Tefillah Restart

Question

Every day, I catch Mincha at a shtiebel. There are a lot of minyanim going on simultaneously, and each minyan can hear what is going on in the other one. I have the following questions:

1. 1. If I hear the minyan next door reciting Kaddish or Kedusha, but I have already started Shemoneh Esrei by saying “Hashem sefosai tiftoch,” can I answer Kaddish or Kedusha and then go back to my Shemoneh Esrei, or is it forbidden for me to answer? 
   

2. 2. If after reciting “Hashem sefosai tiftoch” I am allowed to answer Kaddish or Kedusha, when I restart Shemoneh Esrei, do I have to repeat “Hashem sefosai tiftoch”? 
   

3. 3. If I can restart my Shemoneh Esrei after reciting “Hashem sefosai tiftoch,” and I already said “Boruch atah Hashem,” can I conclude lamdeini chukecha, turning these words into a posuk in Tehillim? 

   
   

Thank you.

Joel

Rav Zafrani 

Chazal teach us (Brachos 4b) that anyone who is someich geulah l’tefillah, i.e., they start Shemoneh Esrei right after reciting the brocha of Go’al Yisroel, is a ben Olam Haba. Since such a great reward is at stake, we want to make sure that we don’t lose it by making an interruption.

In the same vein, Chazal (Brachos 4b) ask how one can recite the verse of “Hashem sefosai tiftoch” before Shemoneh Esrei. Why don’t we consider this to be an interruption between geulah and tefillah? The Gemara answers that once our sages decreed that these words should be said before Shemoneh Esrei, they are considered like an extension of the tefillah.

This implies that after one recites them, Shemoneh Esrei has begun, and therefore one can no longer answer Kaddish or Kedusha. Certainly, if one already said “Boruch atah Hashem,” he has started the tefillah and cannot go back.

However, the Ben Ish Chai (Shanah Rishonah, Vayakhel 10) does not accept the above assumptions. He writes that if one recited “Boruch atah Hashem” and then hears Kaddish or Kedusha, it is a safeik whether he can conclude with the words lamdeini chukecha. It could be that one is only allowed to use this eitzah to save oneself from a brocha levatalah, i.e., if someone forgot an essential part of Shemoneh Esrei.

Even though Chazal taught that “Hashem sefosai tiftoch” is part of Shemoneh Esrei, the Ben Ish Chai rules that as long as one has not started the first brocha, he can revoke his “Hashem sefosai tiftoch,” answer Kaddish or Kedusha, and then repeat “Hashem sefosai tiftoch.”

There are a number of poskim who rule like the Ben Ish Chai, including Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv (as cited in Peninei Tefillah, page 80).

I found the ruling of the Ben Ish Chai to be a big chiddush, and I looked around to see if anyone argues with him. I found that the Kaf Hachaim (111:8) writes as a dovor poshut — a given — that once a person has said “Hashem sefosai tiftoch,” he has started Shemoneh Esrei and there is no way he can revoke this. He brings proofs from the writings of the Arizal that these words constitute the beginning of Shemoneh Esrei. Based on this, the Kaf Hachaim rules that one cannot revoke the beginning of his Shemoneh Esrei and answer Kaddish and Kedusha.

The Kaf Hachaim adds that this ruling is not like a different shitah that disagrees. It was fascinating to me that the Kaf Hachaim had so much respect for the Ben Ish Chai that he did not want to mention explicitly that he was arguing with him, as this might have been considered an act of audacity.

May you have brocha and hatzlocha, and may all of your tefillos be accepted.