Shulchan Aruch: Chapter 54 - Laws Relating to [Blessing] Yishtabach

SECTION 54 Laws Relating to [the Blessing] Yishtabach. (1-4)

1 [The blessing] Yishtabach does not begin with Baruch, because it is [considered as] continuous with [the blessing] Baruch SheAmar.1 For both the [blessings] were ordained for Pesukei DeZimrah, one beforehand and one afterwards, and the intervening verses are not considered an interruption. In many places, therefore, it is customary to recite Amen after the blessing Yishtabach, even after one’s own blessing. As to [our Sages’] statement,2 that “[to respond] Amen to one’s own blessings is unseemly,” this applies only when a person recites a single blessing, or even when he recites two blessings which, however, are not linked to one another, so that he is permitted to interrupt and speak between them, as is the case with the Morning Blessings.3 When, however, one responds after the conclusion of two or more blessings that are continuous with each other and are linked, e.g., the blessings of the Shema and She­moneh Esreh, this is praiseworthy. The same principle applies to Yishtabach, since it is considered continuous with Baruch SheAmar and it is forbidden to make an interruption between them by speaking. For this reason, Amen is said after [the blessing] Boneh Yerushalayim in the Grace after Meals.4

However, certain authorities maintain that one should not say Amen after one’s own blessing except after Boneh Yerushalayim in the Grace, for [that Amen was instituted] to separate the first three blessings of the Grace which are of Scriptural origin from the fourth blessing which was ordained by the Sages.5 As to other blessings, by contrast, since they are all of Rabbinic origin, one does not say Amen after one’s own blessing even after the conclusion of several blessings that follow each other. This is the practice in these countries.6

2 One should not say Amen after the words Baruch Atah A-donai E-l Melech Gadol BaTishbachos,7 for this is not the conclusion of the blessing. Instead, it should be said after the words Chei HaOlamim, for this is the conclusion of the blessing.

3 A person who speaks between Yishtabach and [the beginning of the blessing] Yotzer [Or] has committed a sin. [In former times] this would be sufficient cause for such a person to return from the battle lines,8 for the reason explained in sec. 51[:4].

There are those who maintain that it is permitted to make an interruption for communal needs or for the sake of a mitzvah, e.g., to levy charitable donations for someone who comes and asks for alms. Similarly, if a sheliach tzibbur did not have a tallis and/or tefillin and they were brought to him between Yishtabach and Kaddish, he may put them on, with their respective blessing[s]. If, however, they were brought to him before Yishtabach, he should recite the blessing[s] over them before Yishtabach, as stated in sec. 53[:3].9

Between the recitation of Kaddish and Barchu, however, one may not make an interruption of any kind.10 Needless to say, this applies between Barchu and [the blessing] Yotzer Or, both to the sheliach tzibbur himself and to the congregation [praying] with him.

4 As a result of the practice of making an interruption between Yishtabach and [the blessing] Yotzer [Or] for the sake of a mitzvah, the custom became widespread in former times to offer a prayer [at that point] on behalf of a sick person, or [for an aggrieved congregant] to plead in the synagogue for a judicial hearing.11 For all such cases are considered being for the sake of a mitzvah.

After [such an interruption], when the prayer service is resumed, the sheliach tzibbur should recite some of the Pesukei DeZimrah and then recite Kaddish in connection with them, for Kaddish is never recited unless immediately preceded by words of praise.12 [Indeed,] if [the sheliach tzibbur] does not recite any verses, he may not recite Kaddish. Instead, he should recite Barchu without reciting Kaddish [before it], as is the practice in the Evening Service, when it is customary to recite Barchu without Kaddish since no verses [of praise] are recited beforehand.13

Nor should a person who is poreis al Shema14 recite Kaddish unless he recited some verses beforehand, for there is no instance in which Kaddish is recited without being preceded by some verses, except when it is recited at the conclusion of Shemoneh Esreh.15 It has therefore become customary to be poreis al Shema after the conclusion of the silent Shemoneh Esreh such that the Kaddish be recited in the wake of Shemoneh Esreh. To recite Kaddish later would be inappropriate.

Now, however, there are “newcomers recently arrived”16 who are poreis al Shema immediately after the final Kaddish. This is not correct, for what purpose is there in reciting two Kaddeishim,17 one after the other? Such people should be instructed to recite several verses between the two Kaddeishim.

It is the practice in all the congregations of Israel never to recite Kaddish18 except at the conclusion of a verse or at the conclusion of [a passage from] the Aggadah that interprets a verse. [Kaddish is not recited] at the conclusion of [the study of a passage from] the Oral Law that does not interpret a verse. For this reason, it is customary to recite the Aggadic passage Rabbi Chananyah ben Akashya Omer19 after Pirkei Avos. Likewise, after [the description of] the preparation of the incense offering20 and after the chapter BaMeh Madlikin,21 it is customary to recite the Aggadic passage, Amar Rabbi Elazar Amar Rabbi Chanina: Talmidei Chachamim....22 Accordingly, when Mishnayos are studied, an Aggadic passage should likewise be recited at their conclusion so that Kaddish can be recited afterwards. (After the passage Eizehu [Mekoman,23 an Aggadic passage is not recited;] it is sufficient to recite the prayer Yehi Ratzon24 at its conclusion.)