9
votes
Accepted
Is there any basis for Chabad minhagim regarding tallit gadol?
I emailed Rabbi Eliezer Zalmanov (from Chabad.org) about your question. Here's what I said:
B''H
In most Ashkenazi communities, the custom is that bochurim do not wear a tallis. However, when a ...
8
votes
Accepted
Priority for multiple "chiyuvim" to be Shaliach Tzibbur
Rule #1: Don't fight about it.
First, one should never get into fights with others to do Mitzvot (Mishna Berura 53 sk 65). Regarding our case, the Chatam Sofer (YD 345) writes that if you deserve a ...
8
votes
Accepted
Explain the use of the chazzan to end paragraphs
A Chazzan's job is to recite the Shema Blessings and Amida sections aloud for the congregation to fulfill their obligation with. (For the Amida, those who know how to pray themselves must also do so ...
8
votes
Accepted
A person Below 20 as shliach tzibbur for tefillat Musaf
R Akiva Eiger (responsum #9 (old series), citing the controversial Besamim Rosh #89) argues that women are exempt from Musaf because they are exempt from the half-Shekel tax.
R Yitzchak Elchanan ...
8
votes
Accepted
Disqualification from being Shaliach Tzibbur
Siman 53 in Orach Chaim is rather long, and deals at length with the qualifications and disqualifications of a shaliach tzibur. You may wish to read through the entire siman. Since it appears from ...
7
votes
Accepted
In birkat kohanim, who calls out "kohanim"?
The Rambam (Tefillah 14:8) says explicitly it's the Chazzan who calls.
Tosfot (Berachot 34a) quote Rabbeinu Tam who says that the Chazzan cannot call out "Kohanim" as it is a Hefsek. He proves this ...
7
votes
"Yotzer Or" procedure
Yes, the Chazzan must say that line out loud. In fact, as part of his job as Chazzan, he should really recite all the blessings surrounding the recitation of Shema, in the morning and the evening, ...
6
votes
Guitar during public weekday prayers
In describing the synagogues of Bavel in the Twelfth Century, R. Petachia of Ratisbon wrote as follows:
בחולו של מועד אומרים המזמורים בכלי שיר
On the half-holidays they recite the psalms to the ...
6
votes
Accepted
When there are four aveilim (mourners), Is it better to have one minyan of 40 people or 4 minyonim of ten each?
Rav Moshe Feinstein (Igrot Moshe YD 4:61:4) ruled they should not split up because of BeRov Am, and all the more so in a case where the extra group would not be in a Shul or even a room without a ...
6
votes
gedolim on "The Jazz Singer"
This doesn't really answer your question definitively at all, but I thought it might interest you. I was reading through some of the autobiographical essays of R. Isaac David Essrig (1893-1976), who ...
6
votes
Is it permissible to switch the chazzan in the middle of shacharit on a weekday?
Seems that the answer is: Yes, one may do so a priori.
See the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch in סימן כו - דיני קדיש יתום:
סעיף יד: מִי שֶׁיָּכוֹל וְרָאוּי לְהִתְפַּלֵּל לִפְנֵי הַתֵּבָה, יִתְפַּלֵּל, ...
6
votes
Accepted
Why does congregational prayer require a chazan / shaliach tzibbur (cantor)?
You ask why we historically needed a shali'ach tzibur, when did they begin and why do we still need today?
R Ari Jacobson provides a first summary according to two different approaches
Back in the ...
6
votes
People with defects and their role in serving
See Thursday and Friday
Yesterday, we noted the question as to whether the Torah prohibition
which forbids a ba’al mum – person with a physical deformity – from
performing the avoda (service) ...
6
votes
Accepted
Being יוצא with the chazzan saying - ה' אלוקיכם אמת, if I am not up to Kerias Shema yet
It would seem that both questions can be answered at once.
The Shaare Teshuva on that Halacha that listening to the 3 words from the Chazzan may be done even if you are in middle of krias shema ...
