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Short Summary
Main recommendation: Stop talking in shul by treating tefillah as a personal conversation with Hashem and studying the meaning of the words, marking key phrases in your siddur so you think about them while you daven. Rabbi Paysach Krohn argues that once you realize you are speaking directly to Hashem, the urge to talk to others fades. He illustrates this with several close readings of prayer texts drawn from the Ritva, the Maharal, Rashi, Rabbi Schwab, and the Skolne Rebbe.
Key Points
- The Ritva's reading of the three "Mah Yagdilu" phrases in Pesukei d'Zimra: food growing, a person saved from the threshold of death, and the future in the time of Mashiach.
- The Maharal ties the word "Tefillah" to a thought process in the mind, so davening should not be rushed through as recited words.
- In Baruch She'amar, the Skolne Rebbe, while imprisoned, reinterpreted "Omer v'oseh" by linking "Oseh" to existence and strength, which gave him comfort.
- Rabbi Schwab's view, as quoted, is that men need more mitzvos to draw close to Hashem, while women are created with a nature more in line with Hashem's will.
- The final pasuk of Ashrei, with its fivefold repetition of 'Ashrei'/related words, is presented as a source of emunah and reassurance that Hashem is with us, inspired by Mrs. Rifka Reiker's teaching after 9/11.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: Read the words of tefillah and learn their meaning, and when you find a meaningful thought, underline or highlight it in your siddur. Circle or mark repeated phrases so they catch your attention each time you daven. Mark the three "Mah Yagdilu" phrases, and underline "Ashrei" and "Omer v'oseh" in your siddur. Approach davening as a thought process and conversation with Hashem, not as rushed recitation.
- The speaker shows his own siddur with "Mah Yagdilu" circled three times and "Baruch She'amar" lined, as a model for marking the text.
- Mrs. Rifka Reiker's advice to students after 9/11 was to reaffirm emunah by repeating "Hashem is with us" two or three times a day.
- Rabbi Krohn notes that the Skolne Rebbe was held in solitary confinement with his yarmulke and glasses taken away, and still davened from memory.
- The talk opens with a story from a Hatzolah dinner in Muncie, where a survivor described being revived by the third Hatzolah unit en route to the hospital; a separate eulogy for Mrs. Rifka Reiker is also recounted.
Bottom Line
The practical path to quieting talk in shul is not willpower alone but engaging with the words of davening deeply enough that the siddur becomes a personal dialogue with Hashem.
