"Hachnasat orchim" or "dumbing down?"
- Reb Barry said...
- Shira, why expect others to take responsibility for someone's prayer experience? That's one of the problems facing American Jewry. Why dumb the service down because some people don't understand? Let those who don't understand find a learner's minyan. If they want to know what parhsa is this week, look it up on the internet before services. Why is it that people are perfectly competent in other spheres of their lives don't want to make an effort to figure out what to do at shul, and want it handed to them?
I wasn't too happy with that comment at the time, as you can see from my response, but I must admit that Reb Barry does raise an interesting point.
On the other hand, so does Reb Dov.
said...
. . .
The page-number-calling issue was raised when I was a gabbai at the egal minyan at JTS during rabbinical school. Our answer was, "People from the community come here to daven and say kaddish. The extra few seconds it takes to keep them with the kahal is a small price to pay for fulfilling the mitzvah of hakh'nasat or'h.im (hospitality to visitors).
How can synagogues or minyanim accommodate those still in the learning stage without making long-time pray-ers feel that their own prayer experience is being interfered with?
See my April 10, 2010 follow-up post, The pace and scheduling of public prayer.
posted by Shira Salamone at 11:03 AM
