Beth El Blog

Dear Beth El Community,

At Beth El we take pride in our commitment to ensure three daily minyanim for those who need to say Kaddish. We are also one of the only Conservative synagogues in the area who set the minyan times according to their appropriate halakhic (legal) time. However, during the summer months, when minyan is scheduled for the late hours between 8-9pm, we often struggle to have at least 10 people in order to pray. Thus, in order to address this issue we looked into some of the options for moving the minyan to an earlier time during the summer months.

There are two options in halakha with regard to setting the times for Mincha and Maariv. The first is the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda, who states that Mincha ought to be recited by plag HaMincha (1.25 halakhic hours before sunset). He then writes that Maariv may be recited immediately after, even though it is before sunset.

The other position is that of the sages. They say that one may pray the Mincha service up until sunset and that Maariv should follow after sunset. If you want to see this in the sources, please see the following commentary by the Aruch Hashulchan below:

בעניין סוף זמן תפלת המנחה תנן בריש פרק ד': "תפלת המנחה עד הערב, רבי יהודה אומר: עד פלג המנחה", והיינו שעה ורביע קודם הלילה, דזמן מנחה קטנה הוא בתשע וחצי, שתי שעות ומחצה קודם הלילה, ופלג ממנה הוא שעה ורביע.ולרבנן דמנחה עד הערב מתחיל זמן מעריב בערב ולא קודם, ולרבי יהודה מתחיל זמן מעריב מפלג המנחה שעה ורביע קודם הלילה, דזהו דבר פשוט דכשכלה זמן תפלת מנחה מתחיל זמן תפלת ערבית, כן הסכימו רבותינו התוספות והרא”ש והרשב"א וכל הפוסקים.

“In regards to the matter of when the time for reciting mincha ends, the rabbis taught in the beginning of the fourth chapter of berachot: One may daven Mincha until evening; Rabbi Yehuda says: until Plag HaMinha, which is 1.25 halachic hours before sunset...According to the sages the time for mincha extends until the evening, after which one may begin to daven Maariv in the evening and not before. According to Rabbi Yehuda, one may daven Maariv from Plag HaMincha onwards. The simple issue is that when the time for davening Mincha ends, the time for davening Maariv begins; and so our rabbis the Tosafot (early french rabbis including Rashi’s descendants), the Rosh (Rabbeinu Asher ben Jechiel), and the Rashba (Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet) all agree.”

Practically speaking, if one follows Rabbi Yehudah then Mincha/Maariv would be early. For example, on July 4th Plag HaMincha will be at 7:00 pm and therefore Mincha is at 7pm and Maariv follows. Alternatively, if we follow the sages and we set Mincha at sunset, then minyan would be at 8:30 pm. During the year we follow the opinion of the sages at Beth El. However, the sources suggest that we may follow a differing opinion, i.e. Rabbi Yehuda’s opinion, in a pressing time. Since it is a challenge for our community to make a minyan when the minyan doesn’t start until 8:30 pm in the summer months, we consider this to be a pressing time. Therefore, during July and August we follow the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda and move Mincha/Maariv to the earlier time. We hope that this clarifies any confusion about the sudden change in our daily minyan time.

Sincerely,
The Clergy Team