Ringing phone during the Shemoneh Esrei

I was in the middle of Shemoneh Esrei and my mobile started ringing, which was really disturbing. I thought I should switch it off, but then I realized that in the middle of Shemoneh Esrei, one may not engage in any activity. So, I wasn’t sure what to do. Can you tell me what the halacha is in this situation?

The answer : You may switch it off during the Shemoneh Esrei, although you should pause from praying while you are switching it off.

The answer explained in depth :

Nowadays with the modern technology it is sometimes very hard to disconnect oneself from the outside world and as we know when it come to tefilla it is very important that before entering the synagogue one prepares oneself and switches off the telephone or at least switch off the ringing and vibrate. We find the importance of total concentration when it comes to davening. This is a quote from the Shulchan Aruch (Siman 98) It describes the way one should conduct oneself during davening:

שולחן ערוך אורח חיים הלכות תפילה סימן צח

המתפלל צריך שיכוין בלבו פירוש המלות שמוציא בשפתיו; ויחשוב כאלו שכינה כנגדו; ויסיר כל המחשבות הטורדות אותו עד שתשאר מחשבתו וכוונתו זכה בתפלתו; ויחשוב כאלו היה מדבר לפני מלך בשר ודם היה מסדר דבריו ומכוין בהם יפה לבל יכשל, ק"ו לפני ממ"ה הקדוש ברוך הוא שהוא חוקר כל המחשבות. וכך היו עושים חסידים ואנשי מעשה, שהיו מתבודדים ומכוונין בתפלתם עד שהיו מגיעים להתפשטות הגשמות ולהתגברות כח השכלי, עד שהיו מגיעים קרוב למעלת הנבואה. ואם תבא לו מחשבה אחרת בתוך התפלה, ישתוק עד שתתבטל המחשבה.

Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, Laws of Prayer (Siman 98):

When davening one must concentrate on the meaning of the words…and should think as if the Shechinah (the divine presence) is before him, and remove all distracting thoughts until all one's thoughts are focused on the prayer.
One should imagine that were he to speak before a king of flesh and blood, he would arrange his words and articulate them well….all the more so before Hashem who listens to our prayer and knows all our thoughts.
The Tsadikim would seclude themselves and focus on prayer…..until they approached the level of prophecy.
And if a disturbing thought comes to a person during prayer, one should remain silent until the thought passes.

The above Halacha teaches us that a person should prepare himself before davening to prevent any disturbances that may occur during the prayer, so nowadays that means switching off the cellphone or putting it on idle mode so it won't cause a disturbance.

It is important to note that leaving a phone on during prayer not only shows disrespect to the davening and to Hashem (bein adam le’makom), but it shows disrespect to rest of the minyan (bein adam le’chaveiro). Since when a person prays with a minyan and their phone rings, it disrupts not only their own concentration but also that of others around them.

So the question is that since as we learned when one is praying he is in the presence of the holy Shechinah, that means he may not signal to others or speak to others, what may one do when his phone starts to ring?

We do find in Halacha that if there is a disturbance during davening, a person is allowed to not only pause from davening, but also allowed to signal to others in order to cease the disturbance. For example, if a father took his child to Shul and during the shemoneh esrei the child starts making noise, the father may pause praying and then signal to the child to go out. Similarly, a Rabbi for whom the minyan is waiting in order to start the Chazorat Ha’shats, and this is disturbing him, since he still wants to continue to daven, may signal to the chazzan that he may start.

משנה ברורה סימן קד
ואפילו רמיזה בעלמא אסור אם לא לתינוק הבוכה מותר לו לרמז לו בידיו כדי שישתוק ולא יטרידו מתפלתו

Mishna Berura Siman 104:
Even a mere gesture is prohibited (during the shemoneh esrei) unless it is to a crying child, then it is permissible to gesture to him with one's hands so that he will be quiet and not disturb one's prayer.

So, similarly, with regard to a ringing phone, since it is making noise and causing you and others a distraction from your prayers, you may pause your davening and switch it off.

Wishing you well.

Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, Siman 98

Mishna Berura, Siman 104