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Priorities in Prayer: A Timely Kriat Shema vs. Prayer with a Minyan (2)

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Translated and adapted by Rav Eliezer Kwass

 

PART II 

SAYING KERIYAT SHEMA WITHOUT ITS BERAKHOT

 

            There is a well-known ruling of the Peri Yitzchak which states that one should pray alone during keriyat shema time rather than later with a minyan.  This takes into account another issue.  He claims that even if we accept the Rashba's approach that birkot keriyat shema can stand independently of the shema, we encounter a second problem: keriyat shema, on a rabbinic level, must be said in the context of its berakhot.  This, according to him, is sufficient justification to forgo praying with a minyan.

 

            One can, though, counter the Peri Yitzchak by building a case that praying with a minyan takes precedence over saying keriyat shema with its berakhot.  Since fulfilling the mitzva of keriyat shema is not absolutely contingent on saying its berakhot, when necessary it is permissible to omit the berakhot.  The precedent for such an approach is a parallel halakha with regards to the night-time keriyat shema.

 

            The first mishna in Berakhot (2a) asks when one can start to say the night-time keriyat shema and answers, apparently, from nightfall ("tzeit ha-kokhavim").

 

            In light of that mishna, Rashi, Tosafot, and other Rishonim struggle to justify the prevalent custom of their communities - saying keriyat shema and praying before nightfall.  Many resolutions appear in the Rishonim (see Tosafot, the Rosh, Rabbeinu Yona and others), and they divide up into roughly three groups:

A. Rashi - People fulfill the mitzva of keriyat shema when they say "keriyat shema al ha-mita" before going to bed.

B. Rabbeinu Tam - We rely on Rabbi Yehuda (the Tanna) and others who hold that night begins at "pelag ha-mincha" (an hour and a quarter before sunset) and keriyat shema can be said starting then.

C. The Geonim - They basically hold like Rashi, but offer various solutions to the problem of not saying berakhot before the bed-time keriyat shema.  Rav Amram Gaon, for example, suggests making the blessing "Who sanctified us through his mitzvot and commanded us concerning keriyat shema (see the Rosh and Rabbeinu Yona).

 

            It seems that the basic point of contention between them is our issue, -- should one forgo birkot ha-mitzvot in favor of communal prayer and say [the "real"] keriyat shema without its berakhot at bed-time (Rashi) or,-- are birkot ha-mitzvot more important  than communal prayer (Tosafot)?

 

            If our analysis of the Rashi-Tosafot argument is correct, all that remains for us to do is to check how their dispute was decided by later authorities.

 

RASHI - TOSAFOT: HALAKHIC DECISIONS

 

            The Shulchan Arukh (OC 235) rules:

 

"If the community says keriyat shema early while it is still day-time, one should read keriyat shema with its berakhot and pray with them.  When the time for keriyat shema comes [after nightfall] keriyat shema should be said without its berakhot."

 

            The Acharonim understand his ruling in different ways:

 

            According to the Taz's view of the Shulchan Arukh, he basically relies on Rabbeinu Tam's opinion.  [Note: In order to rely on R. Tam's opinion, mincha must be prayed BEFORE pelag ha-mincha - to avoid a tartei de-satrei (= a contradiction in his actions) - Ed.]  The "real" keriyat shema was the one said earlier in the synagogue, but it should be said later as an additional stringency, in order to also be able to follow Rashi's approach.  The Taz is based on the Mordekhai, who writes that it seems arrogant ("mechzi ke-yuhara") not to rely on Rabbeinu Tam's opinion.  Within the Taz's approach to the night-time situation, there is no analogy to our morning dilemma, for one really fulfills keriyat shema in its proper time in the context of a minyan.

 

            The Peri Megadim (Mishbetzot Zahav 235:2), however, argues with the Taz:

 

"With regards to his (the Taz's) question on the Shulchan Arukh, the approach of the Shulchan Arukh seems to be        that the mitzva of keriyat shema can only be fulfilled after the stars come out.  When one reads keriyat shema in the synagogue he should not intend to fulfill his obligation, but should intend to when he says it later.  The Levush also seems to hold this way; and the berakhot [of keriyat shema] were not essentially instituted for the sake of keriyat shema."

 

            The Peri Megadim later suggests that one should say keriyat shema on condition: if Tosafot is correct he intends to fulfill the mitzva with the earlier keriyat shema, but if Rashi is correct he intends to fulfill it with the one said later.

 

            The Mishna Berura (235:9) writes that "he should intend not to fulfill the mitzva of keriyat shema then."  In the Sha'arei Ha-tziyun (235:9) he goes even further and writes that there is no need to make the condition that the Peri Megadim speaks about.  It is legitimate to simply rely on the keriyat shema that he will say after nightfall "because from the Bi'ur Ha-gra and other Acharonim it seems that this issue is clearly decided in favor of Rashi, and that Rabbeinu Tam is the lone representative of his approach."  The Arukh Ha-shulchan and others also rule like Rashi and think that the Shulchan Arukh rules like Rashi.  According to the Mishna Berura, where one expressly intends not to fulfill keriyat shema through the early reading even Rabbeinu Tam would say that it is still preferable to pray with the community than to pray all of ma'ariv as an individual.

