Prayer

Does a voluntary prayer ever become a mandatory one? For the past several years, I’ve been praying to G-d in my own words in English for something I have wanted very much. G-d has still not answered my prayers. I have lost nearly all hope that G-d will grant my wishes or that what I am praying for is meant to be. I still fully believe in G-d, though I have come to the conclusion G-d has not intended for my wish to come true. At first my prayers were heartfelt, but now I am just rushing through it as part of my daily routine that I say in identical, memorized words each day. I am tired of taking the time out of my day to recite this prayer and I feel like quitting. But I am afraid if I quit, I am going down the ladder.

What is one supposed to do if he does not remember whether or not he davened Mincha or Maariv and he is still within the window of time to do so?

If one is in the middle of Pesukei Dezimra and feels the need to use the restroom, which requires taking off their tefillin, do they put them back on after using the restroom?

Is a synagogue whose seats do not face the direction of Jerusalem when facing the ark a kosher place to pray? Many people in the community I am in don’t think so.

Shalom laRav. This is a question about a recent occurrence in my community and those surrounding it. As you know, when the Torah is brought out of the Hekhal, we sing “Romemu,” a song composed of portions of Tehillim. The Sfardi Minhag is for the congregation to sing the entire text out loud and together while the Torah is being brought to the table. Lately, however, many Sfardi synagogues, at least in New York, have been shortening this prayer by skipping most of the central verses. In my sunagogue, it began with a few people skipping the middle, confusing everyone else. By the end of the week, everyone was singing the shortened version like them, but nobody knew why. One of the Rabbis in my community attempted to convince everyone to go back to our original Minhag, but was only successful for a few days. I’d initially thought this was just a problem in my community, but I’d heard from friends that it was happening to them as well. Some even said they’d never heard the full song before, just the shortened version. I did some research. Turns out, the shortened version is the Moroccan Minhag. However, none of us are Moroccan, and there aren’t very many Moroccans in our communities. (The people in my synagogue who started this are also not Moroccan). However, Moroccans say most of the central verses while the Torah is being lifted, while my community says different Pesukim (as is our Minhag). Therefore, I am suspicious that there is some other reason, unrelated to Moroccan Minhagim. My question is as follows: How did this trend begin, and what (if anything) should I do to fix it?