Dr. Stein Changes Policy on Talking During Davening

FROM BEHIND THE PODIUM IN THE SHUL—This morning, our Principal Dr. Stein had an announcement to make that was important enough to interrupt shacharit.

 

"It's enough," rang his voice this morning. "I will not stand for this talking anymore. I'm going to make you an offer. If you don't want to sit here, then leave, but if you stay then you need to be quiet."

Dr. Stein is typically unchanging when it comes to davening policies, so it was especially surprising to hear that this morning.

Wait a second—what about yesterday when he said "if you are asked to be quiet, then you will go sit in my office and miss classes for the day. And yes you will be marked absent.” And how about his banning of intermissions during davening altogether? I mean, am I the only person who finds it hard to leave davening when I’m not allowed to leave davening?

At this point, I don't really know what to believe. If I get in trouble one day, will that become void the next? How do I know which policy to trust? And furthermore, how will I know what to avoid doing during davening if I don't know what Dr. Stein is looking for?

After much abstract and uninformed speculation, it appears that the common denominator among Dr. Stein's various warnings and reprimands is that he wants us to cut down on the talking. However, beloved Mashgiach Ruchani, Rabbi Wald, is even a little bit perplexed at this point:

"I think that Dr. Stein wants us to be quiet, but how can I be sure? Maybe tomorrow he'll prefer to hear the chazzan’s voice drowned in the background of everyone’s conversations? How can anyone know anymore? Why are we here?”

In order to solidify some of this doubt, I sought after the one person who may have a clue: former resident disciplinarian at Frisch, Rabbi Yaish. Unfortunately, when I asked Rabbi Yaish for his thoughts, he insisted that we all join Sephardi minyan instead “because the davening is much more intimate and you don’t need to worry about exceeding the maximum room occupancy because Frisch doesn’t care for the fire department and its regulations.”

Rabbi Yaish wasn’t too happy when he heard that both the Sephardi minyan and Frisch’s lax attitude toward safety regulations were no longer in existence.

As for our problem, we’re on our own folks. Your guess as to what Dr. Stein wants is as good as mine. Until we’ve reached a conclusion, I think it’s best we keep quiet when Dr. Stein has something to say, so we can better understand what that something may be.

Until next time, students of Frisch.