The Ponovitzer Rav zt'l was in chutz l'aretz raising money for the Ponevizh Yeshiva. A wealthy donor told him to meet him at the train station at 7:45 in the morning. He explained that he was taking the 8:00 train, so they could speak for a quarter-hour before he left the station.
That morning, the Ponivezher Rav woke up much later than planned – at 7:00 AM. "Perhaps I should daven b'yachidus," he thought to himself. "It is for the yeshiva’s sake. If I daven with a minyan, I will miss the appointment!"
But then he told himself, "I will daven with minyan. I will not sell this mitzvah for money."
He finished Shacharis at 8:30, forty-five minutes after the time of their appointment and a half-hour after the train had left. Regardless, he went to the train station. There was little hope, but he thought that just maybe he would find him there.
The Ponevizher Rav arrived at the train station at 8:40. No one was around. As he turned to leave, he saw the wealthy man rushing in. "I am so sorry I am late," and handed the Ponovitzer Rav a generous check.
The Ponovizer Rav showed the check to his students of the yeshiva. It was enough to support the yeshiva for half a year. The Ponovitzer Rav told them, "Chazal say, 'No one ever listened to Me and lost out.' I didn't lose anything by davening with minyan. But it is much more than that. I want you to realize that one gains when he listens to the halachos of the Torah. Had I sped through davening b'yachidus, I would have arrived at the train station on time by 7:45, and after a half-hour or so, I would assume that I missed him and left. I wouldn't wait an hour for him to come. But because I davened with a minyan, I earned so much..."
He does. I elaborated on this point when it was necessary."
In a letter to his chassidim, the Yismach Yisrael of Alexander zt'l writes, "I encourage that also the businessmen should daven in our beis medresh every morning and evening together with a minyan. Even if they must wait until the minyan gathers, they should wait. In the meanwhile, they can learn some Torah. I promise they will not lose money because of this. On the contrary, they will be blessed with parnassah."
Rebbe Yissaschar Dov of Radoshitz zt'l found another pasuk that teaches us that davening with a minyan will grant us parnassah. It states (Shemos 23:25) 'ד את ועבדתם מקרבך מחלה והסירתי מימך ואת לחמך את ובירך אלוקיכם , "And you shall serve Hashem, your G-d, and He will bless your food and your drink, and I will remove illness from your midst." ועבדתם, "You shall serve," refers to tefillah because tefillah is שבלב עבודה, the service of the heart. (Indeed, the Rambam, Sefer HaMitzvos 5, quotes this pasuk as a source that we are obligated to daven.)
The Radoshitzer said that the pasuk is written in plural (ועבדתם), because it alludes to tefillah b'tzibur. The pasuk says ועבדתם, when you daven with a minyan, לחמך את ובירך there will be parnassah מקרבך מחלה והסירתי and there will be healing.
The Beis Ahron taught, "Of this, I am certain: Tefillah b'tzibur helps for all matters. Tefillah b'tzibur accomplishes as much as the tefillos of the greatest tzaddik."
The Maor v'Shamesh (Mishpatim) also uses the pasuk (Shemos 23:25) ובירך אלוקיכם 'ד את ועבדתם מקרבך מחלה והסירתי מימך ואת לחמך את , as a source that davening with a minyan is mesugal for parnassah. He writes, "It's true that however a person serves Hashem, if his intentions are to heaven, it is certainly accepted before Hashem yisborach. However, the preferred avodas Hashem is to serve Hashem as a group, as a community. This applies both to Torah study and to tefillah. One shouldn't be alone... A person must be very cautious to daven together with the tzibur. If he does so, he will certainly have parnassah in abundance every day, and there will be brachah in his work. With tefillah b'tzibur, he can annul all harsh decrees, r'l..."
