[Avodah] More on Reviving a Ritual of Tending to the dead

[Isaac Balbin]

On 06/01/2011, at 1:26 AM, Rn'CL wrote:

> The point is the same. We have a situation where a specific halachic
> situation is innocuous (shofar blowing) and yet the psak is that an
> individual should not avail themselves of this halachic situation in order
> to fulfil their obligation (even in circumstances where no other option is
> available), because of other surrounding problematic halachic situations.

Do we know whether the person has a chiyuv to hear shofar under such a scenario according to RYBS?
Is this not perhaps a Mitzvah Habo B'Aveyro according to RYBS? The Aveyro perhaps going as deep as
Chillul Shem Shomayim according to RYBS?
Does a person have a chiyuv to daven when they find 
themselves surrounded by excrement and locked in some room? Do Chazal say "Daven anyway, you have no choice"?

I draw your attention to the recently published Divrei HaRav, where an ex-C B'aal Tshuva asked whether he should attend the C service
for his brother's Bar Mitzvah. RYBS was very very uncomfortable, and to be sure, you *can't* learn from one situation
to another, but his advice was to daven beforehand in a proper minyan, attend, but never answer Amen, and stand
when they sit, and sit when they stand! This might even be interpreted as being mekayem the mitzvah to be moche!
Interestingly, though, the Rav considered the effect of parents being estranged from their now frum son as being
critical (my interpretation)