93. Shema and its Blessings

15:13 We only appoint someone who can grow a beard as permanent shaliach tzibbur but any boy aged 13 years and one day can serve as prayer leader on a temporary basis (but not on Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur or fast days - Mishnah Brurah 53:24). 16:1 Shema is recited with three blessings, “Yotzeir Ohr,” “Ahavah Rabbah” and “Emes V’yatziv.” (At night, Shema is bookended by different blessings, but here we are speaking of the morning service. The rules are the same for both services.) The rules are more stringent when it comes to interrupting Shema and its blessings than they are with pesukei d’zimrah. Shema and its blessings are divided into sections. The breaks are: between the blessings of Yotzeir Ohr and Ahava Rabbah; between Ahavah Rabbah and Shema; between the first and second paragraphs of Shema; between the second and third paragraphs of Shema.