QUESTION
You’re always praising the chassidim in Williamsburg but I was there last week and I went to a shul to daven Shachris and it was a very fast davening?
ANSWER
This man is bringing up a claim against me that he was in a shul in Williamsburg where they davened fast. So I’ll tell you that there are other shuls in Williamsburg where they daven slow. You went into the wrong place.
But let me tell you something about Williamsburg shtiebels. I walked into a shtiebel in Williamsburg. You can't get a word of davening. You have to hand out nickels every minute. The purpose of davening there is to hand out nickels. In other places, in Flatbush, you don’t see that. Maybe Flatbush is getting better today but in the olden days they wouldn't stand for it. They’d throw you out on your back.
Everybody's asking for money – not for themselves. Going around begging for other people, for poor families. It looks like half of Williamsburg is begging and half is giving, and sometimes they change. After he finishes collecting, he starts davening and others collect from him.
Now, it disturbs the davening if every minute you have to hand out nickels but in Williamsburg, it looks like that's the purpose of davening. That's why they daven so fast over there. Sometimes it takes me three minyanin of theirs to get through my davening.
It's expensive to daven there. That’s why they daven quickly. Otherwise they’d go broke from one long Shacharis. June 1971
