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changing minhag
The t'filah (aka the amidah), the central prayer of the service, is said silently. It is customary for the leader to wait until everyone has finished before going on with the service, but the morning minyan doesn't do that. As a congregant I found this frustrating but eventually learned to live with it; as a leader I'm now a little frustrated from the other side. So this morning I raised the issue for the first time. (I don't have the authority to make the change unilaterally, but I want to get people talking about it.)
Pro: This is broad Jewish custom. (Halacha?)
Con: But not here, and not only that but their rabbi so ruled. (This isn't just a property of the morning minyan; it's true of all their services.) That makes not doing it "local halacha".
Pro: Slower people feel rushed and/or stomped on now.
Con: If we wait, the last person to finish may feel self-conscious (like he's holding the rest of us up).
Con: It may be hard for the leader (or at least this one) to tell when people are finished, because some just stay standing rather than sitting down only to get back up for the chatzi kaddish and torah service when everyone's done. (Remember that this congregation doesn't do a chazan's repetition of the t'filah, so if you sit down after the silent one it's brief. Some don't bother.)
Obviously, because their rabbi has made a ruling, this discussion isn't about making the change directly but about approaching the rabbi -- which I'll only do if this group agrees on the proposal.
Pro: This is broad Jewish custom. (Halacha?)
Con: But not here, and not only that but their rabbi so ruled. (This isn't just a property of the morning minyan; it's true of all their services.) That makes not doing it "local halacha".
Pro: Slower people feel rushed and/or stomped on now.
Con: If we wait, the last person to finish may feel self-conscious (like he's holding the rest of us up).
Con: It may be hard for the leader (or at least this one) to tell when people are finished, because some just stay standing rather than sitting down only to get back up for the chatzi kaddish and torah service when everyone's done. (Remember that this congregation doesn't do a chazan's repetition of the t'filah, so if you sit down after the silent one it's brief. Some don't bother.)
Obviously, because their rabbi has made a ruling, this discussion isn't about making the change directly but about approaching the rabbi -- which I'll only do if this group agrees on the proposal.
no subject
This might be broad Jewish custom in your area, but it's certainly not universal. In Orthodox congregations, not everyone is in the same place to begin with, since in theory we all daven everything no matter when we arrive. At my former Conservative shuls (both of them), the custom was to wait until the majority (but not necessarily ALL) of the congregation was finished before proceeding. Though I've not been to a shul that skips the chazan's repetition, so I'm not sure how they would have handled it in that case.
no subject
I remember learning which things one should skip if needed to catch up to the congregation at one of the points it's more important to be with the minyan for (if possible).
no subject
In truth, mostly what I see is that if someone comes in late, they'll skip everything to be with everyone during the Amidah, and then they'll return to their regularly scheduled page number to backtrack.
no subject
Thank you. I have the impression it's common here, and a few times I've heard visitors ask why we rush on (usually a little more diplomatically than that, but not always). It appears I've over-generalized those data points.
In Orthodox congregations, not everyone is in the same place to begin with, since in theory we all daven everything no matter when we arrive.
True. In this (Conservative) congregation, everyone is together for most of the service; if you come in late you can either join in or start privately and catch up, but if you do the latter you might have trouble concentrating.