As I write this article at the conclusion of the first Shabbat that I have used our new “Siddur Tefillah L’Moshe,” I return to a question that has been asked since the printing of the early siddurim and was asked of me as we prepared our new siddur. Why is the repetition of the Amidah by the Hazzan needed in modern times, when there are now siddurim available and everyone can read the Amidah for themselves (and those that cannot read the Hebrew can use the transliteration that was included in the new prayer book)? Hasn't the time come to cancel this custom?

The source of the law of having the Hazzan repeat the prayer is in the Mishna: "Just as the Hazzan is required to pray, so every individual is required to pray. Rabban Gamliel says, the Hazzan fulfills the obligation of the entire congregation." [Rosh Hashanah 4:9]. Thus, according to Rabban Gamliel, the Hazzan prays in order to fulfill the congregation's obligation and the repeated Amidah is the main element of the prayer. Some other rabbis feel that the prayer is repeated only for those who do not know how to pray and that the main element is every person's own silent prayer. It is obvious that according to Rabban Gamliel the repetition of the Amidah is definitely still necessary today, even though everybody has his own prayer book or may even be able to pray on their own. But why is it needed according to the other rabbis?

The Rambam also chimes in with respect to the question of the role of the Hazzan when everybody in the congregation knows how to pray. He said: "Since the sages decreed that a Hazzan must pray in order to fulfill the obligation of anybody who does not know how to pray, the prayer of the Hazzan is not in vain because it fulfills the rabbinical decree, even if everybody in the congregation knows how to pray ... . This is true of any decree that was made for a specific reason: This does not mean that the action is not taken in the absence of the specific condition which served as the reason for the decree." That is, once a decree has been made it remains in force under its own right. This means that the repetition of the Amidah does not depend on whether everybody present knows how to pray or not.

The Rambam then quotes the Talmud about the benefits of public prayer. He writes, "What is public prayer? It is when one person prays out loud and others listen ...". That is, the "common form" of public prayer is repetition of the prayer by the Hazzan. All of these facts clearly indicate that as far as he is concerned the main part of public (congregational) prayer is the repetition by the Hazzan and according to the Chatam Sofer, the silent amidah is not congregational but individual prayer.

A more powerful expression by the Rambam can be found in a reply to a letter from Rabbi Saadia Gaon. In it the Rambam writes that the prayer by the Hazzan is to be preferred to silent prayer even in a case where the people talk while the chazzan prays out loud.

The conclusion is that in our time the repetition of the Amidah by the Hazzan has a status of a public prayer and after all that is why people come to the synagogue and join together with a minyan to pray. This concept is strengthened by the practice of the ARI: "In the days of our mentor the ARI permission was given to reveal things, and he revealed the fact that the repetition is at a higher level than the silent prayer though both of these are required. The ARI would therefore close his eyes during the repetition, and listen with rapt attention to the words of the Hazzan."