A Matter of Degrees:

How Students Have Become Lost in Prayer

Since the beginning of time, the religious man has always been troubled by the question, "where is God?"

One Jewish answer, taught to many YU students as early as kindrgarten is "here, there, and everywhere," and those who daven (pray) in the Main Beit Midrash seem to have taken it to heart.

Even for people who have prayed in Orthodox synagogues all their lives, the scene in the YU beit midrash is very unusual. One particular student may be at a ninety-degree angle facing the front of the shul, while his neighbor may be at a forty-five-degree angle facing the door. One young man may be facing the ark, while his friend adjacent to him may be facing the other way.

One may wonder whether this variety is to be attributed to the differing philosophies, which find a home in our University. Or, perhaps the range of practice is due to more esoteric reasons. Both justifications, however, prove unable to answer this above-mentioned phenomenon. The answer, ultimately, is to be found in a matter of degrees.

Normally, shuls are situated so that the aron faces east. The reason for this is that since the destruction of the Bais Hamikdosh, it has been customary for Jews when praying to direct their prayers to Yerushalayim. Unfortunately, ideal does not always translate into reality; for some structural or architectural reason, the aron in the main bais midrash faces south. This raises a conundrum. Does one face towards the Aron and consequently leave the dictum of facing Jerusalem unfulfilled; or does one face east, away from the aron, and thus give the impression of disrespect to the Sifrei Torah?

There in a nutshell is the reason why there are so many in YU who deal with this problem in their own unique way. Of course, to one unfamiliar with the halachic implications, the varieties of practice regarding this issue may seem perplexing.

Eliyahu Parker, who is spending his first year on campus, is among the confused. "For someone walking into the Bais Midrash for the first time," he said, "it can seem pretty strange that everyone is davening in a different direction. " Many others students share Parker’s feelings.

In Nefesh Harav, Rav Hershel Shachter’s biography on Rav Yosef Dov Soleiveitchik, Rav Shachter notes that the Rav was, indeed, bothered by this very same issue: the placement of the aron in the main beit midrash. This may be the reason, Rav Shachter writes, that the Rav did not as a rule, daven in the main beit midrash. As a consequence, Rav Shachter ruled that it is imperative for one to face east when saying the shmona esrei.

Rav Yosef Blau, Mashgiach Ruchani of the Yeshiva, said the issue is complex. He cited the Mishna Berura’s ruling that one should always face east when davening, even in the case of the aron being situated in a different direction. However, the Beur Halacha, when confronted with the same situation offers no definite answer but instead writes that the issue requires "further study." Furthermore, Rav Blau stated that although the Rav did not normally daven in the Bais Midrash, he did daven at a shul during the Yomim Noraim for a number of years, whose aron did not face East.

Rav Blau also cited the noted halachic authority Rav Henkin, who says that in such a situation one should always face the aron in deference to it. This, indeed, is the tradition of most shuls face with a similar problem. Finally, Rav Blau did state that the practice of some students to face a 45 degree angle so that their backs are not to the Aron while their faces are somewhat in the direction of east, may be a suitable compromise. His reasoning: airplanes flying to Israel from New York also ascend at such an angle.

Thus, depending on which opinion one subscribes to, there is either a definite or an ambiguous answer to the question of which way to face in the main beit midrash. While there may be disagreement over which way to face when praying, everyone agrees that ultimately the efficacy of our prayers depends not so much on the direction of our feet, as the direction of our minds.