By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the Five Towns Jewish Times

It happened at a girls’ summer camp in the Catskills.

But wait, maybe we should start at the beginning.

There are some very special people in the world who have a track record of never ever missing minyan. They have gone many decades attending minyan three times a day – not missing even once. They value Tefilah b’Tzibbur tremendously.

And therein lies the issue.

What happens when out of the ten people that have gathered for the minyan, two of them had already davened? Is that considered Tefilah b’Tzibbur?

The answer: It is a very good question.

We begin with a controversially read Chayei Odom (Klal 19:1). Rabbi Avrohom Danziger writes in his Chayei Odom:

“And the essence of Tefilah b’Tzibbur is the prayer of Shmoneh Esreh, that is ten adult people who will pray together. And not like the masses think, that the essence of praying with ten is just so that one can hear kaddish and kedusha and Barchu. Therefore, they are not careful to pray together – they just ensure that there are ten people in shul, and it is a great error.”

Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l (Igros Moshe OC I #28) understands this Chayei Adam as actually saying that all ten must be davening together and that if even one is not davening.
Let’s get back to the story.

“You’re not serious. Are you really going to make us all drive almost five mile to Camp Agudah because you hold this isn’t Tefilah b’Tzibbur?”
“It’s not me, Its Rav Moshe and also a Chayei Adam.”

“Ah c’mon, I saw that Chayei Odom. He just means that you need a mostly a minyan davening together – but he doesn’t mean that you need all ten.”
“What – you’re arguing on Rav Moshe?”

Back to Halacha – The truth is that the very next Teshuvah in the Igros Moshe is addressed to Rabbi Mordechai Shpielman. Rabbi Shpielman makes the same argument in how to read the Chayei Odom.
A close reading of the Rambam in Hilchos Tefilah 8:4 also seems to indicate that it is considered Tefilah B’Tzibbur even if there were only a majority of the ten who are present actually have davened. Rav Moshe zt”l, in fact, addresses this Rambam in response #30 to Rabbi Noach Breuer from Spring Valley. Rav Moshe attempts to avoid a contradiction between this Rambam and a responsum written by the Rambam and thus rereads the Mishne Torah Rambam in a manner that he himself says does not reflect the simple reading.

Dayan Weiss zt”l (Minchas Yitzchok Vol. IX #6) and Rav Ovadiah Yoseph both disagree with Rav Moshe. Rav Binyomin Zilber zt”l in Oz Nidberu (Vol. II #57) disagrees as well. Dayan Yisroel Yaakov Fisher zt”l (Even Yisroel Vol. VII #9), however, agrees with Rav Moshe’s reading and reasoning. These views are cited in the Psichas HaIgroa p.21.
But let’s get back to the story:

“You gotta go with the minhag in Klal Yisroel. And I’m telling you, Rav Moshe wouldn’t make us all drive five miles so you could make this definition of Tefilah B’Tzibbur – I’ll tell you that much..”
“Four and a half. And who says that that’s the minhag? They are just davening – it doesn’t mean that they are getting Tefilah b’Tzibbur.”

HOW FAR DOES ONE DRIVE TO GO TO A MINYAN

But getting back to the halacha, what would Rav Moshe say about Tefillah b’Tzibbur? Does the same requirement of davening at a minyan apply to this higher level of Tefilah b’Tzibbur?
It is a Mitzvah miderabanan to daven with a minyan. Is this what Rav Moshe was referring to? Chazal obligated a healthy person to walk .6 of a mile (or a Persian mile) to attend minyan. In pre-paving times this took around 18 minutes (See MB 90:52).

But is this travel time or walking distance? The Biur Halacha (163:1 “Brichuk”) regarding getting water for washing before bread invokes a measurement of the walking distance of four mils. He writes that we measure it by time and not distance. This idea is also found in the Mishnah Berurah (249:1) regarding travelling on an Erev Shabbos.

However, regarding Tefilas HaDerech the Mishna Brurah 92:17 about washing hands before Davening – he uses distance – not time! Also, the Mishna Brurah 110:30 writes that for Tefilas HaDerech we measure according to distance – not time.

If we measure time – then they should go according to Rav Moshe. If we measure distance then Camp Agudah is beyond the measure.

So who was right – the rest of the group or the stickler?

The author would like to suggest that readers ask their own Rav or Posaik.

The author can be reached at [email protected]