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Several of the men I’ve spoken with have expressed the sentiment that now that they can daven at home without any pressure of the tzibbur or having to run out to work, they find it much better for their kavannah and pronunciation of the words.
One even told me that this is the first in a long time that he was able to say EVERY word of the long tachanun on Monday.
Does your Tefillah seem to be benefiting from this quarantine?Definitely yes!
Now that I’m not rushing off to work every morning, I have more time and patience to daven properly.We also have so much more to daven for……the usual “speed’ davening” many had become accustomed to in a world where we were all on a treadmill trying to meet obligations of family and jobs has given way to a more focused and thoughtful conversation with the Ebeshter. One of the few positives right now.
Chas V’Shalom should anyone get the wrong idea into their head that davening without a Minyan is preferable.
And why not, Joseph?
A slow, meaningful davening at home sounds pretty good to me!Joseph is correct, davening with a minyan is always preferable to davening b’yechidus. That is a no-brainer.
That said, one can use the extra time at home to practice reading Hebrew so that the davening flows smoothly and one feels comfortable with the nusach hat’filah. Good kavanah requires one being capable of reading the words properly, a skill not usually emphasized in yeshivos.
totally maskim to goldiloks, in fact r moshe would daven biyichidus at home every shabbos
Chas V’Shalom should anyone get the wrong idea into their head that davening without a Minyan is preferable.
No, but I see no harm from making the best out of a bad situation, which is what the OP was doing.
The Wolf
There are three situations when praying at home might be preferable.
One is when the minyan is so unruly that one cannot concentrate on tefillah. Once in my life I have had to walk out on a “minyan” like that. There was so much talking that I am not sure that there were ten people actually praying.
The second is that there are opinions that praying at the ideal time — right at sunrise for Shacharit — is preferable even without a minyan. I am not up to that level.
The third is a situation like today when it risks peoples lives. May we all get through this and never experience such a situation again.
I have indeed found that I can concentrate better.
Many times we take things for granted and not appreciated. One of these is being able to daven with a minyan.
When iy’H we will be able to do it again, we will daven with more ferver.I find that I just cannot daven properly at home. I can’t set my mind to it. Even when davening alone, I find that doing so in a shul helps me concentrate. Now that I can’t do that, my davening has been rushed, absent-minded, and I sometimes wonder whether I’m really saying all the words.
I find davening extremely challenging. And I find the call to be mischazek and an increase in Torah and tefila causing me anxiety as those are most certainly on a lesser level than before this outbreak. Can anyone identify? Anyone with some words of wisdom?
We say מה טובו אוהלך יעקב when we enter a shul. אשרי יושבי ביתך when we daven. Now we understand its true meaning!
The reality is that people are in such a hurry today that it’s pretty much impossible to have kavana for every word with a minyan. On the other hand, when there is no minyan to keep up with it is entirely possible for great number of people to concentrate on the meaning of every word. It is obviously preferable to have kavana. But it’s also preferable to pray with a minyan. I’m willing to say that complete kavana at home is preferable to zero kavana in shul. For all the cases in between consult your Rabbi.
Rabbosai,
Whilst it may be true that davening at home can be better for Kavana etc, however, the power of Tefilla betzibbur is incredible.
In fact if a person davens in a tzibbur, even he does not have Kavana, his tefilla goes up with the rest of the tzibbur.
Let us use this time to work on our tefilla so that when the shuls Open again, or when we meet in Yerushalayim to greet Moshiach, our tefillos will automatically be better.
We will make bigger efforts to daven in slower minyonim, especially on Shabbos and Yomtov when there is no rush. The kiddush will wait another 20 minutes.
We will leave our cursed phones OUTSIDE the shul so that we are not tempted to gloance at it while waiting for chazoras hashatz.
WE will learn to connect to Hashem which is the purpose of davening in the first place.
For those who are finding it hard to concentrate at home, try learning Rav Pincus and Rav Shwab’s books on Tefilla. Start the davening with korbonos and imagine that you are in tgeh Beis Hamikdash and actually bringing korbonos.
Our tefillos are instead of korbonos.
For those who can learn, try learn the sugyos of the korbonos to understand what is a Tomid, what was the avodas Haketoress.
When you start davening with the korbonos, and then you go into Pesukei Dezimra to sing the praises to the Ribonno Shel Olom and thank Him for everything that we have (and believe me there is plenty to thank for especially now) – sing the Mizmor Letodo!
When you say Kol Haneshomo Tehallel Kah, think about Al Kol Neshima Uneshima – for every breath of air that we take we need to thank Hashem.
When you then go into Krias Shema and be mekavel Ol Malchus Shomayim and then you take 3 steps and enter the Palace! your davening will be different.
Make yourself a special place in the house to daven. Put a table cloth on the table and make it a real sanctuary where you can meet Hashem there.
All this will help you connect to Hashem and have better Kavanna.
Let is use this time and get closer to Hashem so that we can meet in in the Beis Hamikdash Bekorov Beyomeinu Mamash!
Good Shabbos
MS
RBS AOf course, we all prefer davening b’tzibbur. And under normal circumstances, a person davening at home by choice my guess probably would not result in a better davening. It’s just the situation, where some people are not rushing to work, or may be working but don’t have the commute, that allows for a more relaxed time to daven. The bigger challenge is minchah and maariv, which unless I set a distinct time–and remember it–there is a danger I may miss it. Davening at home on Shabbos was particularly depressing, but I still read the parsha with the haftarah.
It seems like we had honest conversations about davening, before we got involved with halachos of porch minyanim.
Another reason not to make every point into a decision of which Rav is right.
masmid: During swhich tekufah of his life?
My wife certainly prefers it!
Yserbius: Your wife prefers “it”….with “it” being your davening at home or going to the shul?? If the former, why?
I don’t know about the anecdote of Rav Moshe davening at home, but I do know that he was asked precisely the question whether it was permissible to daven at home with better concentration. His answer, printed in Igros Moshe, was an emphatic “no”; Tefila Btzibur is not negotiable.
Dear Catch,
i do not have the Igros with me, i can’t look it up. It seem to my memory that it is negotiable, but the reason was not impressive enough. Other teshuvos from Rav Moshe clearly “negotiate” different purposes in tefilla. I recall a teshuvah that it is possible to prefer to daven maariv alone after dark.
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