6
votes
Missing Traditional Half-Kaddish Melodies
I'm going to assume you know most of the traditional half kaddish tunes, like those on Shabbat and weekdays, Arvit on the High Holidays, as well as those after Yishtabach and before Musaf (including ...
5
votes
Accepted
What is considered a picture for not davening in front of it
The Ramma in siman 90 siff 23 explains the reason not to pray in front of pictures is because it distracts one from concentrating.
This is the same reasoning The Mishna Berurah there uses to explain ...
5
votes
Accepted
If a chazzan has to repeat Shmoneh Esrei, can he use the chazarat hashatz for that?
Short answer: Yes.
Long answer: It depends:
The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch states in סימן יט - דיני משיב הרוח, טל ומטר, יעלה ויבא ועננו
that it depends:
If the mistake was in the first 3 Brachot and he ...
5
votes
How can we get people to stop talking (much, loudly) during minyan?
My personal experience, as Shaliach tzibur, to silence the Schul talkers has been to stop as soon as I sensed any utterances coming from the congregation. Following a few seconds of showing my "...
5
votes
What does it mean for a mourner to "have a chiuv"?
Davening from the amud is not an obligation indeed, and if someone else has priority one is not obligated to find another minyan in order to daven from the amud. It is a custom as a way of honoring ...
5
votes
Accepted
"Chiyuv" to be chazan vs. congregational approval and refusal
R Eliezer Melamed addresses this (online under 3 but also in The Laws of prayer p. 51)
The chazan is the emissary of the congregation, and therefore a person
is prohibited from taking hold of the ...
5
votes
Placement of Aneinu on the day of a fast
Peninei Halachah brings a citation from the Rama 565:3 that we consider that an individual might be forced to break the fast before having fasted most of the day. Once he has fasted until mincha, then ...
5
votes
Accepted
What's the best way to learn how to lead mincha?
I had the same question years ago. I have used http://virtualcantor.com/
I liked the versatility of the site. But also its clarify for newcomers. I did not know the structure of the tefilla and ...
5
votes
Why does the chazzan start ashrei in selichot earlier?
I'm vaguely recalling what I had heard many years ago when I studied Nusach at the Belz School of Jewish music (part of Yeshiva University.)
Cantor Beer taught the course on Selichot and he was (and ...
5
votes
Accepted
Ashkenazi shat”z?
The Halocho is to be found in Sh O, O Ch 53 (12) who paskens like the gemoro
אין ממנין מי שקור' לאלפי"ן עייני"ן ולעייני"ן אלפי"ן:
One should not appoint a person [to be leader] who reads "...
4
votes
What should a chazan do if he has theological problems with the congregation's text?
R. Chaim Berlin writes in a responsum (Nishmas Chaim # 7 in the one volume edition) that it is forbidden to publicly deviate from the nusach and the customs of the congregation, and it is a violation ...
4
votes
If we repeat amida to help those who cannot otherwise pray, what of maariv?
Maariv is originally a tefillat reshut (optional prayer), so if one couldn't, one didn't. Mincha and Shacharit were already obligatory which is why the chazzan's repetition was enacted for those who ...
4
votes
Chazan's position and path when taking out the Torah?
Could not find the answer to clockwise vs. counter-clockwise, but found the answer to your second question in Aruch HaShulchan Orach Chayim 282:1: - סימן רפב - דיני קריאת התורה והמפטיר בשבת
והש"ץ ...
4
votes
Accepted
Chabad Chazzanus Recordings
AFAIK there's no free recordings out there, but here's what I have found:
Davening with the Rebbe - a recording of the Lubavitcher Rebbe davening shacharis on a weekday. Generally speaking, Chabad ...
4
votes
Is a shaliach tzibbur allowed to daven from the bimah instead of the amud?
According to Shulchan Aruch (OC 90:1), the Chazzan may stand on an elevated area to daven if his intention is that the congregation be able to hear him.
4
votes
Accepted
May the gabbai use a disabled person for shat"z over a non-disabled one?
The Jerusalem-based kollel Eretz Hemda has a responsa on this very topic (here). Their conclusion is that
If [a person is] permanently (or for a long time) in need of a
wheelchair, people should ...
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