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When saying a private portion of the service, such as pesukei de-zimra, may the shaliach tzibur (aka chazzan, or the person leading services) use English, and switch to Hebrew for the portions said aloud?

Seth J
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yitznewton
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    I don't see why not. – Double AA Jan 17 '12 at 14:32
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    I'd recommend checking with one's Rabbi before trying anything suggested here. – Isaac Moses Jan 17 '12 at 15:03
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    @IsaacMoses as always :) – yitznewton Jan 17 '12 at 15:59
  • @DoubleAA Because you are up there as the shaliach tzibur, not foryourself. – avi Jan 17 '12 at 17:08
  • @avi I don't see why that makes a difference. – Double AA Jan 17 '12 at 18:32
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    @avi seems to me the Sha"tz is only up there in non-public sections out of convenience or decorum; he's not actually effecting anything except for kaddish and amidah. No? – yitznewton Jan 17 '12 at 19:26
  • @DoubleAA, in a recent post, you supported an non-sourced idea (that may have been mentioned in Igros Moshe) that the shatz's silent amidah is rehersal for the chazara, the latter counting for his tefila. If that's true, either his silent amida should be in the standard Hebrew text, or we need to entertain the possibility of doing the chazara in English/Laaz?? Otherwise, I would definitely agree with you for pesukei dezimra, which doesn't really require a shaliach. Birchos K"Sh might be more complex, as I think historically the Shatz was motzi the congregation. – YDK Jan 17 '12 at 20:57
  • @yitznewton in our lack of belief era, sure you might be right. But that's not what they are supposed to be doing. I try to avoid shuls where the Shaliach has no care about the rest of the minyan. – avi Jan 17 '12 at 21:14
  • @avi I don't follow your last comment at 21:14; my point was: assuming the Sha"tz has no formal halachic significance outside of the chazarah and devarim shebi-kedushah, it should not matter whether he uses Hebrew in the silent parts which are technically insignificant. – yitznewton Jan 17 '12 at 21:19
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    @yitznewton The Shaliach Tzibur is the Shaliach tzibur. While he is up there he represents the Tzibur. I'm not sure what is hard to follow. If the tzibur doesn't want a shaliach, don't send one. – avi Jan 17 '12 at 21:29
  • @YDK Touche. Yes I'm completely with you. I wasn't going to bring in that idea now because I still don't have a source, but apparently I mentioned it before on this site [where was it again?]. I agree though that using this idea he would have to say the silent amida in Hebrew. In terms of BKSh, I had your idea also, but I think for someone who isn't going to say it out loud, he won't need to say it in Hebrew. Whether or not he has fulfilled his duty as a chazzan is a separate issue. And the same goes for zimmun. – Double AA Jan 17 '12 at 21:33
  • @DoubleAA, so whereas chazaras hashatz is an absolute requirement, BK"Sh can be done by a Sh"Tz being motzi others, but the tzibbur can opt out. In which case the Sh"Tz at that point has the same status as the page announcer. – YDK Jan 18 '12 at 02:56
  • @YDK Yes they opt out. Whether they are allowed to do so or whether it is a requirement of Chazal to have the chazan say BKSh in a way to be motzi others is a separate question. Just like were a tzibbur to not plan on saying chazarat hashatz (against halacha) then the chazzan reverts back to being a "page announcer" for the silent amida. We are assuming a case where lemaaseh they do opt out. – Double AA Jan 18 '12 at 03:19
  • @YDK I can't seem to find where I mentioned it, but see the answers here http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/1755/759 – Double AA Jan 24 '12 at 01:44

1 Answers1

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Bais Yosef rules that one may pray in any language.

Mishnah Berurah seems to suggest that one may either pray in Hebrew (whether or not he understands the words) or in any other language (but ONLY if he understands the words).

http://www.halachayomi.org/wordpress/orach-chaim-101-2-english-prayer-loud-prayer/126

At a time when the Sha"tz was actually there to recite the prayer on behalf of the others, it might pose a problem to say most of the text in one language, and then the last line of every paragraph in Hebrew; the complete text is not being recited in either language, as one whole unit, which would seem to pose problems in fulfilling ones (or another's) obligation to pray.

Generally speaking, we do not rely on the Sha"tz to exempt others from their prayer obligations in our times. Nowadays, the Sha"tz is more symbolic than functionary. From that point of view, the Sha"tz technically doesn't have to say anything at all during the silent parts.

Based on that understanding of the Sha"tz's function in contemporary synagogues, one may indeed recite the silent parts in English, and the vocal parts in Hebrew.

However - I would caution that for kriyas shema, and for the silent shemoneh esreh, when typically the Sha"tz himself intends to fulfill his own mitzvah of kriyas shema and of tefillah, that he pick one language for the entire section and stick to it.

(Of course, one could recite all of kriyas shema in English, silently. Once he is finished with that silent recitation, he could switch to Hebrew for the vocal "Hashem Elokechem Emes" - and it wouldn't violate the concept of saying the entire section in one language, because the entire kriyas shema was already said silently before the Sha"tz recites those words out loud, to alert the congregation to move on.)

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    Will, please add more sources to this otherwise (IMHO) great answer. This answer contains many Halachoth and historical statements being assumed as understood, and while they may be factually correct, and obvious to you, and even to many of us "regulars", they may not be known to the casual reader. It would be akin to a discussion on amending the U.S. Constitution and making repeated references to the Women's Suffrage, Prohibition and Reconstruction movements, without any citations except to an op-ed in the NY Times from the 60s pushing for a Civil Rights amendment or some such. – Seth J Jan 17 '12 at 16:38
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    I still can't find a written source about the role of the sha"tz in contemporary synagogues. The Shulchan Aruch / Mishnah Berurah chapter/verse numbers should be fairly easy to find. –  Jan 17 '12 at 18:48
  • @SethJ Does this mean that the Shaliach zibbur can simply skip some or all of the silent portions of the davening? – Yehuda W Sep 29 '19 at 20:45