[Avodah] How Fast Do You Daven

[Avram Sacks]

The issue of davening speed is a major pet peeve of mine. I belong to
a shul of "fast daveners." I rarely keep up and usually get to shul
earlier on shabbat by about 15 -- 20 minutes in order to get a running
"head start." My seat in the main shul is two rows in directly in front
of the shulchan, so I can sometimes hear the shaliach tzibbur muttering
words under his breath. A few years ago there was one shaliach tzibbur,
with smicha, no less (but NOT the rav of the shul!), who muttered the
words of the first paragraph of Aleinu, and then nearly a second or two
after he finished the last word of the first paragraph, I heard him say
"v'ne'emar... I asked him after davening how he was able to get so quickly
from the end of the first paragraph to "v'ne'emar." In Columbo-like
fashion I asked how he did it, because, I had only formally started to
learn Hebrew at age 8, and wondered if he had some technique that allowed
him to get to "v'ne'emar with such amazing speed. His only response was
"good point," and I have never heard him go so fast, ever since.

In a shul that I infrequently visit out of town, the rav of the
shul davens every word of every t'filla out loud in order to keep the
shaliach tzibbur from going to fast. I find that too distracting, but it
does ensure that the shaliach tzibbur will never go so fast as to skip
words. In another shul, locally, there is a card at the shulchan where the
shaliach tzibbur stands, that indicates at what time the shaliach tzibbur
should arrive at given points in the davening. That, too, I found to be
too distracting -- at least when I davened there as a shaliach tzibbur.

The rav of our shul tries to slow things down at shma and at the amidah,
but that only helps to some degree.

Respectfully, I disagree with the comments of R. Spolter. Yes, there is
merit in showing up, but I often find that my experience, particularly
at shacharit, is far less spiritually moving when I am in shul and feel
like I am always racing to keep up. It is particularly stressful if I
have a yahrtzeit and am not leading the davening because there are also
others who have yahrtzeit. There have been times (albeit rare) when I
have not yet finished the shmoneh esrai when kaddish is being said. I do
not believe I daven inordinately slow. I can say the t'fillot relatively
quickly, but not like an auctioneer!

So, is there a halachic obligation to daven with kavana? Is there a
halachic obligation to even just SAY THE WORDS? Years ago, I was taught
it is not ok to just "scan" the words, or "think." One must actually say
them. So, I don't quite understand R. Spolter's defense of speed davening
and t'filla skipping. If I am to not only say the words, but to have a
sense of the meaning of most of them, AND time for some self-reflection,
which, after all, is what davening is supposed to be about -- there is
a reason that the Hebrew word, l'hitpalel, is reflexive in form!! --
I do not believe R. Spolter's position is so defensible.

(And, as an attorney, I don't think it would be such a terrible thing
for those of us in the United States, to regularly recite the U.S.
Constitution. But, that is a different post for a different forum....)

Kol tuv,
Avi
Avram Sacks