[Avodah] Prayers That The Tzibbur Does Not Say

[Jay F. Shachter]

> 
> ... I am very surprised to find a tefillah where the individual has
> free rein, but the tzibur is restricted.  Usually it is the other
> way around.  There are many tefilos which may be said *only*
> b'tzibur, and often only under certain circumstances.  For example,
> some tefilos are said only on certain days, and some are said only
> by the chazan.  Here we have a case where the tzibur may say it on
> only one particular day, yet the individual can say it anytime.
> 
> Are there any other examples of this?
>

There are plenty of examples of prayers that may be recited by
individuals, and that may not be recited by the tzibbur.

For example, suppose you have asked Sarah Pippik to marry you, and she
has nodded her head and said she'll get back to you on that.
Unquestionably, until you hear back from her with her answer, you are
going to be inserting a private prayer three times a weekday into the
benediction of Shomea` Tefillah, that she say yes to your proposal.
Or maybe you will put your prayer into Xonen Hadda`ath, if you think
that not marrying you indicates a failure of intelligence on her part.
Or maybe you will put your prayer into Rofeh Xoley `Amo Yisrael, if
you are marrying Rn. Pippik because you need a kidney transplant, and
she has the same blood type as you.  The point is that individuals are
allowed to utter certain kinds of prayers, that the tzibbur is not
allowed to say.

Now, there are special laws about rain, such that, if an entire
community needs rain, a tzibbur is allowed to ask for it.  But that is
only because our Sages have enacted laws permitting it.  Otherwise it
would be forbidden.  Thus, if there is a local glut of unmarried
people, and the tzibbur needs shiddukhim, the shliax tzibbur may not
insert a prayer for shiddukhim in the repetition of the `Amidah.  Or
if the community is suffering from, oh let's say, a plague of frogs,
the shliax tzibbur is not allowed to insert into the repetition of the
`Amida a prayer asking God to do anything about it, unless a good
strong rain would sweep the frogs back into the river where they came
from.  It's just not the kind of prayer, that the tzibbur is allowed
to make.

Unrelated to the above, in your earlier post, you mispronounced
"seiruv".

                        Jay F. ("Yaakov") Shachter
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