Talking in shul

[sharona]

I want to discuss the issue that some shuls have with people talking during the services. There are those who do it, and those who are effected by it. The shul is a holy place and we should keep it that way. This is one of the things that we should reflect on and improve for the comming year.

Shalom :)

[Shalom Baker]

I concur that davening seems much longer and shlepped out at a lot of places. Right now I attend my shul for the rabbi, who is my Rov. Our regular shacharis is 9-11:30 and just right. For Rosh Hashanah, we were able to complete shacharis from 8:30-12:45. What a blessing! We moved at a pace that felt like we were all moving but still had kedushah. Nobody realized we had gone at this pace and many of us commented that it felt so natural and talking was down. The baal tefilah had a wonderful command of the nusach and kept us connected. When I discussed our timing with a colleague he seemed stunned that we could finish an hour before he did. Both of us were in nusach ashkenaz shuls. The chiddush of my blathering is that experience is showing me that if the service is shlepped out people are likely to break away from concentrating and focusing. If people fall away from the davening to talk, what use is all the extra? Please forgive any unintentional halachic mistake in my reasoning about timing. I have not had a chance to research in SA or MB before writing this piece.