<div dir="ltr">While I live in a suburb of Jerusalem and celebrate Purim on 14 Adar, I often find myself davening mincha in Jerusalem on 15 Adar. Some years, this has been at the office park where I work; today, it was at the Jerusalem Zoo. In both cases, the minyan with which I am davening consists almost entirely of those of us who live outside the city, as the observant Jerusalem residents* are mostly at home eating their Purim feasts, rather than at the office or the zoo.<div>
<br></div><div>(* Throughout this discussion, Jerusalem and non-Jerusalem "residents" refer to those who are and those who are not obligated in the mitzvos of Purim on the 15th of Adar, as determined by the relevant halachos, not to place of permanent residency.)<br>
<div><br></div><div>The question that invariably comes up is whether the shat"z, who is not otherwise saying "Al haNisim" that day, should say it in chazaras hashat"z. While today's shat"z in the zoo minyan did not say Al haNisim, I can think of two possible reasons (based on two different approaches to chazaras hashatz) why he should have:</div>
<div><br></div><div>1. Even if all of the individuals are not saying Al haNisim, the chazaras hashatz is a "tefilas hatzibbur," and the tzibbur, as an entity that is more than just the sum of its parts, is defined by default as a Jerusalem tzibbur by virtue of its location, as long as it has not been *explicitly* billed as a minyan for non-Jerusalem residents (as yom tov sheni minyanim in Israel are).<br>
<div><br></div><div>2. The function of the chazaras hashatz is, at least in principle, to fulfill the obligation of an individual who can't daven himself. Unless the mispalelim were actually polled in advance to make sure that there were no Jerusalem residents among them (which is generally not the case), it is possible that there is a Jerusalem resident there (let's say he does not want to serve as shat'z himself), and if the shat"z does not say Al haNisim, he will be unable to, in principle, fulfill that person's obligation. Of course, the Jerusalem resident would have this same problem if he ventures outside Jerusalem for mincha, but one could argue that things are different when he is on his "home turf," even if he is the only one in the minyan for whom this is an issue. On the other hand, if the shat"z *does* say it, he will still be able to be motzi all the non-Jerusalem residents, as one who says Al haNisim on Shushan Purim does not have to repeat the tefilah.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Is anybody aware of a discussion or pesak on this question? I found a reference to Halichos Shlomo at <a href="http://www.yeshiva.co/ask/?id=5490">http://www.yeshiva.co/ask/?id=5490</a>. I don't have access to the primary source right now, but from that short summary, I'm not sure that RSZA was explicitly addressing a case where the minyan consists almost entirely of benei ir.</div>
</div><div><br></div><div>-- D.C.</div></div></div>