Sefer HaMinhagim: The Evening Service: Maariv

Cf. Siddur, p. 106ff.

The person leading the service does not wear a tallis.[184]

The preliminary readings are: vehu rachum; shir hamaalos; Hashem tzivaos; chatzi kaddish.[187]

The blessing oheiv amo yisroel is concluded by the reader quietly.[188]

The reader raises his voice not only at the end of [almost] every paragraph, but also for the following passages: hama'avir banav... cholam; malchuscha...v'imru; ushmor...lo'ad.[189]

One does not say the passage beginning, baruch Hashem leolam,[190] even when praying in a congregation which does say it.[191]

Notes:

(Back to text) "According to various Kabbalistic and chassidic sources, the reason that tzedakah is given before prayer is to secure that Divine blessings are drawn down as far as the material world. If so, the same rule should apply to Maariv as to the other prayer services. In the section on Tefillas Shacharis in Nagid U'Metzaveh, however, it is written that 'the night is not an appropriate time for tzedakah.'
"One possible explanation as to why Maariv differs: Insofar as the drawing down [of Divine blessings] depends on our endeavors, this has already been accomplished at Shacharis and at Minchah. (This accords with the way in which Chassidus explains the optional nature of the Maariv service [in Talmudic times; cf. Berachos 27b].) Another possible explanation: It is only at Shacharis and at Minchah, when the Sefirah of Malchus [of Atzilus] rises to [the higher Sefiros; lit., 'to Him'], that particular efforts are needed in order to draw the Divine blessings down as far as the material world; this is not the case at Maariv, when the Sefirah of Malchus [of Atzilus] is [concealed] in the Worlds of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah. This is especially relevant at night, [when this Sefirah relays spiritual sustenance to the lower worlds,] as alluded to by the verse, vetitein teref leveisah [lit., 'She gives food to her household'; Mishlei 31:15]." (From a letter of the Rebbe Shlita [reprinted in his Igrois Koidesh, Vol. II, pp. 152].) [See also footnote 56, above.]

(Back to text) The Alter Rebbe's Siddur; see also Shaar HaKollel 17:12, and Piskei HaSiddur, sec. 65.

(Back to text) Machzor HaShalem, p. 219a, note 10.

(Back to text) From the Notes of the Rebbe Shlita.

(Back to text) The Alter Rebbe's Siddur.

(Back to text) Piskei Dinim of the Tzemach Tzedek, Orach Chayim 236.