Q. A person has a choice: to daven in a normal minyan and then learn Torah, or to daven in a minyan where the chazzan is a tzaddik yesod olam mamish from a different dor and probably one of the lamed-vav tzaddikim who davens at extreme length. One will get a lot of chizuk from davening in the minyan of the tzaddik, but it is bittul torah since during this time one could be learning instead of participating in such a minyan. What should one do? (Obviously, davening is not bittul torah, but here the person davens normally and then has to wait for the chazzan who davens at extreme length.)
A. There are different approaches to the relationship and priorities between Torah and tefilah. The Talmud (Brachos 32a) relates that the early Chasidim would wait one hour before praying, spend one hour in prayer, and wait one hour after praying; Since they spent nine hours a day in prayer, it left little time for Torah learning, But because they were Chasidim, Hashem enabled them to remember their Torah. On the other extreme we find (Shabbos 11a) that Rabi Shimon Bar Yochai and his companions would not stop learning Torah to engage in prayer.
Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit’a opinion is that the answer depends on the nature and temperament of the person asking, and it should be referred to the Rov, teacher or spiritual mentor, who is familiar with him.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit”a
Important Numbers
