<html><P><The Brisker shita starting with R. Chaim is that Tefilla be-tzibbur is really<BR>Tefilla Hatzibbur and so one should listen to every word to be yotze this<BR>shemonei esre preferably standing with one's feet together.> </P>
<P> While R. Chaim may have learned in the Rambam that chazaras hashatz is t'fillas hatzibbur, I believe that he did not draw the conclusion that one should therefore stand with his feet together. The Brisker Rov and his son-in-law, R. Michel Feinstein, did not do so. It was RYBS who drew that conclusion, and to the best of my knowledge it is only among his talmidim and those who learned from them that it is practiced. </P>
<P> One wonders (at least, this one does) why, if such were the requirement, it went unmentioned by anyone for two millenia of chazaras hashatz. I also wonder why the tzibbur does not bend their knees and bow down at the places where the shatz does; why is it any different than the requirement of standing with the feet together?</P>
<P><As far as Modim, many poskim stress that the chazan should say modim out loud.></P>
<P> No question. But this does not mean that the shatz must wait until the kahal has finished saying Modim d'Rabbanan before he says Modim aloud. This, too, is apparently a hanhaga introduced by RYBS. The only reference I have found on this matter is the statement by the L'vush that it is _not_ necessary for the shatz to wait, as mentioned by the MB in Siman 127. How does something become a requirement after not having been mentioned in all the years we have had t'filla b'tzibbur?</P>
<P> I have seen some ba'alei t'filla who even wait to _start_ Modim until the tzibbur finishes. This is in accord with no one, since RYBS explicitly states that the shatz should say the words "modim anachnu lach" and only then wait until the tzibbur finishes before continuing. But that raises the question of mah nafshach: if it is critical that the tzibbur hear every word, why are the first three words exempt from this requirement? And if it is not critical, then why should he be required to wait for the rest of Modim?</P>
<P> One might ask what harm there is in waiting. However, there are three reasons not to do so: tircha d'tzibbura, the changing of minhag hamakom where it is not practiced, and the result that the phrase "sha'ata hu" has no meaning when divorced from "modim anachnu lach," as it is by the long silence.</P>
<P>EMT</P>
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