Accepting Shabbat, prayer with a large congregation or in a fixed place
Question
Hello
1. In a case where the husband accepts Shabbat early at Plag HaMincha, from when does the wife also need to accept Shabbat upon herself? And may she refrain from accepting it together with her husband until she lights candles, or until another time?
2. Which virtue is preferable: prayer in a large minyan, where “berov am” is preferable, or in a small minyan but in a fixed place, as it is written that whoever establishes a fixed place for his prayer has a special merit?
Thank you
Answer
Hello and blessings.
1. She is not dependent on him, and she may accept Shabbat whenever she wishes.
2. In the Mishnah Berurah it is explained that a fixed place is preferable. See the sources.
Source
Mishnah Berurah (siman 687, se’if katan 7):
“One suspends Torah study, etc.” — Meaning, even though Torah study is equivalent to all the mitzvot, and even if it were the Torah study of a large group of one hundred people studying in some house, nevertheless one must suspend it and go to read it with the congregation, because of “בְּרָב עָם הַדְרַת מֶלֶךְ” — “In a multitude of people is the King’s glory.” And the Chayei Adam wrote: Nevertheless, one who prays all year on a fixed basis in the particular minyan where he prays does not need to go to the synagogue:
Shaar HaTziyun (siman 687, se’if katan 10):
And in my humble opinion, his intention is that the place where he is accustomed to pray is also a beit midrash, only that a small number of people pray there; and he teaches us that he is not obligated to go to the large synagogue. For are all the small synagogues in the city obligated to go to the large synagogue? But if a householder has a minyan in his home, even though his minyan is on a fixed basis, it stands to reason that he must go to the synagogue in the city because of publicizing the miracle:
