124. Responding with the Congregation

20:11 Things in which a person is obligated include: saying Kedusha together with the congregation; answering “Amen” after the blessings “HaKeil haKadosh” and “Shomei’ah Tefilla”; responding appropriately to the various Kaddishes; bowing with the congregation at “Modim.” Therefore, if one came late to shul and could not pray together with the congregation, he should time things so he is not saying Shemoneh Esrei at a time that would keep him from answering these things. If he won’t miss the time for saying Shemoneh Esrei, he should wait until he has responded to these prayers and then pray. However, he should not pause between the blessing of ga’al Yisroel and the start of Shemoneh Esrei because one must connect the blessing of redemption to his prayers and he may not interrupt at that point. Instead, he should pause before “shira chadasha.” (If one so chooses, he may pray outside in the hall, in which case he need not wait to answer these prayers – MB 109:1. If one has to choose between pacing himself to catch Kedusha or replying “Amen, y’hei Shmei rabbah” to Kaddish, answering Kaddish takes precedence – MB109:4.) 20:12 If someone is reciting Shemoneh Esrei on his own and when he completes the blessing “mechayeh hameisim” the congregation is saying the Kedusha in the prayer U’va l’Tziyon, or the Kedusha in the blessing “Yotzeir Ohr,” he does not recite this Kedusha with them because these Kedushas are not on the same level as the one in Shemoneh Esrei. However, if the congregation is reciting the Kedusha of musaf, he may answer “Kadosh, kadosh, kadosh” with them even though he is saying shacharis. This is also true if he is saying musaf and they are reciting the Kedusha of shacharis. He may do this because the Kedushas of these two prayer services are equal in stature. (In such a case, he says the text of the Kedusha that the congregation is saying – MB109:17.)