Towards Better Davening and Torah Reading These columns usually focus on picky points in grammar, pronunciation, accent - what we like to call fine- tuning. But if the column is truly to deserve the name of Towards Better Davening, it must include sharing with you the following... SUGGESTION When you daven on Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur... take your time. No one is rushing you. If your shul is faster than you are, and you are still saying your Amida when the chazan has begun the repetition - Let them go. Your private, silent Amida is your priority. It takes concentration. The shul sounds in the background can be distracting. Don't let them be. You've got work to do. Find yourself a good spot to stand for your Amida. A place where you won't be bothering anyone else, especially if you are taking a long time with your Amida. Avoid the pitfall of inconveniencing others in your quest to do things better - it's counterproductive. (One Mussar master describes this kind of behavior as hitting someone across the eyes with your tzitzit as you fervently put on your Tallit.) If you are still in your Amida when the congregation is ready for K'dusha, then you have to stop, wait, and listen - but you do not say K'dusha with everyone else. Don't worry. Your listening is considered K'ILU, as if you are saying it. Except that you are not saying it, because you cannot interrupt your own Amida. Nor can you continue davening while the KAHAL is saying K'dusha. Stop, look, and listen. What you will mostly miss out on are the many PIYUTIM, liturgical poetry, that was added to the siddur and machzor over many centuries of Jewish life and experience. The PIYU- TIM are beautiful and precious to us, but they do not supersede the saying of the Amida well. Also, there is nothing wrong with davening in Hebrew and looking over to the English translation to help you understand what you are saying. It is even permitted (and maybe preferable) to daven in English, if you don't understand the Hebrew at all. On the other hand, a tremendous amount of thought and work went into the Hebrew wording of our prayers, and if you can handle davening in Hebrew (especially with the ability to read the English at the same time), it is preferable. Bottom line: Daven well. And here is our annual (at least) review of one of the first items we have raised over the years under the banner of B.A.S.H. - Break Anti- halachic Shul Habits. AMEIN CHATUFA The premature Amein. It is the cantorial style of the davening of both Yamim Nora'im and the Chagim - both of which we will be observing during the upcoming weeks - for the Chazan to stretch out the ending of a bracha (mostly, but not only, in the repetition of the Amida) and for the congregation to answer AMEIN as the Chazan finishes the bracha. Problem. The halacha is that one answers AMEIN only after the one saying a bracha completes it - no matter how long it is stretched. A premature AMEIN is like no AMEIN. And the Chazan's brachot can be considered in vain (if we are dealing with the repetition of the Amida). We are so used to doing this, that it is a bad habit that is hard to break. But it is an important issue, especially when we are trying to daven our best. Wait for the Chazan to finish - then answer AMEIN. What further aggravates this issue is that it requires the cooperation of others. Let's say you are aware of the problem of AMEIN CHATUFA. So you wait out the chazan and you don't say AMEIN too early. Good. But often, you won't hear the end of the bracha because it gets drowned out by others answering an early AMEIN. So you really can't say AMEIN then and the bracha loses out on all the AMEINs it should get. Technically, there is one AMEIN that you can say (and maybe should) before the chazan finishes kvetching out the last words - and that is when the last words are V'IMRU AMEIN, "and say: AMEIN". The AMEIN goes on what was just said, with the chazan telling us to say AMEIN. At least we can say AMEIN with the chazan in such cases, and that is not considered a premature AMEIN. [The Parshat Ha'azinu Homepage]
|
