Rav Eliyahu Mani, who was the Chief Rabbi of Hebron in the mid-19th century wrote in his book “Zichronos Eliyahu” (part 1, Orach Chaim, page14) concerning the reciting of tachanun in Hebron, that one does not rest one’s head on one’s arm  (paragraph 16). However a few paragraphs later (paragraph 19) one could understand him to have written that in Hebron one rests one’s head on one’s arm even when there is no Sefer Torah in the room and even if one is davening alone. How does one resolve this apparent contradiction? Perhaps the meaning is that wherever one is located in Hebron, and even if davening alone, one always recites tachanun. However even if there is a Sefer Torah in the room in Hebron, and even if there is a minyan, one does not rest one’s head on one’s arm.

Here is a riddle.  When one recites tachanun at minchah, one rests one’s head on one’s left arm. At shacharis, because one is wearing tefillin on the left arm, one rests one’s head on one’s right arm. On Tisha b’Av, one puts on tefillin at minchah and not at shacharis. Therefore on which arm does one rest one’s head on when one says tachanun at shacharis and minchah on Tisha b’Av?  The answer: One does not say tachanun on Tisha b’Av!!

The questions regarding nefilas apayim rarely arise at the Lederman Shul! This shul can be considered as a world famous landmark in Bnei Brak. It was at there that the Chazon Ish z’tl and the Steipler z’tl  davened, and today Rav Chaim Kanievsky davens there. When there is a ba’al bris (father of baby, mohel or sandak) present in a shul, tachanun is omitted. (Mishnah Berurah 131:22) Rav Chaim Kanievsky is a sandak almost every day of the year and so tachanun is rarely said in the Lederman  Shul. (see: www.hamodia.com/inthepaper.cfm?ArticleID=569)