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What are your thoughts regarding youth minyanim?
They are generally minyanim that are run by Teenagers (Bar Mitzvah+) to get them involved in davening. They get to be gabbai, get aliyahs etc.
Does your shul have one?
Are they for or against?
Dr Pepper posted this in the other thread where this was mentioned:
“In my shul they tried it but it created too much controversy so it was discontinued. I generally stay out of shul politics so I don’t know what the issues were.”
FWIW, I got my start as a ba’al kriah in a youth minyan.
We would generally split up the parsha. Usually if there was an extra long aliya or if there was an extra aliya that no one wanted to take, I would often take it.
It provided the perfect “middle ground” for training when I wasn’t yet able to prepare a parsha in a single week.
The Wolf
Sounds like a great thing. So far no one said what is the controversy here.
i dont know what it is, maybe there really isnt much of a controversy
i saw it in another thread maybe a week ago
i havent the time to research it
awful stupid idea. they usually have way faster davenings, lots of talking and fooling around, and no rav. i suppose if there would be a rav there…a COMPETENT QUALIFIED rav there it could be acceptable.
Wow, we’re living in 2 different worlds. From what I have seen, Bochurim Minyanim take longer and there is no fooling around.
awful stupid idea. they usually have way faster davenings, lots of talking and fooling around, and no rav. i suppose if there would be a rav there…a COMPETENT QUALIFIED rav there it could be acceptable.
The one I attended didn’t have too much talking (probably no more than teens would have done in a regular shul anyway). We finished about twenty minutes before the main shul, primarily due to the fact that we didn’t have a sermon to listen to. 🙂
While we did not have a rav at the davening, we did have a competent adult lay leader who presided over the davening, oversaw the division of responsibilities and generally maintained decorum.
The Wolf
bombmaniac, in the shul where m father davened, people who aren’t married are not allowed to daven for the amud. I davened for years at a “bochur’s minyan”. The davening was definitely faster than where my father davened, but then again, that shul was known to have a slow davening. There was less talking where I davened that where my father davened. But the biggest benefit, IMO, was that I learned to daven for the amud. Now, years later, I am often asked to daven, and it’s thanks to that minyan that I know how.
ah well, i suppose we have been in very different situations…i do still maintain that there should be a qualified competent rav present…even if there isnt any sermon…or even if teh davening isnt dragged out. a rav is important.
a rav is important.
Why is it important that a rav be present AT the youth minyan? Assuming there is a rav in the main shul who can be easily consulted in case of a shaila (such as a possible p’sul in the Sefer Torah, for example), why is a responsible adult lay leader inadequate to supervise the youth minyan in your opinion?
The Wolf
im very confused, im a leader of a youth minyan at my shul- i cant tell you how many parents and kids in the shul have come to tell me what a great thing it is- there is not so much talking, and the pros outweigh the cons. with everything there will be some cons- but you have to look at the possible advantages. So far, it has been a great success. I recommend starting more Youth Minyanim.
I grew up in a youth minyan. My kids davened at the local “teen minyan” until it was disbanded due to space constraints. I, as well as my kids, learned how to daven for the amud (nusach and the like), had the ability to lain without the pressure of an entire parsha and generally got used to doings things in public. As long there are responsible adults to ensure it doesn’t become a 45 minute shabbos morning ruish job with joking around and talking throughout it is an excellent idea. I currently daven at a “yeshiva type” minyan, and the one thing my boys miss about the disbanded teen minyan is that they don’t get to daven for the amud or lain like they used to. In fact it is a sore point in my family right now (perhaps deserving of its own topic), but my teenage boys absolutely hate davening in the mnyan that I currently daven in. For now we have a compromise. One shabbos they daven at my minyan, one shabbos I daven at a local shul that they prefer and the other 2 weeks I daven where I prefer and they daven where they prefer. We would like to resolve this before rosh hashana permanently.
nobody brought up an important point of whether the youth minyan has girls attending. that could lead to problems outside the shul or during the kiddush
we have a youth minyan and its great. they motivate the kids to pray with raffles and prizes (younger kids don’t stay for mussaf since its too hard for them, they have a class geared for their age and games)It keeps the shul quiet, and its chinuch for the kids
the kiddush after davening where there are no adults around
mexipal give it a break.
originally there were no girls at my youth minyan- now theyre are-obviously there is a mechitza and they do not participate- but it gives it a complete feeling i believe
The Talmud Torah in Kisvarda had such a minyan. They even had a “gabbai” who sold the kibbudim, just like in the Groisse Schul. That money was paid to the Kehilla for rent of the room in the Talmud Torah for the minyan and use of a Sefer Torah. It was a serious enterprise.
cantoresq, what do you know about Kisvarda? My grandfather was from that town!
SJSinNYC and Moderator-80:
I inquired this morning as to what happened with the youth minyan that the shul briefly had. The story was that some members wanted a youth minyan for their children but it didn’t work as planned. A majority of the youths who davened there had come from a youth minyan from a different shul (for the free chulent) and a number of men from the regular minyan davened there to get out of hearing the speech.
The organizers felt that the minyan wasn’t reaching its’ objective so they ended it.
I’m not sure how yeshivish your shuls are but our shul has a wide variety. I daven at the early minyan on Shabbos and have no idea who was involved.
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