Sep 13, 2026 · 5 min · 3 segments
On a beautiful day in one of London's best parks, almosteveryone was staring at their phone instead of the view. Rabbi Shlomo Levin shares what happened when he spotted one man reading a book on a…
Shlomo LevinHost
And there's a lot to look at, except that walkers I encountered that day weren't looking.
Every person I encountered walking, sitting on a bench, on their own, with a companion, was looking instead at their smartphones.
In the local village filled with pubs and restaurants, people sitting on the broad pavement were likewise glued to their screens.
I saw a family sitting inside a restaurant, mother, father, three children, probably aged seven to fifteen, all intently scrolling on their phones.
What cataclysmic world event have I missed that draws them so obsessively to their phones to the exclusion of all else around them? And then, walking along, I spied a solitary individual sitting on a bench reading a book, pausing from time to time to look up and enjoy his surroundings.
And I felt an urge to congratulate him for being the sole remaining sane member of the human race.
"Because it is the Jewish Sabbath, and in accordance with Jewish practice that requires respite from technology on the Sabbath, I don't use my phone," he replied.
The reason we all look at our phones so much is not because there's something especially important to see, but because if we are honest with ourselves, we have become addicted to our devices.
I submit that adults require this no less because our universes have shrunk to the world behind a four-inch piece of glass.
An incredible invention designed to liberate knowledge and communication has instead entrapped us and become an instrument of myopic limitation.
Many people, including many Jews, consider the Jewish laws of Sabbath observance formulated thousands of years ago out of touch and inconsistent with modern life.
And yet, the arcane law that forced my congregant to behave differently to all others around him remains astonishingly relevant.
And one does not need a Jewish Sabbath, a Christian Sunday, or a Muslim Friday to reclaim an engagement with nature, relationships, and good conversation.
The simple decision to banish our phones any day of the week we choose can restore to our lives, even if only momentarily, what being human is all about.
And there's a lot to look at, except that walkers I encountered that day weren't looking.
Every person I encountered walking, sitting on a bench, on their own, with a companion, was looking instead at their smartphones.
In the local village filled with pubs and restaurants, people sitting on the broad pavement were likewise glued to their screens.
I saw a family sitting inside a restaurant, mother, father, three children, probably aged seven to fifteen, all intently scrolling on their phones.
What cataclysmic world event have I missed that draws them so obsessively to their phones to the exclusion of all else around them? And then, walking along, I spied a solitary individual sitting on a bench reading a book, pausing from time to time to look up and enjoy his surroundings.
And I felt an urge to congratulate him for being the sole remaining sane member of the human race.
"Because it is the Jewish Sabbath, and in accordance with Jewish practice that requires respite from technology on the Sabbath, I don't use my phone," he replied.
The reason we all look at our phones so much is not because there's something especially important to see, but because if we are honest with ourselves, we have become addicted to our devices.
I submit that adults require this no less because our universes have shrunk to the world behind a four-inch piece of glass.
An incredible invention designed to liberate knowledge and communication has instead entrapped us and become an instrument of myopic limitation.
Many people, including many Jews, consider the Jewish laws of Sabbath observance formulated thousands of years ago out of touch and inconsistent with modern life.
And yet, the arcane law that forced my congregant to behave differently to all others around him remains astonishingly relevant.
And one does not need a Jewish Sabbath, a Christian Sunday, or a Muslim Friday to reclaim an engagement with nature, relationships, and good conversation.
The simple decision to banish our phones any day of the week we choose can restore to our lives, even if only momentarily, what being human is all about.
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