Beis Medresh with a Minyan

Beis Medresh with a Minyan

Chazal call a beis medresh a מעט מקדש בית, a miniature Beis HaMikdash. That is our Beis HaMikdash in galus.

Ramban (end of parashas Bo) writes, "The purpose of a minyan (תפלת הרבים) is that people should have a place where they gather to praise Hashem Who created them and proclaim before Him, 'We are your creations.'"

The Gemara (Brachos 7:-8.) brings several sources that one should daven with a minyan. One is from the pasuk (Tehillim 69:14), ואני תפילתי לך ה' עת רצון "I pray to you at a desired time." We see that the ideal to daven is at an עת רצון, a desired time. The Gemara adds that this is when the tzibur is davening."

Another source, stated in the Gemara, is (Iyov 36) הן אל כביר ולא ימאס, "Hashem is never disgusted from a tefillah of the community."

Yet another source from the Gemara is the pasuk (Tehillim 55) פדה בשלום נפשי כי ברבים היו עמדי, "Hashem saved me...because I prayed with a minyan."

It states (Tehillim 102:18), פנה אל תפילת הערער, 'Turn to the tefillah of the Arar.' Reb Chaim Volozhiner zt'l (Ruach Chaim, Avos) explains that הערער means "alone." פנה אל תפילת הערער means that when one davens alone, without a minyan, פנה, Hashem turns to look at this person and his prayer, to analyze his deeds and determine whether he deserves to be answered. The pasuk concludes, ולא בזה את תפילתם, "He doesn't despise their prayer."

This half of the pasuk refers to when one davens with a minyan. This is the reason תפלתם is in the plural. לא בזה את תפילתם, Hashem will not despise their tefillah.

Reb Chaim Volozhiner writes that when the Mishnah (Avos 2:13) says הוי זהיר בקריאת שמע ובתפילה, "Be cautious with saying Shema and tefillah," it means to be cautious to daven with a minyan. The Mishnah explains, ואל תהי רשע בפני עצמך, which can be translated as, "Don't be a rasha, by davening alone." When you daven alone, Heaven will judge you, and you are at risk of being deemed a rasha. It is better to avoid this scrutiny and to daven with a minyan.

Chofetz Chaim (Nidchei Yisrael 5) writes: "The importance of tefillah is stated in Chazal (Brachos 32), 'Tefillah is greater than good deeds. There is no one greater than Moshe Rabbeinu with good deeds; nevertheless, he was only answered [to see Eretz Yisrael] due to his tefillos... Tefillah is greater than korbanos... Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, 'All I ask from you is words... Cry and pray before Me. Didn't I redeem your forefathers [from Mitzrayim] when they prayed to Me? ... And in the times of Yehoshua, didn't I perform miracles for you due to your tefillos? So, you see that I don't ask you to bring korbanos. All I ask is that you daven to Me... Even if a person doesn't deserve to be saved, when he davens a lot before Me, I will bestow My kindness upon him. Hakadosh Baruch Hu instructs us to be cautious with tefillah because nothing is greater than it. Therefore, everyone should be careful not to lose even one tefillah, chas v'shalom... Even when he is among goyim and the ways of Judaism are strange and a joke in their eyes, nevertheless, he must be sure not to lose a tefillah. He should find a place on the road where he can daven. And if he can’t have kavanah on the road, he should daven indoors. It is better to suffer shame and humiliation than to lose out on a tefillah. We find in Daniel that King Daryavesh decreed that all requests must be directed to him, and he forbade davening to Hashem. Whoever transgressed his decree would be thrown into the lion’s den. Even so, Daniel hid in his attic and continued to daven three times each day. We certainly shouldn’t allow a drop of shame and humiliation to prevent us from davening... We will now discuss the importance of tefillah b'tzibbur.

"There is a great benefit to daven with a minyan because the tefillah is more likely to be accepted. Even if it isn't the best tefillah, nevertheless, since many are saying it, the merit of the group is great and the tefillah won’t be rejected. Therefore, in our times, when there is so much on people's minds, and who can say that he davens perfectly, one should be cautious to daven with a minyan so his tefillah is not discarded.

"When there is kriyas haTorah, such as on Monday and Thursday, one must certainly daven with a minyan, so he can hear the kriyas haTorah, which is a takanah of Moshe Rabbeinu, as the Gemara (Bava Kama ch.2) teaches. The Gemara Megillah says that even those who lived in villages would come to the cities on Mondays and Thursdays so they could hear kriyas haTorah. So, someone living in the city is certainly obligated to daven with a minyan and hear kriyas haTorah."

Story of the Beis Aharon of Karlin

The Beis Aharon zt'l of Karlin had to undergo a surgical procedure. He requested that the operation be scheduled for early afternoon so he could daven minchah before the operation and then daven maariv at night. Ten people waited to daven maariv with the rebbe; however, when it became late and the rebbe wasn't yet ready to daven, the minyan davened on their own and left.

When the Beis Aharon was ready to daven, he asked the gabbai if there was a minyan. The gabbai replied, "Definitely, there is a minyan. We will daven outside the rebbe's room, and the rebbe can daven from his room."

The gabbai said kaddish and barchu out loud and pretended that there was a minyan, although no one was there.

Some days afterwards, the gabbai apologized to the rebbe. "There really wasn't a minyan. I am afraid I sinned because I said kaddish and barchu without a minyan."

The Rebbe told him that after the surgery, he was very frail and weak. Had he known there was no minyan, he wouldn't have been able to endure the tzaar. "You acted correctly, because for pikuach nefesh, it is permitted."