Question:
Generally speaking, Does the obligation of working / אנא אפלח override davening with a minyan? Meaning if a wife wants the husband to bring home a paycheck and the job the husband has, he cannot daven with a minyan due to the hours and location. How does halacha look at it?
Answer:
Hello,
Generally speaking, a husband is obligated to provide his family and his wife with their livelihood, as it is written in the kesubah. Nowadays there are many nashim tzidkanios, who are willing to work so that their husbands can learn. This is tremendous zechus, and in fact when they both get to olam haba, the wife will get more sechar than the husband does! When the husband learns a seder, parts of the seder are deducted, when he takes a coffee, comes late, or shmoozes. Therefore he will only be getting a percentage of the sechar for the seder. The wife on the other hand, can tell the bais din shel maalah, “I went to work so that my husband can learn a full seder, if he took a coffee or shmoozed, I still want my full sechar”. And she will get it. I heard this from Horav Zaidel Epstein zt”l, who said on numerous occasions, that he is jealous of the olam haba of the women, for this reason!
Getting back to your question, if a person is working in a place that he doesn’t have a minyan, and the conditions of his job (place, time, etc.) don’t allow it, he may davens without a minyan. Understandably if one can work in a place where he has a minyan that is better, but other than that he has to do fulfill his obligation.
Best wishes
