Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz

And certainly, certainly,

Everyone agrees, to my knowledge, that a non-Jew is allowed to, and perhaps obligated to, daven, to pray.

So if you're praying, it assumes some level of hashkacha.

Meaning, if you're doing bakashot, so it assumes some level of hashkacha.

So I don't know.

I'm not God's accountant.

I don't know exactly how it works.

And this is something that's discussed and debated and worked out in Rishonim.

But again, I would strongly encourage purchasing Rabbi Aryeh Leibowitz's book on Hashkach HaPratos.

Okay, question number four.

If there is a house of minyan on one's block, is it still preferable to daven in a shul?

So there's the short answer and the long answer.

The short answer is, yes, of course it's preferable to davening a shul.

So then people say, come on, you're making that up, you're just a shul rabbi, and you're only saying that because it serves your interest, and rabbis just want to make people's lives difficult, and that's why they don't want people davening a houseman on them, because they're afraid it's going to weaken the rabbi's control and power.

So let me explain to you why the yes.

Let me give the long answer.

The Gemara quotes a passage in the 14th parak of Mishle that when a person does mitzvot b'rov am hajras melech it is the greatest covet to the Rebbe to do mitzvot b'rov am with a larger crowd.

The B'yarei Lachan even says better to learn in a Beis Medrash than to learn privately because b'rov am hajras melech.

and therefore says that a person should always try to daven in a shul with the tzibur.

In fact, the Magan Avram says, even if you have a minion not on your block, not next door,