In the public Service the tefillah is repeated by the Reader after the
silent prayer (בלתש) of the congregation. This minhag must have been
introduced very early. In the Talmud (end of Rosh ha-shanah) it is
spoken of as a regular institution, its purpose is discussed, and the
reason stated why we should not dispense with the Reader’s repetition
or with the silent tefillah. It seems that there was, on the one hand,
a desire on the part of the congregants to have an uninterrupted silent
tefillah in which they could give suitable expression each one to his
personal and peculiar wants and wishes. On the other hand, there was
also a desire felt by many to be guided in their devotions by the
Reader. Our minhag satisfies both requirements. But it is a grave error
to think, as unfortunately many do, that, while the Reader repeats the
tefillah, the congregants may turn their heart and mind to other
things, however holy these be. The congregation and the Reader must be
united in devotion during תפלה בצבור, and where the continued
concentration of thought during the tefillah and its repetition seems
unattainable, it would be better to sacrifice the minhag of repeating
the tefillah rather than to have the repetition of the prayer without
the participation of the congregants, or even without decorum.
In the repetition of the tefillah the kedushah forms an important
addition. The essential idea of the kedushah is repeated thrice during
the Morning Service, viz., in the first of the benedictions preceding
the shema, in the tefillah or Amidah, and in the concluding section
commencing ובא לציון.
In the first kedushah (called קדושה דיוצר), while praising God as the
Creator of light and of the heavenly luminaries, we introduce these, as
proclaiming, as it were, the holiness and glory of God in the words of
the Prophets. In the last kedushah (called קדושה דסידרא or סידרא
דקדושה) we merely read, among other passages from the Prophets, those
verses of Isaiah and Ezekiel which contain the chief sentences of the
kedushah. In the kedushah of the tefillah the Reader summons the
congregation to proclaim the sanctification of God in the manner of the
angels above; it has therefore its place only in Public Worship, whilst
as to the other two kedushoth there is no difference whether a person
prays by himself or in a congregation of worshippers.
As regards קדיש וברכו, two prayers generally united, it must be
remarked that in their meaning they are disunited: the half-kaddish is
the conclusion of the mizmorim or pesuke dezimrah, and ברכו is the
commencement of the next section: shema, with its benedictions. The
half-kaddish, wherever it occurs, concludes some section of the
Service. In shacharith, after Amidah, or after “Supplications,” or
after the Reading of the Law; at Musaf, Minchah, Neïlah, and Maaribh
after the introductory psalms. The half-kaddish before the Amidah in
the Maaribh is probably a remnant of the whole kaddish that used to be
said when the Service ended there and the Amidah was considered
optional (רשות).