18 Mar A MOURNER LEADING DAVENING ON PURIM

Is a mourner,
within a year for
a parent or thirty
days for another
close relative,
allowed to lead
synagogue prayers
on Purim? A man who is in mourning
is expected to lead weekday prayers in
the synagogue. Of course, this is only for
those who have the necessary skills and
talents. Not everyone is good at leading
the prayers. Someone who cannot do
so should decline any invitation to lead
the prayers and should just say Kaddish,
which is a fine commemoration of the
deceased. There is also a middle position
suggested by Rav Moshe Isserles (16th
cen., Poland) that a mourner can lead
the very end of the Shacharis (morning)
prayers — from the second Ashrei to
the end (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah
376:4). Even for those who can lead the
entire prayers, there are days when they
should not do so. On Shabbos and Yom
Tov, the clear custom is that a mourner
should not lead the prayers except
under unusual circumstances (ibid.). On

lesser holidays, the rule is less clear and
customs differ.
Rav Yitzchak Dov Bamberger, known
as the Wurzburger Rav, was one of the
leading German rabbis of the nineteenth
century. Five of his six sons became
rabbis. One of these important rabbinic
sons, Rav Simcha Bamberger, writes that
when he was in the year of mourning for
one of his parents, he led the morning
prayers on Chanukah and Purim only
from the second Ashrei to the end
(Responsa Zeicher Simcha, no. 79). To
understand his practice, we have to go
back four hundred years.
Different German Customs
There seem to be conflicting customs
in fifteenth century Germany on this
subject. Rav Yisrael Isserlein, the author
of Terumas Ha-Deshen, offers a fairly
strict view. Rav Isserlein does not allow
a mourner to lead Shacharis prayers on
a semi-holiday, nor Minchah (afternoon)
prayers on Rosh Chodesh and not even
Maariv (evening) prayers on Chol
Hamoed (Leket Yosher, vol. 2, p. 95).
Rav Ya’akov Moelin (Maharil) writes

that a mourner should not
lead the Shacharis prayers
because they include Hallel,
which is a joyous recitation,
or the megillah reading on
Purim (Responsa Maharil,
no. 22). Because of the
joyous part of the Shacharis
service, a mourner should
not lead any part. He seems
to imply that a mourner may
lead Minchah or Maariv.
Rav Moshe (Maharam) Mintz allows
even more. He writes that he personally
witnessed great rabbis who, as mourners,
led Shacharis of Rosh Chodesh through
the silent prayer and then someone else
took over and led from there. In this way,
the mourner did not have to lead Hallel
or recite publicly the special Ya’aleh
Ve-Yavo addition for the sacred day. He
also saw a great rabbi lead Maariv on
Chanukah after which someone else lit
the Chanukah candles in the synagogue
(Responsa Maharam Mintz, no. 43).
It seems that Rav Yisrael Isserlein does
not allow a mourner to lead any prayers
on joyous days. He might allow a

mourner to lead Maariv on some semi-
holidays when there is no clear joy at

night but not on Chol Hamoed when
there is a mitzvah to rejoice even at
night. Maharil is concerned with any
service that includes Hallel or megillah
and therefore allows a mourner to lead
Minchah and Maariv on semi-holidays
which lack those joyous recitations.
Maharam Mintz is concerned only with
a mourner saying joyous passages out
loud and therefore allows a mourner
to lead Shacharis through the silent
prayer.
In early nineteenth century Lithuania,
we find a similar divergence of
customs. Rav Avraham Danzig writes
that on semi-holidays, a mourner may
lead Shacharis up to, but not including,
Hallel (Chayei Adam 138:4). This
seems to follow Maharam Mintz and
take it a little further. Rav Danzig adds
that he believes his saintly mechutan,
the Vilna Gaon, does not allow a
mourner to lead Shacharis at all, which
seems similar to Maharil’s view.
Different Customs Today
Rav Yisrael Kagan (20th cen., Poland)
writes contradictory rulings in his
Mishnah Berurah. In one place, he
writes that a mourner may lead

Minchah and Maariv on Chanukah but
not Shacharis, like Maharil (671:44).
Elsewhere, he writes that a mourner
may lead Shacharis if someone else says
Hallel, like Maharam Mintz and Chayei
Adam (681:7). And in a third place,
he writes that a mourner may not lead
any prayers on a semi-holiday (Bi’ur
Halachah 132: Ma’amar Kaddishin).
Rav Simcha Rabinowitz (cont., Israel)
suggests that these contradictions
indicate that Rav Kagan did not decide
between the different views and left it up
to local custom (Piskei Teshuvos 683:2).
Rav Rabinowitz writes that today,
Chasidic synagogues tend to have a
strict custom that mourners do not
lead any prayers on semi-holidays and
Ashkenaz synagogues allow mourners
to lead Minchah and Maariv, some even
Shacharis up to Hallel (ibid.). However,
the Dirshu Mishnah Berurah (682, n.
4) quotes Rav Moshe Feinstein and
Rav Chaim Kanievsky as saying that a
mourner should not lead even Minchah
and Maariv on semi-holidays and
Rav Moshe Halberstam as saying that
Chasidim differ on whether a mourner
may lead Minchah and Maariv on such
joyous days. Rav Chaim Elazar Shapiro
(20th cen., Hungary) argues that the day
of Purim (and not the night) is stricter
than other semi-holidays because there
is a special mitzvah to rejoice on Purim
(Minchas Elazar 2:32).
In short, customs differ. While all the
above relates to Ashkenazim, Rav Chaim
David Halevi, the late Chief Sephardic
Rabbi of Tel Aviv, writes that customs
differ among Sephardim as well (Mekor
Chaim 291:14). Rav Simcha Bamberger,
with whom we began this discussion,
seems to have found a new middle
ground between the customs so he could
lead the prayers but avoid any joyous
passages by starting from the second
Ashrei. Each family and each community
should follow its own custom.