Shulchan Aruch: Chapter 109 - Laws Relating to How an Individual should Synchronize his Prayers with those of the Congregation

SECTION 109 Laws Relating to How an Individual should Synchronize his Prayers with those of the Congregation. (1-5)

1 [The following rules apply when] one enters a synagogue and finds the congregation reciting (the Afternoon) Shemoneh Esreh1 and the time is not yet pressing.2 If he can begin Shemoneh Esreh and complete it before the sheliach tzibbur reaches Kedushah, he should pray [immediately].3 If not, he should not pray until he has responded Amen to [the blessing] HaE-l HaKadosh,4 for this Amen is considered as equivalent to Kedushah.5 If he already heard Kedushah or he knows that he will hear it later, he does not have to wait.6

[The following rules apply] if one [enters the synagogue and] finds the congregation reciting the Evening Shemoneh Esreh. If he can begin Shemoneh Esreh and complete it before the sheliach tzibbur reaches the Kaddish that follows Shemoneh Esreh so that he can respond Amen, yehei shmei rabba... to the Kaddish in the manner described in sec. 56[:4] — even if he will not be able to respond Amen, [but only] yehei shmei rabba..., as explained there7 — he should pray [immediately]. If not, he should not [begin to] pray. [This applies] even though he already heard Kaddish for the Evening Service, for there is no limit to the [number of] Kaddeishim8 [one may hear].

Nevertheless, since the Kaddeishim from Aleinu onward9 — whether in the morning or the evening — are only customary,10 it is possible that one is not required to wait [before praying to listen] to them.

If, however, [the congregation] is being poreis al Shema11 and [the late arrival] has not yet heard Barchu, he must wait [to hear] it. [This applies] even when it is recited without Kaddish, as is the practice in the Evening Service.12

2 [Different rules apply] if one enters the synagogue after Kedushah or if he entered beforehand and waited until afterwards [before praying]. If he can begin [Shemoneh Esreh] and complete it before the sheliach tzibbur reaches the blessing Shomeia Tefillah so that he will be able to respond Amen after this blessing — for this Amen is considered equivalent to Kedushah and Kaddish13 — he should [begin Shemoneh Esreh immediately]. If not, he should not [begin Shemoneh Esreh]14 until after the blessing beginning Modim.15 Similarly, on Shabbos and festivals and in the Mussaf Service of Rosh Chodesh, when there is no [obligation to respond] Amen to the blessing Shomeia Tefillah,16 one should not [begin She­moneh Esreh] unless he can complete it before the sheliach tzibbur reaches Modim, so that he will bow together with the congregation [when the sheliach tzibbur recites] Modim. For if they were to bow17 and he would not bow with them, it would appear that he is denying the existence of Him to Whom his fellow-worshipers bend the knee and bow. (Similar [laws apply] whenever the congregation bend the knee and bow, e.g., in Aleinu.)18

Similarly, if one can reach Modim — or one of the blessings during which we bow — at the time the sheliach tzibbur reaches Modim, he should [begin Shemoneh Esreh]. Even though he will not be able to recite Modim at the time the congregation recites it,19 this is of no consequence, since he is bowing together with them.

When does the above apply? In the Mussaf or Afternoon Services, or even in the Morning Service when one waits before concluding the blessing Gaal Yisrael. If, however, he recited [the blessing after the Shema] until the words Gaal Yisrael, he cannot wait any longer in order to respond, because that blessing must be linked to [the beginning of] Shemoneh Esreh.20 [Thus] he must begin to recite Shemoneh Esreh immediately.

[Under such circumstances,] if he was in the midst of one of the blessings [of She­moneh Esreh] and the sheliach tzibbur reached Modim, he should bow together with him, for it is permitted to bow in the midst of any of the blessings.21 Nevertheless, if there is no necessity that he begin [Shemoneh Esreh] immediately, he should not begin and rely on the probability that he will bow in the midst of one of the blessings, for perhaps he will not be able to be exact and ensure that he will be in the midst of a blessing when the sheliach tzibbur reaches Modim. Instead, [he may find himself] at the beginning of a blessing or at its conclusion, and one may not bow at the beginning of a blessing or at its conclusion except in the first blessing or in the blessing that starts with Modim, as will be explained in sec. 113[:1]. And if he focuses on timing this exactly, he will be distracted and will not concentrate properly on his prayer.

