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<font size=3>At 06:25 AM 5/20/2009, R. S. Pick wrote:<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">The following argument was
suggested:<br><br>
There are opinions that allow one to daven early and even make <br><br>
Kiddush early. Also, waiting to daven after Tzeis is a D'Rabbonon.
<br><br>
However, simchas Yom Tov is a D'oreisa. Most people do not enjoy
<br><br>
beginning to eat at say 9:30. For kids it is particularly difficult.
<br><br>
Therefore, davening after Tzeis and then beginning to eat late <br><br>
conflicts with the simchas Yom Tov of many. How can this D'Rabbonon
<br><br>
take precedence over simchas Yom Tov?<br><br>
In the areivim list I suggested that concerning simchas yom tov at
nite:<br><br>
Not so simple about that simchas yom tov, some authorities hold there is
no<br>
simchas yom tov at nite, but only in the daytime in accordance with
korbanot<br>
hachag. Accordingly, eat your beef and drink that wine in the day
time. The<br>
only nite that simcha is mandated is leil shmini atzeres which has a
special<br>
limud (ribbui).<br><br>
<br><br>
Now that the above argument has become more sophisticated with
d'rabbanons<br>
and d'oraitas involved, let's not forget that most mainstream rishonim
and<br>
posekim hold that keriyat shma should be recited after tzeis. This
was then<br>
combined with birchot keriyas shma to be recited after tzeis. The Rosh
who<br>
represents minhag ashkenaz and others record that one should say tefila
with<br>
the congregation but wait with keriyat shma and brachos until after
tzeis<br>
According to all these posekim, davening immediately after sunset is
a<br>
bedieved situation. Mention was made of Jacob Katz's article about
the<br>
development of the custom to daven early, and how with the vilna gaon
and<br>
the Chassidim and the advent of normal clocks, they went back to the
old<br>
time religion of the first mishna of brachot and wait with arvit so
that<br>
keriyas shma and brachot should be said on time.<br><br>
So perhaps the argument should be reversed: on the day of accepting
the<br>
torah one should look not look for kulos (lenient rulings) but return to
the<br>
pristine halakha of the very first mishna in sha'as as poskened by
the<br>
majority of rishonim and posekim and say keriyat shma with brachot
bezmano. </font></blockquote><br><br>
<font size=3>I am the one who wrote the first paragraph above about
starting to eat at 9:30. First of all, I am wrong about the time here in
Brooklyn. The YI of J will daven Maariv at 9:08 next Thursday night.
Allowing 20 minutes for Maariv and 10 minutes for me to walk home means
that I will not be home before 9:40. Other nearby shuls will start Maariv
even later. Shkia on 5/28 in Brooklyn is 8:17 PM. Some shuls will wait 60
minutes after Shkia to start Maariv, others 72 minutes. Those who daven
with these minyanim will start to eat even later. <br><br>
Let me, for the sake of argument, grant you that there is no
simchas Yom Tov at night. What about causing one's family members Tzar or
at least considerable inconvenience to one's family and guests? Is one
allowed to do this for a minhag or even a D'Rabbonon. I do not know.
<br><br>
What I do know is what was written in the article "Setting Limits
Based on the Insights of Harav Mendel Zaks, zt'l" that
appeared in the Hamodia Magazine on March 18, 2009. I have posted
this article with the permission of the Hamodia at
<a href="http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/hamodia/setting_limits.pdf" eudora="autourl">
http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/hamodia/setting_limits.pdf</a><br>
<br>
The author, Rabbi Moshe Hubner, writes:<br><br>
"On the other hand, the Beis Hamikdash was a stationary building;
<i>Bnei Yisrael </i>were never going to move it to a location outside
Yerushalayim. Therefore, the more donations were accepted, the more
<i>mitzvos </i>the givers would acquire and the more glorious the Beis
Hamikdash would appear, at nobody else’s expense.<br><br>
Harav Zaks stresses that this should teach us all a great lesson in
consideration. In attempting to fulfill a commandment, a person must
first consider the impact of the <i>mitzvah </i>on others. Even if a deed
appears good or charitable, one must contemplate and project the outcome
beforehand. An individual will not receive the same benefit and reward
for doing a <i>mitzvah </i>if it creates a burden for someone
else."<br><br>
In many homes starting to eat after 9:30 does indeed create a burden for
others. (This is why early minyanim of Erev Shabbos after Pesach are so
popular in many places.) Given this and the fact that there are those who
say that one can daven early, I fail to see why one would wait. It
seems to me that the truly religious approach would be to have concern
for one's family and daven early.<br><br>
I have been told that Reb Yisroel Salanter used to say, "The other
person's gashmius is your ruchnius." (If this is not an accurate
quote, there are certainly many stories about him to show that this is
the way he conducted himself.) Why not do the ruchnius thing? <br><br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
Yitzchok Levine</font></body>
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