 

            It is true, though, that the Gra (as recorded in Ma'aseh Rav) was accustomed to pray individually at the proper time rather than pray with a minyan earlier.  He seems to have based himself on the Geonim who disagreed with both Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam.  Since he did, however, vote with Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam not to utilize the Geonim's solutions to the dilemma - to saying a special berakha on keriyat shema later on, or to forgo refraining from juxtaposing "ge'ula" with "tefilla," so he opted for praying the whole service as an individual.

 

            The Gra was in a different position than the Rishonim, however.  The schedule of the day in the Rishonim's period was set up so that EVERY DAY they had to deal with this problem.  In the Gra's time, the community usually prayed at the proper time, and the Gra only occasionally encountered a situation in which the minyan conflicted with keriyat shema time.  Maybe, in the Rishonim's time the Gra would also have opted for the other solution and joined communal prayer, "Because they did so only because they were forced to, for had they not read the shema and prayed the evening service before nightfall everyone would have returned to their homes and there would not have been able to pray communally."  He might have done what he did because it did not jeopardize the community's minyan.

 

            Whatever the case, the Gra's is a lone opinion.  The Shulchan Arukh and most Acharonim, amongst them the Mishna Berura, ruled that one should pray with a minyan.  Even though the Geonim and Talmidei Rabbeinu Yona suggested making a simple berakha (not our long versions of birkat keriyat shema) before the keriyat shema that one says later privately (in order to fulfill the biblical requirement), this solution was rejected by later halakhic sources.  [Even though some authorities (for example, the Rashba in responsum #69 and the Rashbash responsum #238) questioned whether that should have happened.]  As the author of the Zera Emet writes: "The prevalent custom and the ruling of the Shulchan Arukh is to say keriyat shema [later, in private] without a berakha."  Apparently there was resistance to saying any berakha that the Sages had not decreed.  (In fact, though it is outside the scope of this work, we find a group of blessings the Geonim instituted themselves that the Rishonim did not adopt because they were not decreed by the Sages of the Talmud.)  The Sages, of course, did not decree any berakha for this situation because normally the birkot keriyat shema were to serve this function.

 

            It follows that it is preferable to pray with a minyan despite having to say keriyat shema without its blessings at the time that one fulfills his biblical obligation.  Even authorities who rule like Rabbeinu Tam do not necessarily hold that blessings over mitzvot are preferable to praying with a minyan; they might just say that in this situation this conflict does not arise (because we can rely on the opinion of R. Yehuda regarding pelag ha-mincha).  It is possible that the Peri Yitzchak understood the Shulchan Arukh like the Taz; we have seen that this is not the accepted ruling.

 

            With regards to our situation: We can overcome the two problems that we opened with and therefore the minyan should take place after keriyat shema time.

 

            There are two additional problems that we did not relate to.

A.  Doing work before praying in the morning is prohibited.  If the time for the morning minyan is pushed off, the soldiers will inevitably have to do work.  Ha-rav Amital dealt with a similar situation in Alon Shvut #75 and concluded that it is permitted to delay communal prayer in order to maximize the number of people who will participate in the minyan, even though it entails activities being performed before prayer.

B.  If one says keriyat shema without tefillin on, says Ulla in Berakhot 14b, "one testifies falsely about himself," because he reads the verses about wearing tefillin but does not put them into practice.  How can we justify delaying prayer (which usually, in the army regimen, means putting on tefillin later) if it means saying the biblical keriyat shema without tefillin?  Ha-rav Ovadia Yosef relates to this issue in Yabia Omer vol. 1, #64 and rules that in such a situation one does not violate Ulla's injunction.

 

HALAKHIC SUMMARY

 

            If faced with our dilemma, it is best to pray communally even though it will mean sacrificing saying the biblically obligated keriyat shema with its blessings.  This is the ruling of the Binyan Tzion and is implicit in Ha-rav Ovadia's ruling in the responsum mentioned above.  In the anthology "Tefilla Be-tzibbur" the author claims that this is how the Mishna Berura would rule based on OC 46:42 (see also Chapter 3, note 72 of "Tefilla Be-tzibbur").  This also seems to be the decision of Ha-rav Mashash in his "Tevu'at Shemesh."

 

            However, the group should be careful to do two things:

1.  Everyone should remind each other to say keriyat shema individually in its proper time.  It is advisable for each to say birkot ha-shachar until the beginning of pesukei de-zimra (keriyat shema appears in "Le-olam yehei adam ...."), and say at least the first two paragraphs.

2.  The minyan must take place within the fourth hour (the first third) of the day, the end of the period within which we can pray shacharit.  It is obvious that if this is not possible everyone should pray individually.

 

            One additional comment: In the army setting (and certainly on a college campus), communal prayer, "tefilla be-tzibbur" takes on a special significance.  Others that would not necessarily have prayed at all join in.  In general, communal prayer is crucial for preserving a strong framework of avodat Hashem.

 

[Originally published in Alon Shvut #100, reprinted in Daf Kesher #229, vol. 3, pp. 40-42, 44-45.]

This article was not reviewed by the author.

 

 

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