Dear Yosef,

The only Heter I can think of is that the term Posh'ea is reserved for someone who didn't daven Musaf within the seven hours out of laziness. For example, he took a long break between Shacharis and Musaf and didn't get around to Musaf until after the seventh hour. But someone who davened a really long Shacharis - for example on Yom Kippur - and as a result davened Musaf late - wouldn't be called Posh'ea.

If Shacharis on Yom Kippur drags out too long is the Tzibur collectively considered Posh'ea? The Shulchan Aruch (520:1) says "Tov le'Katzer b'Piyutim v'Selichos Shacharis" - it's good to speed up Shacharis of Yom Kippur. It doesn't say that the Tzibur is Chayav - obligated - to speed it up. This suggests that the Tzibur is not Posh'ea if they don't.

I have not seen this idea written anywhere but I heard the gist of it from Rav Moshe Sternbuch.

Kol Tuv,

Yonasan Sigler

This is not a Psak Halachah

In our previous reply we saw a dispute between Rav Sa'adyah Ga'on and the Tzelach about whether Raban Yochanan ben Zakai was descended from King Chizkiyah or not.

1. I looked up the commentary of Rav Sa'adyah Ga'on on Maseches Berachos. It is printed in the Sefer "Ginzei Yerushalayim" (part 1), published in Yerushalayim (5752), based on manuscripts found in the Cairo Genizah. He writes there in brief that we have a tradition that Raban Yochanan ben Zakai was descended from Chizkiyah, which is why he came to meet him when he died.

(We saw above that the Tzelach writes that it was precisely because Raban Yochanan ben Zakai was not descended from the House of David that Chizkiyah appeared to him -- to assure him that there was no objection on his part to Raban Yochanan ben Zakai having become the Nasi.)

2. I have seen other opinions among the Mefarshim concerning the lineage of Raban Yochanan ben Zakai:

Rashi in Shabbos (34a, DH Turmusei) writes that Raban Yochanan ben Zakai was a Kohen. This view clearly seems to disagree with Rav Sa'adyah Ga'on who says that Raban Yochanan ben Zakai was descended from Chizkiyah, who was from Shevet Yehudah and therefore not a Kohen (unless we say that Raban Yochanan ben Zakai was descended from Chizkiyah only on his maternal side.)

Tosfos in Menachos (21b, DH sheha'Kohanim) diagrees with Rashi and writes that Raban Yochanan ben Zakai was not a Kohen.

I found in Otzar Midrashim (Eisenstein, page 174, Chupas Eliyahu) that the students of Raban Yochanan ben Zakai asked him with what merit he had lived to such an old age. He replied that it was because he had never said Birkas ha'Mazon before a Kohen who was not a scholar. This suggests that Raban Yochanan ben Zakai himself was not a Kohen. (However, the Gemara in Megilah (end of 27b) relates a similar conversation between Rebbi Preida and his Talmidim, wherein Rebbi Preida said that the reason he lived so long was that he did not recite the blessings before a Kohen, and Raban Yochanan ben Zakai is not mentioned there.)

Kol Tuv,

Dovid Bloom