I’d appreciate your insights on the following thought experiment: you walk into a modern orthodox synagogue for a summer weekday minyan. The rabbi and assistant Rabbi are in suits and ties and the vast majority of the congregants are in business casual. The Rabbi and assistant rabbi also have instructed the chazan not to wait for them and only complete their personal amida at the same time as The chazan completes the repetition of the amida. What messages are being sent and what messages are being received?
KVCT
Joel Rich
It tells me they know the importance of tefillah and have kavvanos to think about while davening.
But still know that דרך ארץ קדמה and anything you do that’s neither chiyuv nor avoiding an issur should be done at another’s expense.
As for the suits… Everyone in the room appears to be dressed in the manner expected by people in their profession. It says more about the minyan’s expectations than anything about the rabbis.
Joel Rich <joelirarich@gmail.com>### |
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I think most would agree with you on the amida. I’m very sensitive about the tfilat hatzibbur issue based on the understanding of the RYBS and so I always hurry to try to be able to be part of the tzibbur. I hope to sneak in unnoticed 
I noticed more and more people who are“more religious“ don’t seem concerned about that. Don’t get me started on the focus on the individual versus tzibbur in general in the orthodox community.
Different strokes for different folks I guess.
kvct
joel rich
Okay, I see the scenario. But it is not clear to me which parts bothers you, that you are wondering about messages sent and received.
Maybe your concern is about how they are all dressed. I would note that the congregants are NOT dressed “casual”, but rather “business casual”, which to ME means the sort of clothing which will impress their bosses, or at least not insult their bosses. To me, that sounds adequate for dressing to speak with Hashem.
You might challenge that, saying that “adequate” isn’t enough when we’re talking about being in front of the Melech Malchei Hamlachim. And my response would be that the rabbi and assistant rabbi are merely in suits and ties. They have made a deliberate choice to avoid wearing tuxedos on this momentous occasion. But both they and their congregants have evaluated the situation based on their past experiences, and they ALL judge themselves as appropriately dressed.
Or maybe you’re asking about the fact that the rabbi and assistant rabbi daven slower than the congregation, and instructed the chazan to begin the chazara without waiting. This is a reasonable question, but I have no idea what it has to do with the mode of dress (nor what it has to do with your specification that it is a “modern orthodox synagogue for a summer weekday minyan”) nor why you chose to put all this in a single post. Be that as it may…
My first reaction was that the “message being sent” by the rabbi and assistant rabbi is that they respect the tzibur and are careful about Tircha D’Tzibur, and therefore they instructed the chazan not to wait. What message is being returned by the congregation? Well, I suppose that there might have been a congregational meeting at some point, at which they might have taken a vote and decided, “In order to do the mitzvah of Kavod Harav, we the tzibur agree to delay Chazaras Hashatz for however long it might take the rabbi and assistant rabbi to finish their quiet tefila.”
Sounds like a nice idea, and I’d probably vote for such a motion. But I don’t recall ever seeing that suggestion in the poskim. The poskim seem to simply ban certain things based on Tircha D’Tzibur. If you are aware of a situation where the tzibur actively decided to be mochel on this tircha please tell us. (Note that Tircha D’Tzibur is a different issue than Kavod HaTzibur. I am very aware of situations – most notably giving aliyos to women – where the poskim do consider the possibility that the tzibur is mochel on their kavod.) [Is there, for example, a shul somewhere that decided to restore Kedusha D’Sidra to its proper place on Shabbos morning, rather than delay it to Shabbos Mincha?]
But your subsequent post suggests that your concern is that the rabbi and assistant rabbi are missing out on “Tefilat Hatzibur”, and you think they are sending a message that Tefilat Hatzibur is not so important. I have two responses to that:
First, yes indeed, perhaps they are sending a message that while Tefilat Hatzibur is important, it is even more important for the silent amidah to be slow and careful, and a person (whether rabbi or not) should not feel pressured to hurry. I’d say that if this is their intention, they are being excellent role models, inasmuch as they don’t seem to be bothered by perpetually missing Kedusha.
Second, your post suggests that you are concerned that people who are “more religious” (your words, not mine) don’t seem to be concerned about “the tfilat hatzibbur issue based on the understanding of the RYBS”. Well, I think you might have answered that one yourself. It seems likely that the rabbi and assistant rabbi DON’T HAVE the same understanding of the Tefilat Hatzibur issue as RYBS had.
We live in a very diverse world, and each gadol is entitled to his particular views, and it is reasonable to expect that a gadol’s followers would adopt his shitos, but equally reasonable NOT to expect that from others. Now, I’m not as learned as you; in my experience, whenever I’ve heard of this concept of Tefilas Hatzibur, it has been labeled as a minority view. Am I mistaken? Are there others who feel as RYBS did?
Or, to put a sharper point on it, I’ll ask it this way: I can point to many places where we are instructed, “Say the Amida at your own pace. Do not rush through simply to reach Kedusha with the Tzibur.” Are you aware of any poskim who say the contrary, “You should try to make sure to finish your Amida in time to be able to stand at attention for the entire Chazaras Hashatz”?
Akiva Miller
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Nothing was bothering me, I was simply seeking information on what peoples perceptions were
Kvct
Joel Rich