From the Virtual Desk of the OU VEBBE REBBE Question: If I am davening silent Shmone Esrei and am around Modim and the chazzan is at Kedusha, do I answer Kedusha? Answer: A person who is davening silent Shmoneh Esrei while the congregation is saying Kedusha should remain silent and concentrate on what the chazzan is saying, and it is as if he "answered" (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 104:7-8). This is based on Rashi in Berachot 21b who says that even if one is concentrating on the words of the chazzan and his status is as one who "answered" regarding fulfillment of the obligation of Kedusha, it is not considered an interruption. Tosfot says he should continue in his prayers because since “shomeiah k’oneh” (one who hears is as if he answered), even being silent is like interrupting. We follow Rashi. If one finished the brachot of Shmoneh Esrei and already said "Yih’yu l’ratzon imrei fee…" prior to or during "Elokai n’tzor," he can say kedusha along with the congregation (Shulchan Aruch, ibid.). He should wait and listen at least until the chazzan completes "Baruch Shem…" and probably would do well to listen until the end of Kedusha including the bracha (see Ishei Yisrael 32: (53)). It is even better to shorten or skip "Elokai n’tzor" and take the three steps back before Kedusha begins (Shulchan Aruch 122:1). Fortunate is he who davens at a minyan where he is not rushed and can answer all that he should. Ask the Rabbi Q&A is part of Hemdat Yamim, the weekly parsha sheet published by Eretz Hemdah. You can read this section or the entire Hemdat Yamim at
www.ou.org or www.eretzhemdah.org. If you would like to receive Hemdat Yamim by email, on a weekly basis, please send an email to
lists@eretzhemdah.org with the message: JoinHemdatya - Please leave the subject blank. Whoever does not see G-d in every place does not see G-d in any place. Let the heart and the mind always be congruent. Learn to be silent - so that you may learn to speak. Ed. note - Notwithstanding this reason for saying NER CHANUKA, many follow the other opinion to say NER SHEL CHANUKA or SHE-L'CHANUKA as one word. It is customary for women to abstain from work while the Chanuka lights are burning. REASON Refraining from work reminds us not to make personal use of the Chanuka lights. REASON To publicize that a woman (Yehudit) brought about the salvation of the Jewish people. WORDS OF WISDOM WORDS OF WIT by Shmuel Himelstein R' David, who had been standing at attention throughout the examination, suddenly tilted his head away from the judges. "Prisoner", shouted one of the judges, "when you are before us, you are to remain at attention." This unexpected reply so staggered the judges that they released R' David immediately Excerpted with the permission of the copyright holder Dear Torah Tidbits Reader, Rabbi Julius Baker has suggested that Ya’akov sought to return to the “Tent of Torah,” while relying on Esav to take on the family responsibility for material welfare. Rashi notes, however, that Hashem had a different agenda: The righteous should not have such expectations in this world - for they will rest in the World to Come. Ya’akov, of course, should have heeded his real dream in which the ladder, a link between Heaven and Earth, clearly indicated that his future was bound up with both the spiritual and the material. Similarly, his son’s vision of the sheaves of corn implied that Yosef was to involve himself in the physical aspects of Jewish destiny. Maybe that is why Scripture recalls that Ya’akov “kept that matter [to himself].” Perhaps that is also why the Psalmist, in describing the return of the Jewish people to their Land, invokes both the “dream” and the “sheaves” when he proclaims: “Hayinu Kecholmim. Az Yavo V’rinah Noseh Alumotav” – ‘We were like dreamers. Then he who carries the bundles will come with melodious song.’ Clearly, it is those who are actively involved in shaping the Land who eventually garner G-d’s blessings. Shabbat Shalom, Menachem Persoff, Director, Israel Center [The Vayeishev Homepage]
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