Comfort Level

As a Kean Keen Observer Of The Human Condition, it occurred to me the other day that most people need to have a certain level of comfort before they will either go over to someone in shul and tell them their tefillin are misaligned, or, harder, tell them that they are mispronouncing a word (words!) as shliach tzibur.

I saw the former happen twice this week and in each case it was a good friend who approached another and adjusted his tefillin. When I was saying kaddish (and davening for the amud) on a couple of occasions people I'm close with pointed out pronunciation errors. I was grateful for the corrections. I'm not sure how I would have felt had a complete stranger pointed out my mistakes.

On the other hand, on a daily basis I hear shlichai tzibbur botch the Ivra. Since I've been davening mornings at my other shul, where I am not friendly with many people, I have not said a word. In the past, at my primary shul, I haven't hesitated to gently point out errors after davening.

And then, of course, there are the hockers who will say anything to anyone. Perhaps they are doing us all a favor by being nudniks.