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Considering that, these days, you can have quite a bit of Torah on cellphones (indeed, on my iPhone I have all of Tanach, Siddur, Halachic works, Jastrow dictionary, etc.), is it possible to make an argument that phones could count as a sefer in terms of stacking?

Essentially, one is not supposed to put other things on top of sefarim. Indeed, one should not even stack a "less holy" sefer on top of a "more holy sefer" (although the Rama states, I believe, that anything that is bound and not written on klaf all have the same status). Thus, where would a phone with Torah on it fall in this spectrum?

Maybe it would make a difference if the Torah was actually up on the screen at the time of stacking? Or perhaps it wouldn't, and a phone could not count as something of a sefer in any circumstances whatsoever?

Anyone see any sources that discuss such a thing? Can you place/stack a phone on top of a sefer?

Scimonster
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WhoKnows
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    I don't think this type of halacha would apply to temporary "virtual" Torah that is digitally stored. AFAIK, this is similar to the sheimos halacha. Torah words that appear on a computer screen and on disc, CD, etc. are not considered sheimos, from what I have seen and heard from asking rabbanim. I infer, thus, that these items have no holiness as an item itself just because of what is magnetically stored within it. – DanF Mar 26 '15 at 18:05
  • I'm going to say no since the phone itself doesn't contain writing. The rendered images on the screen are temporary and thus we aren't expected to bury a phone for things like shemos. – rosenjcb Mar 26 '15 at 18:31
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    Do you avoid taking it into the bathroom? – JNF Mar 26 '15 at 18:56
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    @JNF No, but I don't think I would open up any of the Torah apps in a bathroom... no? – WhoKnows Mar 26 '15 at 21:43
  • @DanF Interesting... Good direction there... Suppose you'd be right... – WhoKnows Mar 26 '15 at 21:43
  • Related: http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/1186 – msh210 Mar 27 '15 at 03:31
  • Haven't verified, but I had heard that a certain rosh yeshiva had said that a computer that is used exclusively for learning Torah could be placed on top of any sefer. – MTL Mar 27 '15 at 04:00
  • @Shokhet - That's interesting. I'd like to know who this was, if you can find out. So, this person wouldn't allow any additional widgets or gadgets that usually come with Windows, like calculator or Windows Explorer or (Chas V'Shalom! ) Firefox? – DanF Mar 27 '15 at 13:19
  • @DanF I'd rather not say, in case I misheard what was said. He didn't say you're not allowed to use Explorer, but my feeling was that if you read JK Rowling eBooks on your laptop, then you shouldn't be putting it on top of seforim. – MTL Mar 27 '15 at 13:46
  • I had to edit the title, mainly for the "older generation" as people think I am. Although, I've seen too much stupidity emanate from "smart" phones as well as those that use them ;-) – DanF Mar 27 '15 at 14:09
  • @WhoKnows, so the question is when the Sefer app is open? – JNF Mar 29 '15 at 06:50
  • @Shokhet To the contrary, once I wanted to record a melamed's speech, and I put inadvertently my phone on a sefer. Politely, but instantly he took down my phone on the table. – Kazi bácsi Feb 03 '19 at 11:39
  • Were you responding to my first comment, @Kazibácsi? ...it's possible that there's no contradiction. Is your phone used exclusively for learning? And even if so, did the melamed know that? – MTL Feb 03 '19 at 16:56
  • @Shokhet I can hardly believe that a mobile phone without idle conversations exist... :-) – Kazi bácsi Feb 03 '19 at 17:21
  • So...then...your anecdote does not show anything "to the contrary." I am confused. *shrug* – MTL Feb 06 '19 at 18:27

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I don't have sources, but I offer the following reasoning:

  • There is no issue of erasing with digital representations of the divine name. Text on a screen is neither permanent nor writing.

  • Nobody (as far as I know) bars bringing your smartphone into a bathroom.

  • Nobody (as far as I know) requires burying a phone when it will no longer be used. R' Yosef Dovid Chanowitz says explicitly: "Audio cassettes, CDs, and videos do not have kedusha, even if one can hear or see words of Torah or Hashem’s name. The same is true with a computer or a hard drive. One may place them in the garbage unless clearly indicated on the object that it contains Torah (like on a label). In that case, one should cover them or remove the indicator before placing it the garbage."

  • Your phone can contain a mix of Torah and ordinary text. It might even contain stuff that is profane. (Do you have Facebook installed? Twitter?) As far as I know, nobody bars mixing these types of content on a phone, while I don't think any (kosher) publisher would combine Torah and secular content in a single volume.

Considering all of this, it seems clear that a device that contains 1s and 0s that encode text is not a sefer and is not part of the stacking rules.

mbloch
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Monica Cellio
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