Q:
Why do some yeshivahs today still daven mincha with heicha kedusha even in situations where they don’t learn immediately afterwards, so it’s not for the reason of bittul Torah?
A:
Why do some yeshivahs make a heicha kedusha?
In some places they do that; that was a minhag of the yeshivahs in Europe and so they follow the minhag hayeshivos. It’s something. Don’t think the yeshivah is such a small place, an unimportant place. A yeshivah is a very important institution. That’s our heart. That’s the center of our existence, the yeshivahs.
The Shechina is found in the yeshivahs. And therefore if they have minhagim, you have to respect their minhagim. Whether there are reasons for it or not, don’t worry about it anymore. It’s not derech eretz.
It was the minhag in Slabodka that they made a heicha kedusha for mincha always. Always. Only they davened a very long Shemoneh Esrei there. Very long Shemoneh Esrei.
July 1995
