Q. Given that there is a mitzvah to daven in a shul even without a minyan, may/ should one come to shul to daven there even if there cannot be a minyan due to the virus?
A. The kedusha of a shul is comparable to a degree to the holiness of the Beis Hamikdash. On the pasuk (Yechezkel 11: 16); I have become for them a minor sanctuary (Mikdosh Meot) in the lands where they have come. Targum (YB'U) and Rashi explain that it refers to our Botei Knessios, The above is repeated in many sites and many sources (See Megilla 29a, Yalkut Yeshayahu 481, etc.). Talmud Brochos (6a) teaches that Hashem is to be found in the Batei Knesses and Batei Meddresh, and one's tefila will only be heard from there. Yerushalmi (Brochos 3) mentions that whoever davens in a shul, it is comparable to having sacrificed a korban mincha.
Therefore Poskim rule that even without a minyan, a person should preferably daven in a shul. Ribababos Veyoblos (p. 96) mentions that seating in one's seat or makom kavua in shul, even without a minyan, would make him absorb holiness and purity.
Horav Shlomo Miller's Shlit'a opinion is that, in our particular critical time, when we should abstain from any gatherings and all shuls are closed, we should daven at home in a makom kavua or fixed place for davening where one will not be disturbed. (Mishna Berura 90: 59).
However, if one has the option to daven by himself in a shul, or an empty beis midrash, it is better to do so.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as advised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit'a
Important Numbers
