[Avodah] Questions as a Result of the Flatbush Lakewood Shabbos

[Yitzchok Levine]

This past Shabbos was "Lakewood Shabbos" in Flatbush. Various Roshei 
Yeshiva spoke at shuls throughout Shabbos. I heard part of a drasha 
given at a nearby shul at Seuda Shlishis.

One of the Roshei Yeshiva eloquently spoke about the years that 
Yaakov spent studying in the yeshiva of Shem V'Ever. (As we all know, 
these years are not mentioned openly in the Chumash.) However, he 
failed to make any mention that the Torah tells us in considerable 
detail how Yaakov worked diligently for Lavan for 20 years. It would 
seem to me that years of work in order to support a family are 
considered of some importance, given that the Torah mentions them. 
Indeed, might one deduce that the fact that these years are discussed 
openly in the Torah whereas the years of Torah learning are not, that 
these years of work are perhaps considered more important by the 
Torah? I am simply asking, because I really do not have the 
answer.  (Perhaps some will consider even raising the issue blasphemous.)

I davened with the Maariv minyan at which the Rosh Yeshiva davened. 
(This Shtiebel has a practice of making several minyanim for Maariv 
on Motzoei Shabbos.) When it came to Shemoneh Esrei, it took the Rosh 
Yeshiva a long time to daven. Indeed, the Rov of the shul as well as 
all of the others who davened with this minyan finished well before 
the Rosh Yeshiva and therefore had to wait a good few minutes for the 
Rosh Yeshiva to finish. In light of the piece below, I can only 
wonder if what he did was appropriate.

 From The Mussar Movement, Volume I, part 2, pages 224 - 225.

Praying alone on Saturday nights or at the end of fast days, R. 
Israel would defer his Tefillah till an hour or more after dark. When 
praying with the congregation however, he would hurry to start 
immediately and not wait a minute beyond the earliest permissible 
time, so as not to hold back the congregation. So, too, he would take 
very long to recite the Tefillah when alone. When he prayed with a 
congregation that would wait for him to finish, however, he would be 
among the first, "so as not to burden the public." Even in the month 
of Elul and the Ten Days of Penitence, when he would observe special 
stringencies, he would only take a little longer than usual to recite 
the first three berachot of the Shemoneh Esreh, but hurry through the 
rest as was his custom, and so finish together with the congregation.

I am not in anyway trying to disparage this Rosh Yeshiva. However, 
when I see things that do not make sense to me, I feel that I should 
raise questions about them.

Any constructive insight you can supply will be appreciated.


Yitzchok Levine 
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