart the urge to take a "bathroom break" during services when they feel compelled to check a new text?

A national campaign is urging Jews, and all Americans, to make Yom Kippur, Sept. 18, "No-Device Day," a time to take a break from technology and reconnect with family and community the old-fashioned way: by talking face to face.

The Jewish High Holy Days begin at sundown Wednesday with Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, and end on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. During this 10-day period of introspection, Jews repent for the sins of the past year and ask God to grant them another year of life and health.

Many Jews who do not observe other holidays go to synagogue for the High Holy Days and fast on Yom Kippur. Very observant Jews refrain from using electricity or cars or doing work on these days as they do on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath.

Similarly, rabbis see use of cell phones and other gadgets as breaking the holidays' mindset, in which the focus should be Jews' relationship with God and their fellow human beings.

"It's breaking the law of the day and the spirit of the day," said Rabbi Moshe Denburg of Chabad of Boca Raton, Fla. "You want to do things that enhance the day, and being attached to a gadget violates that spirit."

Throughout the year, leaders of many faiths say, mobile devices interfere with religious ceremonies from bar mitzvahs to funerals, even though they tell those in attendance to turn them off.

"It's an ongoing source of tension," said Rabbi Paul Plotkin of Temple Beth Am of Margate, Fla. "There are differences in etiquette from synagogue to synagogue. And there are people who have attitudes. They're rude when you ask them to be respectful."

At a Reform Jewish congregation, it might be acceptable to use a cell phone in the lobby during Sabbath services, Plotkin said, but not at his Conservative synagogue. This could prove confusing to guests unfamiliar with the customs of different Jewish denominations, he said.

Karyn Rosenberg Hoffman, a psychotherapist in Boca Raton, puts her smart phone on "silent" during High Holy Day services. She said she has to be available if a patient has an emergency.

"It would be nice to completely detach, and if it weren't for my work, I probably would," she said. "It would be a true letting-go and a relief."