QUESTION: Where I daven, there are some talkers who do not answer Amen to the berachos. Should I avoid being the Shliach Tzibur out of concern that if there aren’t nine answering Amen, my beracha will be “close to a beracha levatala” (a beracha said in vain)?

ANSWER: The Mishnah Berurah (124:19) writes that the standard custom is to recite Chazaras Hashatz even though we know that there are talkers who are not listening or answering Amen to the berachos. However, the Mishnah Berurah writes that in such a case it is proper for the Shliach Tzibur to make a condition that if there aren’t nine answering Amen, the Tefilah should be a Tefilas Nedava (a voluntary supplication). (This suggestion would only be effective on weekdays when one can recite a Tefilas Nedava, while on Shabbos, Yom Tov, or Musaf, one cannot recite a Tefilas Nedava.) Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt”l (Halichos Shlomo – Chazaras Hashatz) was asked whether he made such a condition when he served as the Shliach Tzibur. In his humble manner, Rav Shlomo Zalman responded that he does not do so because he follows the more common practice of Klal Yisrael.

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The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.