3 [The following rules apply when] one must begin [Shemoneh Esreh] immediately and he starts it together with the sheliach tzibbur.22 When the sheliach tzibbur reaches Nakdishach23 — or Nekadesh, as is the version [recited] in these countries24 — he should recite the entire text of the Kedushah word by word together with the sheliach tzibbur.25 Although a person praying individually does not recite Kedushah in his Shemoneh Esreh, when he recites it together with the sheliach tzibbur he is not considered to be praying individually. Similarly, he should recite the entire text of the blessing HaE-l HaKadosh and the blessing Shomeia Tefillah with the sheliach tzibbur, in order to complete [each of those blessings] together with him. He is thus not required to respond Amen, just as the sheliach tzibbur is not required to, for the congregation respond Amen to his blessing, and the response of the congregation applies also to the blessings that this person recites.

[The late arrival] should also aim to reach Modim or HaTov Shimcha26 when the sheliach tzibbur reaches Modim, so that he will be able to bow together with the congregation at Modim. If he can complete the entire Shemoneh Esreh before the sheliach tzibbur reaches the end of the blessing Shomeia Tefillah, he can pray individually after completing the blessing HaE-l HaKadosh.

All of the above applies when he must pray immediately either because he must link the blessing Gaal Yisrael to Shemoneh Esreh or because time is passing.27 If, however, there is no necessity [that he pray immediately], he should not begin with the sheliach tzibbur and recite the text of Kedushah with him.28 [The rationale is that] the initial preference is that he remain silent, listen to the text of Kedushah as it is recited by the sheliach tzibbur, and in response to him say only [the verses that begin with the following words]: Kadosh, Baruch, and Yimloch, as explained in sec. 125:1.29

4 [The following rule applies when] one comes to the synagogue directly after Kedushah [and is faced with the following conflict]: If he waits until the sheliach tzibbur reaches Modim, he will not be able to respond Amen, yehei shmei rabba... (to the Kaddish) that follows Shemoneh Esreh, whereas if he waits until after the Kaddish, either the time for [the Afternoon Shemoneh Esreh] will pass, or he will not be able to recite the Evening Service together with the congregation.30 [In such a situation] he should recite Shemoneh Esreh immediately, because it is preferable to omit Modim than to omit the response beginning Amen, yehei shmei rabba.

A similar [quandary can arise] if he arrives just before [the recitation of] Kedushah. If he begins [Shemoneh Esreh] immediately, he will not be able to recite Kedushah; if he waits until after Kedushah, he will not be able to recite Modim; and if he waits until after Modim, the time for prayer will pass. [In such a situation] he should begin [Shemoneh Esreh] after Kedushah, for it is preferable to omit Modim than [to omit] the recitation of Kedushah with the congregation.

[A related predicament arises] if one arrives just before [the recitation of] Kaddish [after the Afternoon Service]. If he recites Shemoneh Esreh immediately, he will miss Amen, yehei shmei rabba..., but if he waits until after Kaddish, he will not be able to pray the Evening Service together with the congregation. [In such a situation] it is preferable that he pray with the congregation.

5 If one is reciting Shemoneh Esreh individually and reaches the point at which Kedushah [is said] at the same time that the congregation is reciting Kedushah in the passage U’Va LeTziyon or in the blessing Yotzer Or, he should not recite Kedushah with them, for the Kedushos are not [of equivalent status]. There is an authority who maintains that this also applies if the congregation were reciting Kedushah in Mussaf and an individual was reciting the Morning Service; he should not recite Kedushah with them, for the Kedushos are not [of equal status].

Other authorities maintain that the Kedushos of the Morning Service and the Mussaf Service are considered to be [of equal status]. However, [these authorities concede that] this is not the case with the Kedushos of U’Va LeTziyon or Yotzer Or, for they are merely descriptions [of the sanctification of G‑d by the angels], as explained in sec. 59[:2]. This view is given primacy.

(From this [ruling], one can deduce that a person reciting Shemoneh Esreh individually who reaches the blessing Atah Kadosh may respond to Kedushah with the congregation even though he did not say Nekadesh or Nakdishach, nor did he hear them recited by the sheliach tzibbur.31 For the Kedushos of U’Va LeTziyon or Yotzer Or do not include [the invitation] Nekadesh and nevertheless, an individual [is] not allowed to respond only because the Kedushos are not of equal importance.)