Skip to main content

Thought for the Day: Once Again -- Davening כוותיקין is a Super Power

There is nothing like davening just at sunrise. Mind you, I've rarely actually seen a sunrise these last 30 years; that's because I am davening at that moment and have much more important things on my mind. For those of us who daven כוותיקין regularly, it becomes a passion.

By passion I mean that it is very difficult to start the day any other way. Fortunately, that isn't much of a problem, even when traveling. First, it is usually (though not always) earlier than any other minyan (especially on Shabbos). That means I can (nearly always) daven כוותיקין and then get to the, ahem, later minyanim for Torah reading, musaf, etc. What about davening with a minyan you ask? Ah... davening כוותיקין is a super power -- it trumps davening with a minyan! In fact, even if a person did not have his t'fillin, one who is careful to daven כוותיקין should daven with הנץ החמה. See Biur Halacha to siman 59, ומצווה מן המובחר וכו. (I love the Google translation of that: a command from the Elite; my capitalization.)

There is one tricky situation, though. Sometimes people either want to help out a group needs to travel early, or whatever; and they decide to put together a minyan to daven כוותיקין. Wonderful! Best of both worlds. One little problem: That sort of minyan often misses the moment of sunrise by a minute or two or four. Not a big deal if they are early. In that case I can just wait. The problem is when they are running late. Why? Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim siman 90, syef 10: When standing with the congregation, אסור להקדים תפילתו/it is forbidden to start one's t'filla earlier than the congregation.

What to do? The Dirshu Mishna Brura actually addresses this situation. See Dirshu note 11 on siman 59 on that same Biur Halacha. R' Elyashav, zt"l, felt one should not advance his t'fila, but should say kri'as shema before הנץ החמה/sunrise, as that is the main point intention of the וותיקין. R' Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt''l, felt one should step out to daven with הנץ החמה. What do I do?

I asked R' Fuerst, who told me to go ahead and daven in the shul and start my t'fila with הנץ החמה. I asked what was the case of the Shulchan Aruch to not advance one's t'filah? The rav answered, for anyone not davening כוותיקין. I looked back for myself at the Mishna Brura 90, sk 35, where he concludes: The ma'amar mordechai says there is not intrinsic prohibition, just that one thereby loses t'fila b'tzibbur. Ahh... but as noted above, davening כוותיקין beats t'fila b'tzibbur.

Like I said, davening כוותיקין is a super power.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thought for the Day: Pizza, Uncrustables, and Stuff -- What Bracha?

Many years ago (in fact, more than two decades ago), I called R' Fuerst from my desk at work as I sat down to lunch.  I had a piece of (quite delicious) homemade pizza for lunch.  I nearly always eat at my desk as I am working (or writing TftD...), so my lunch at work cannot in any way be considered as sitting down to a formal meal; aka קביעת סעודה.  That being the case, I wasn't sure whether to wash, say ha'motzi, and bentch; or was the pizza downgraded to a m'zonos.  He told if it was a snack, then it's m'zonos; if a meal the ha'motzi.  Which what I have always done since then.  I recently found out how/why that works. The Shulchan Aruch, 168:17 discusses פשטיד''א, which is describes as a baked dough with meat or fish or cheese.  In other words: pizza.  Note: while the dough doesn't not need to be baked together with the meat/fish/cheese, it is  required that they dough was baked with the intention of making this concoction. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Thought for the Day: What Category of Muktzeh are Our Candles?

As discussed in a recent TftD , a p'sak halacha quite surprising to many, that one may -- even לכתחילה -- decorate a birthday cake with (unlit, obviously) birthday candles on Shabbos. That p'sak is predicated on another p'sak halacha; namely, that our candles are muktzeh because they are a כלי שמלאכתו לאיסור and not  מוקצה מחמת גופו/intrinsically set aside from any use on Shabbos. They point there was that using the candle as a decoration qualifies as a need that allows one to utilize a כלי שמלאכתו לאיסור. Today we will discuss the issue of concluding that our candles are , in fact, a כלי שמלאכתו לאיסור and not מוקצה מחמת גופו. Along the way we'll also (again) how important it is to have personal relationship with your rav/posek, the importance of precision in vocabulary, and how to interpret the Mishna Brura.  Buckle up. After reviewing siman 308 and the Mishna Brura there, I concluded that it should be permissible to use birthday candles to decorate a cake on Sha...
Post a Comment
Read more

Thought for the Day: אוושא מילתא Debases Yours Shabbos

My granddaughter came home with a list the girls and phone numbers in her first grade class.  It was cute because they had made it an arts and crafts project by pasting the list to piece of construction paper cut out to look like an old desk phone and a receiver attached by a pipe cleaner.  I realized, though, that the cuteness was entirely lost on her.  She, of course, has never seen a desk phone with a receiver.  When they pretend to talk on the phone, it is on any relatively flat, rectangular object they find.  (In fact, her 18 month old brother turns every  relatively flat, rectangular object into a phone and walks around babbling into it.  Not much different than the rest of us, except his train of thought is not interrupted by someone else babbling into his ear.) I was reminded of that when my chavrusa (who has children my grandchildrens age) and I were learning about אוושא מילתא.  It came up because of a quote from the Shulchan Aru...
Post a Comment
Read more