Q. (Re question 2981, regarding if one should leave even before the start of davening to wake someone up (chessed) if requested to wake them at a certain time. To what we answered; ‘The proper procedure is to ask someone else, who is not as careful to be part of the first ten, to wake him up, or just get him an alarm clock).’
Could the Rav please explain why the mitzvah of chessed (goodness) would not override asara rishonim?
A. Actually it could override. Sheilas Rav (p. 189) quotes Horav Chaim Kanievsky’s Shlit’a ruling in the following case. Someone going to join a minyan in which he will be one of the first ten of many that will join after, thus becoming able to receive a great reward. Then on his way he encounters a small place with only nine people who are urgently looking for a tenth. Should he better join the small minyan, although there will not be any others that he can share in their reward or continue to the large minyan. The Rov ruled that chessed indeed overrides, and he should stay with the small minyan he completed.
However, as mentioned, when he can have someone else or an alarm clock doing that awakening and it becomes unnecessary, then he should be one of the first ten. (See prior question 2991 on the importance of being one of the first ten)
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Rabbi A. Bartfeld as advised by Horav Shlomo Miller and Horav Aharon Miller Shlit’a