[Avodah] Modim D'Rabbanan

[Michael Poppers]

In Avodah Digest V25#245, RAK asked:
> Two questions were raised this evening about the Modim D'Rabbanan
recited by the kehillah during the repetition of the Amidah.
> (1) As in many shuls, on the wall hangs a poster of the Modim
D'Rabbanan. However, the text of the poster differs by one word from
the text in all of the siddurim. Where the siddurim read
"us-kay-me-nu"/"ut-kay-me-nu" the poster reads
"us-cha-ne-nu"/"ut-cha-ne-nu." The issue came up, in part, because
apparently the Daf Yomi just learned Daf Mem, Amud Alef of Sotah,
where this prayer is discussed--and the text of the Gemara is the
text of the poster and not the siddurim. So, does anyone know why our
siddurim differ from the posters and the Gemara, and how this came about? <
Good Q (and NB that the text of your siddur likely doesn't include
"ut'qab'tzeinu," either).  IIRC, the siddur of Rav Amram Gaon doesn't
include "ut'chaneinu ut'qab'tzeinu."  The Tur (OC 127) certainly doesn't
include either word, but BY 127 d'h' "garsinan" does!  B'li neder, I'll
soon check Baer on this subject -- perhaps he has some relevant
comments....

> (2) Now that we are on the topic, the question was raised why we say
this prayer at all? Or, rather, why only this prayer? Why is there
not a parallel D'Rabbanan prayer for any or all of the other brachos
during the repetition of the Amidah? Why should the congregation not
respond to the other brachos, such as for refuah or geulah or shalom? <
(After writing the following, I saw that RJIR already noted it, but he'll
hopefully forgive me for repeating his concept while embellishing it a
bit....)
If the concept is hoda'ah, and if this concept of thanksgiving must be
performed individually rather than by a representative of tha tzibbur (I've
heard this idea b'sheim Avudraham, and I have a crazy idea that it may be
based on how the TY describes what the tzibbur must do when the SHaTZ
reaches "Modim," as noted in BY 127 d'h' "v'chasav haRaSHBA")....

All the best from
--Michael Poppers via RIM pager
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