#752 Can't Hold the Candle to the Cell Phone Light?
If you forgot your flashlight and can’t use matches or a candle for searching chometz in a hotel and the table lamp is too heavy and cumbersome, besides the electric cord does not reach far, can you use your cell phone light?
Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit”a opinion is, being that we are not considering the intense lighting of the flashlight app, which some new mobiles have, but rather the common screen glow of a regular cell phone, it depends on the phone and it’s settings. If it is bright enough to read by or to properly examine an area close by, being at least similar to the illumination provided by a candle, it can be used. He recommends in that case, turning off the bright room lights, if they diminish the illuminating effect.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as advised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit”a
Answered by: Hagaon Rav Shlomo Miller Shlit'a
Published: March 25, 2015