A very nice article describing what it's like to have a cell phone ringing during an orchestral session, and what a famous conductor did to shut it down. We should liken this act of "intolerance" with our daily davening at shul where the cell phone has taken over our davening.
As I read this story, I was actually moved by the intolerance of the conductor and his protest against someone’s callousness and lack of courtesy that compromised his spirituality. Indeed, contrast what happened at the New York Philharmonic and what happens almost daily in Shul. Three times a day we gather for a symphony, not of classical music, but of prayer. When davening, we are to get lost in a very far away spiritual place such that the sound of a ringing cell phone would rudely awaken us and bring us back down to earth. And yet, sadly, most of us are unfazed and frankly unbothered when a cell phone goes off. In fact, if anything, for many the ring serves as an alarm to interrupt our day dreaming and bring us back to the fact that we are actually in the middle of davening.
Source: We must create intolerance
