[Avodah] shlichei tzibbur, davening speed, and halacha

[Avram Sacks]

I would like to open up a discussion about something that has
troubled me for a long time, but which now has very practical
consequences for me as I now have a chiyuv to daven as a shliach
tzibbur and will continue to have this chiyuv for some time: davening speed.

To get right to the point, it is impossible for me to daven certain
parts of the t'fillah in as short amount of time as others appear to
require. This is not such a critical issue when I am just part of the
minyan; however, as a shaliach tzibbur, my "slow" speed could be an
imposition on the tzibbur, particularly with respect to p'sukei
d'zimra, tachanun on Mondays and Thursdays and with "v'yi-ten l'cha"
on motza-ai shabbat.

Just to be very clear, I am a fairly proficient and knowledgeable
shaliach tzibbur, and have functioned as such many, many times since
my bar mitzvah long ago for just about every type of service
throughout the year.  On shabbat and yom tov, when people are in
less of a hurry, davening speed is not so critical.  But, at the
daily minyan, when ba'alei batim are chomping at the bit to get to work or
to get home, an additional five or 10 minutes is a big deal.

So, what does one do as a shaliach tzibbur? On one hand, there is a
halachic requirement whether one is a shaliach tzibbur or not, to say
every word of tefillah, and not just scan it with your eyes. Yet,
despite my relative proficiency in Hebrew, it is physically impossible
for me to recite every word of p'sukei d'zimra, or of the long
tachanun or of v'yi-ten l'cha as quickly as everyone else says it. For me
this is particularly curious because I know that I am able to recite
out loud the chazarat hashatz of the shmoneh esrai at a much quicker
pace than most. So how is it, then, that everyone else can recite the
long tachanun (and certain other prayers) so much more quickly than me
when saying these prayers quietly? I asked the respected rav of a
large, well-known shul about this, and his response was that despite
his own Hebrew proficiency, outside of the kollel or yeshiva, he, too,
is unable to complete p'sukei d'zimra, the long tachanun or v'yi-ten
l'cha with the speed of the tzibbur.

So, what is going on? When people daven, are they not actually
enunciating each word out loud (even if only in a soft whisper) as one
is supposed to do? If you are one of those who are makpid about
enunciating each and every word of t'fillah, what do you do when you
are a shaliach tzibbur at a regular weekday minyan of ba'alei batim
and you know that the tzibbur is not used to taking as long as you
take to say certain t'fillot? There is, of course, the halachic
imperative to not keep a tzibbur waiting. So how does this fit into
the halachic imperative to actually say (rather than scan with one's
eyes) the t'fillot? And, when one is a shaliach tzibbur how do you
negotiate these two competing halachic imperatives, particularly if
you have a chiyuv to function as a shaliach tzibbur?

Avram Sacks
Skokie, IL