Pesach Program Shailos

Six-Man Second Day Shacharis Minyan

Question

I have been part of a Pesach program at the Nir Etzion kibbutz in Israel. While most of the participants speak English, they live in Israel and keep one day of Yom Tov. There are six of us in the hotel who keep two days, and we are still in the hotel for the last day of Yom Tov. I would like to know if I can ask four Israelis who already davened the weekday Shacharis to join with us to make a second-day minyan.

Ari G.

Rav Zafrani 

As far as Shacharis goes, if you make a minyan, you will not have tefillah b’tzibbur, since for that, you require ten people who are davening Shemoneh Esrei. Many poskim rule that if you are davening the same tefillah, e.g., Shacharis and Shacharis, then you are still considered to be davening tefillah b’tzibbur. So you are better off davening Shacharis with the Israelis.

Six-Man Second Day Krias HaTorah and Mussaf Minyanim

Question

I understand that for Shacharis we should daven with the guests who keep one day of Yom Tov. What about krias haTorah and Mussaf?

Rav Zafrani 

I spoke to Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach about this issue and found that he was very stringent regarding these Yom Tov Sheini minyanim. I concur with Rav Ezriel Auerbach on this question and also believe that you can be lenient and include four Israelis in your minyan.

Rav Auerbach 

You are asking a complicated question. In general, if six people need to daven, they can include four people who already davened for krias haTorah, Kedusha, chazoras hashatz, and Birkas Kohanim. In your case, however, the four people you would include are not obligated in krias haTorah or in Mussaf. According to Shu”t Halachos Katanos (1:3), you cannot include them to make a minyan. This was the opinion of my father (Yom Tov Sheini Kehilchasa 9:2 in the name of Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach).

My father-in-law, Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, on the other hand, ruled that you could include Israelis in a second-day minyan (Yom Tov Sheini Kehilchasa 9:2 in the name of Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv). This was also the opinion of a number of other poskim (see Shu”t Lehoros Nosson 1:28, Shu”t Be’er Moshe 7, page 297). Even though they are not obligated right now in this specific krias haTorah or Mussaf, they can nonetheless be included in the count of ten for the minyan.

My father, in general, was against making second-day minyanim in Eretz Yisroel. However, in most places, this ruling was not accepted, and I see that there are many second-day Yom Tov minyanim around Eretz Yisroel. In your case, I believe that you can rely on the understanding of my father-in-law for krias haTorah and Mussaf.

Hotel Discounts for Unauthorized Tourist Visas

Question

I live in Israel on a student visa. I travel a lot, and when I enter the country, I get a slip, like everyone else who enters on a foreign passport, that shows that I have a three-month tourist visa, even though this is not the case. I am spending Pesach in a hotel, and if I give them this slip of paper that indicates that I am a tourist, I will save 18 percent, as they will not charge me the VAT tax. Can I do this?

R. K.

Rav Auerbach / Rav Zafrani 

In short, you are asking if you can deceive the hotel and the government to avoid paying taxes. We have mentioned in this column before that Rav Elyashiv’s opinion was that acting with dishonesty in such situations is completely forbidden. If you act with yashrus, integrity, and ehrlichkeit, you will have much greater siyata diShmaya and will wind up saving a lot more money.