Making Shabbos Morning Great Again

After talking with a few people this week, it seems that the sought after Shabbos morning minyan is populated with younger folks, starts at 8:30, ends at 10:45, with a short drasha, followed by a decent kiddush with friends, and you’re heading home at around 11:00. Shtiebels start later. Yeshivos skip the drasha and kiddush. Big shuls add 30 minutes and often skip the kiddush.

My Shul is close to that schedule, however we’re only young at heart, and our weekly kiddush is a sporadic chips and dips off-premise affair. However I love it because of my relationship with my Rav and because I’m surrounded by a wide variety of friends concerned about the welfare of the Shul and its members.

Personally, I would like a slower davening, and I’m not in a rush to get out because I like being in Shul. But a slower davening would probably reduce the greatly appreciated social aspect. In fact our Shul just instituted a no-talking between aliyos policy and it’s had a noticeable effect on halachically permitted discourse between aliyos. I’m not loving it.

I certainly can’t speak for all the members of my Shul, but from my point of view, our Shabbos Morning minyan can already be called “great’. Great, but not perfect, and that’s why there will always be room for a Shul Politics tweak here and there.