Q:
Is it proper to listen to your tapes while eating supper?
A:
If you have nothing better to do, certainly it’s proper.
But don’t talk on the telephone while eating supper. This I want to tell you. I’ll take this opportunity. Don’t talk on the telephone while eating because as I mentioned recently, one sixth of the fatal home accidents is caused by swallowing incorrectly, it goes down the wrong way.
And that’s why the Gemara says, אין מסיחין בסעודה – you shouldn’t talk during the meal. Sometimes your correspondent on the other side of the phone might say something surprising and you’ll gulp, “Is that so?” At that moment, the little cover of your epiglottis will open up and down goes the food the wrong way.
And so, if you’re just listening and not talking… Now tapes, of course, you can’t talk back, so tapes are safer than the telephone. So as a substitute for the telephone, I recommend the tapes.
(March 1979)
