with your identity papers and money. At the entrance, there was a large wardrobe
with talesim and tefillin. Upon arrival, each person literally begged for his
identity card or a small sum of money to be accepted as security, so that he could
quickly don a borrowed tallis and tefillin and offer the first praise to the Creator
before entering the hurly-burly of the day. The successive shacharit minyanim
there took up the first half of the day. In the summer time, when daylight
began at 2 o’clock in the morning, the hashkama minyan was already praying,
after which there were constant minyanim until noon. The first mincha²⁹⁴
minyan was already praying at around 3 o’clock, and the maariv²⁹⁵ minyanim
lasted till after midnight. Such was the spiritual hustle and bustle.
The daf yomi shi’ur²⁹⁶ was even more popular. Every morning from 6 to 8,
[. . .] Jews, Talmud students, gathered there. The lesson was taught by a moyre-
hoyroe, [3] whom the gmina paid especially for the purpose. People would
be standing round the amud praying while others sat at the tables studying,
like in the bet hamidrash of a provincial shtetl in former times. And here too
there were often conflicts between young bachelors and married men, with the
young students arguing that talmud torah keneged kulam²⁹⁷ and the others
countering with zman torah lechud vezman tefilah lechud.²⁹⁸
The comparison with the bet hamidrash of a provincial shtetl ‘in former
times’ is apposite, because arguments about studying during prayers
arose only in former times, when people still engaged in study and prayers.
Sadly, in recent years there were no such conflicts in provincial prayer houses,
since most of them were empty and deserted, and there was no studying at
all. Instead of study groups, provincial prayer houses became hosts to card
clubs for the shtetl’s good-for-nothings. The dozens of morning minyanim
had already ceased. Early in the morning the bet hamidrash beadle would
294 (Hebrew) afternoon prayer quorum.
295 (Hebrew) evening prayer quorum.
296 (Hebrew, lit. daily-page lesson) study of the daily page of the Talmud and commentaries; a course of study in which the entire Babylonian Talmud is covered over a period of 7 ½ years.
297 (Hebrew) The study of the Torah is equivalent to them all (Mishnah Peah 1:1), i.e. to all the other commandments and religious duties.
298 (Hebrew) The time for Torah is separate, and the time for prayer is separate (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 10a), i.e. the times for praying and studying the Torah are distinct from each other.
