- Halacha
- Silent Prayer - Amida
Amida prayer
Question
Hi. Regarding the amidah:
1. Do we have to take three steps back when answering "yehe sheme raba mebaraj...", or right after the whole kaddish has finished? I have the first custom, but I see that many people stay in their places when answering in the kaddish.
2. When and how do we say "Hashem sefatay tiftach ufi yaguid tehilatecha"?
3. When finishing the amida, do we say the prayer for the reconstruction of the bet hamikdash ("yehi ratson milefaneja Hashem Elokenu VElohe abotenu shetibne...") before taking three steps forward? Or do we take the three steps (after saying "Ose shalom...) and then recite the last lines?
Thank you very very much!
Answer
Shalom,
Your questions are important questions, especially since often interesting customs "stuck" to the prayer.
1. People who answer to Kaddish do not need to take three steps back. However, when the Cantor says Kaddish Shalem, he walks three steps back before saying "O'se shalom". (Shulchan Aruch, 56, 5)
2. We say "Hashem sefatay tiftach" before each Amida prayer - before the prayer of each one and the Cantor also before he repeats the prayer loudly (Shulchan Aruch 11, 1 and 123, 6). This verse is considered as the beginning of the Amidah prayer and is said after the three steps forward.
3. The "Darkey Moshe (Rama) wrote in Orach chayim 123 that there is a custom to say "Yehi ratzon" after "O'se shalom". This is said before we step forward. When we finish praying, we separate from the Shekhinah - the Divine Presence and walk backward. We don't return right away to show our reluctance to part from the Shekhinah, so say the "Yehi ratzon" before we step forward.
Rabbi Yisrael Wende

Three steps back before Shemoneh Esrei
Rabbi David Sperling | Nisan 6, 5775

Question on Difficult Insert in Bracha ’Shma Kolenu’
Rabbi Ari Shvat | Av 21, 5777

Prayer - Shmone Esrei
Rabbi Jonathan Blass | 8 Tevet 5763

Amidah - pausing for Kaddish, Kedusha
Rabbi David Sperling | Tishrei 7, 5780

Various Rabbis
Various Rabbis including those of of Yeshivat Bet El, such as Rabbi Chaim Katz, Rabbi Binyamin Bamberger and Rabbi Yitzchak Greenblat and others.

’Assimilated Jew’
1 Kislev 5763

I love pork
23 Cheshvan 5763

Length of Sleeves
15 Kislev 5763

Non-Kosher wine for cooking
7 Kislev 5763
Genesis 24: 2-9 – Put your hand under my thigh
Rabbi Moshe Leib Halberstadt | Tevet 26, 5770

Follow up to Bracha on hydroponic vegetables
Rabbi David Sperling | Elul 8, 5781

Follow up to Bracha on hydroponic vegetables
Rabbi David Sperling | Elul 8, 5781

Mazal Tov and Astrology
Various Rabbis | 6 Shevat 5764

Dairy mug and meat sponge
Rabbi Yoel Lieberman | Shevat 10, 5783

How can someone change their community?
Rabbi David Sperling | Shevat 11, 5783

Talmud
Rabbi Ari Shvat | Shevat 4, 5783
