Month: August 2015

Pillars, People and Prayer

One of the early considerations for a Shul is where will it be located? Will we rent or will we build? How will we pay for the pillars? These are not trivial issues, but they’ve been adequately addressed by many Shuls.

After the pillars, we need the people. A Rabbi to fill the primary role of spiritual leader. Some active-for-life members in some key roles. And the officers, board and committee members who keep the Shul running smoothing.

After the pillars and people are in place, we need to focus on the purpose of it all. The primary reason we’ve made all this effort – and that is to pray as a Tzibbur to Our Father in Heaven. Prayer is difficult, but it is an integral part of building a relationship with Hashem. It would be silly to spend so much effort in financing and running a Shul and not put a significant effort into improving our prayers.

Our Rav recently highlighted another aspect to consider. He taught that one of the primary determinants of spiritual success is the company we keep. Our friends have an extremely powerful influence on us. Our approach to prayer effects how others approach their prayers. It’s a self-referential loop which can bring us all to higher levels.

As we approach Rosh Hoshana it’s a great time to work harder on our kavanna during prayer so we can collectively advance in our spiritual mission.

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The SP Guide to a 45 Minute Shacharis

As I walked into the 8:00 Shacharis for the bris of a friend’s grandson, I wished him a Mazal Tov and asked about the pace of the davening. The bris had to take place at 8:45 sharp, and he asked my opinion.

I thought it might be worth the effort to sketch out one possible allocation of times for a 45 minute Shacharis in nusach Ashkenaz.

8:00 – Morning Brachos (6 min)
8:06 – First Kaddish, Mizmor Shiur, Second Kaddish (2 min)
8:08 – Pesukei D’Zimra, Kaddish (9 min)
8:17 – Barechu, Brochas before Krias Shema (2 min)
8:19 – Krias Shema (3 min)
8:22 – Brachos after Krias Shema (2 min)
8:24 – Shemoneh Esrai (7 min)
8:30 – Shemoneh Esrai repetition, Kaddish (6 min)
8:36 – Tachanun (1 min)
8:37 – Ashrei, Uva Lezion, Kaddish (3 min)
8:40 – Alenu, Kaddish (2 min)
8:42 – Song of the Day, Kaddish (2 min)
8:45 – End

Morning Brachos in 6 minutes means a lot of skipping, but you can get in the essentials. If you listen and answer amen to the Baal Tefillah’s Brachos you’ll lose a minute of your own davening time there, so get to Shul early.

The Pesukei D’Zimra time is a little fast for my taste. I would prefer 12 minutes, but that wouldn’t work here where we’re constrained to a 45 minute davening.

The most critical time to set for davening is the time from Barechu to the beginning of Shemoneh Esrai. There are the two times when you need the highest level of Kavannah, during the beginning of the Shema and the beginning of Shemoneh Esrai. If people are davening fast during those times it will be harder for them to slow down and focus. An elapsed time of 7 minutes from Barechu to Shemoneh Esrai is a reasonable Kavannah-achievable pace.

The Shomeneh Esrai is when we are standing and talking directly to Hashem, so I think 7 minutes is a good time to allocate there. I’m also a big proponent of a dignified Shomeneh Esrai repetition and 6 minutes is respectful and is safely beyond AFAHP (as fast as humanly possible) range.

The end of davening on this scheduled is a bit rushed for my taste, but we only have 45 minutes. Going slower and being out of sync with the Tzibbur is less of a problem at this point of the davening.

What this exercise has shown me is that we really need 50 minutes for a dignified davening. If we truly realized what could be accomplished in our hearts, minds and the spirtual worlds during Shacharis we would give Hashem 50 minutes in a flash.