YNET
Senior haredi rabbis advise on Halacha matters pertaining to yeshiva students' holiday period between Tisha B'Av and Rosh Chodesh Elul
Senior haredi rabbis advise on Halacha matters pertaining to yeshiva students' holiday period between Tisha B'Av and Rosh Chodesh Elul
Rabbi Yehuda Leib Steinman, one of the leaders of the Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox community ruled recently that during flights one is best advised to pray the Amidah prayer (The Standing Prayer) sitting down, restfully, rather than standing up.
This was his answer to haredi yeshiva students currently in the midst of the "Bein Hazmanim" holiday period - a break between Tisha B'Av and the beginning of Elul. Busy planning overseas vacations, the students were concerned about difficulties in saying all the customary prayers on board planes.[...]
Not really sure what the Chiddush is here. S.Z. Auerbach Z"L and Rav Ovadiah Yosef have long ruled that one should not stand to daven on airplane.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I like flying El Al.
ReplyDeleteWe were on the New York bound flight and minchah time came. So a bunch of us gathered near the nose of the plane where there was a small open area. While repeating the amidah the plane hit some turbulence so the seat belt sign came on and, on cue, a stewardess appeared and told us to get to our seats. Not so unusual except that this stewardess immediately followed up with the line "It's no mitzvah to pray if you're endangering your health!"
Only on El Al.
I asked Rabbi Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg, shlita, if one should pray with a minyan on an airplane. He said yes, adding that he does it “all the time.” While strictly speaking it might be permitted to pray at your seat, Rabbi Scheinberg prefers that one pray with a minyan, but quietly in a way that doesn’t disturb others.
ReplyDeleteRabbi Shmuel Halevi Wosner: When the “fasten seatbelts” sign is lit, one should sit down. One should refrain from davening in large groups; it is preferable to daven in small groups in the seating area. The same is true for Shemoneh Esrei. If there is a possibility of standing beside one’s seat, not in the aisles, then that is preferable. If this is not possible Shemoneh Esrei can be recited while seated.
Of course one does not daven standing on a plane. It creates an obstacle for others. This is common sense.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame that Rabbi Steinman has to point this out.
Its a machlokes haposkim.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be cool to bring a shofar on board to blow after shachrit on flights during Elul.
ReplyDeleteNow how to do krias hatorah is another issue.