[HANASHIR:5522] Re: Adonai s'fatai tiftach...

[Andy Curry <acurry...>]

In Orthodox and Conservative traditions, Hashem sfatai tiftach is recited
silently or under one's breath; it is a prayer written in the first person
singular, asking for God to help ME pray.  As you know, the entire Amida,
until the end (Elokai n'tzor l'shoni mera, also not recited aloud), is in
the first-person plural.

That having been said, in my Conservative shul, Hashem sfatai is not
recited aloud in the "regular service".  However, in our "Tfila 2000"
service, with guitars and such, we sometimes do Craig Taubman's version of
that prayer.  So, as with so many other issues, the minhag hamakom - custom
of the place - rules.

If you don't have a minyan, then all prayers are prayed as though you were
alone.  When you're alone, you can pray silently, or at the top of your
lungs.  In a Reform setting, where the presence of a minyan is irrelevant,
all rules relating to what prayers you do and don't include or recite aloud
would be irrelevant.  It's kind of a klutz-kashe, like the question "Do I
wear a tallit when I read from the Torah on Friday night?"

Happy Purim!!!
Andy

At 12:06 PM 3/20/00 -0500, you wrote:
>What an interesting question.
>I have never been in a reform temple where it wasn't sung full voice,
>leading into the Avot-V'Imahot/G'vurot.  I'm curious to know if I've been
>missing something all these years.
>K. Blum
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Susan Schanerman <sschanerman(dot)dvh (at) tuhsd(dot)k12(dot)az(dot)us>
>To: hanashir <hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org>
>Sent: Monday, March 20, 2000 11:27 AM
>Subject: [HANASHIR:5518] Adonai s'fatai tiftach...
>
>
>> I've started singing "Adonai s'fatai tiftach" before we sing the Avot
>> v'imahot at the beginning of the Amidah.  A congregant (newly-named
>> chair of our ritual committee) came up to me and told me that we're only
>> supposed to sing that out loud if we don't have a minyan.  Is that
>> correct?  We do our whole Amidah out loud.  Is that even correct?  We're
>> a reform congregation.
>>
>> Susan Schanerman
>> Phoenix
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
>
>
------------------------------------------------------------------
What if the Hokey Pokey IS what it's all about?
------------------------------------------------------------------
Andy Curry
6016 Holmes St
Kansas City MO 64110-3034
Home: (816)363-8381
Work: (913)312-4739

------------------------ hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org -----------------------+