Reply To: Yomim Noraim davening

squeak: If you read my post, I wrote, “I was reviewing the davening, as well as some of the tunes I have used.” The first thing I look over is the meaning of the words. Then I decide what tune to use.

My Rosh Yeshiva, R’ Bender shlita, once told me that in the Mir, they don’t sing anything on the Yomim Noraim. When Darchei first had a minyan for RH and YK, he asked R’ Shmuel Berenbaum zt”l if Darchei should follow the Mir, and not sing. R’ Shmuel told him no, because nowadays, people need good tunes in order to follow the davening well. If there’s no singing, people’s minds start to drift. The songs are important.

I happen to know R’ Pollak, the ba’al tefillah at the Mir. The first year he davened there, he sang some tunes. R’ Berenbaum came over to him after and told him, “You sing very well. Just don’t do it here!”