Siman 123

When one finishes his entire prayer – he bows and paces backward three paces in a single bowing, like a servant taking leave of his master who prostrates and walks backward. And more than three paces he should not walk, for it appears like arrogance (Beit Yosef). And why three paces? The Geonim said: Because when a person stands in prayer he stands in a place of holiness and the Shekhinah is above his head, and when he takes leave of his prayer he paces backward to exit to a mundane place. And it is found in the Midrash that at the time of the giving of the Torah, Israel distanced themselves from Mount Sinai three mil; and our teacher Moshe entered through three partitions before the Holy One, Blessed be He: darkness, cloud, and thick cloud. And when he exited – he exited through these three partitions. And so too the Kohen when he finished the service on the altar to the ramp, for there were in them also three paces (ibid.). And the paces should be heel to toe. And it is brought in Midrash Shocher Tov that he should uproot the left foot first (ibid.).

And after he has stepped, while he is still bowing before he stands upright, when he says "He who makes peace in His heights," he turns his face toward his left side, which is the right of the Shekhinah, for the one who prays sees the Shekhinah opposite him, and thus his left is the right of the Shekhinah. And when he says "may He make peace upon us," he turns his face toward his right side. And when he says "and upon all Israel," he bows before Him like a servant taking leave of his master. And it is customary to say "May it be Your will... that the Beit HaMikdash be rebuilt...", because prayer is in place of a sacrifice, and for this reason we request that the Mikdash be rebuilt and we shall offer the sacrifices in actual practice. And there is another reason: for our sages, of blessed memory, said (Sanhedrin 96b) that in reward for certain steps, Nebuchadnezzar merited to destroy the Beit HaMikdash. Therefore, we request the opposite: that in reward for our steps, we shall merit its rebuilding. And we conclude with "and grant our portion in Your Torah," for so the Tanna concluded in Avot. And this is simple, because then we will merit the light of the Torah also much more than now, according to the light of the Beit HaMikdash from the indwelling of the Shekhinah. And some also conclude with the verse "And there we will serve You...".

And in the place where the three steps conclude – he should stand there and not return immediately to his place. And if he did so – it would have been better for him not to have prayed at all. And in the Gemara they said regarding this that he is like a dog returning to its vomit (Yoma 53b), for he has taken leave of his Master, and now it appears that he is recanting that which he prayed and requested forgiveness and pardon, and desires to sin further (Bach). Therefore, he should not return to his place until the shaliach tzibbur reaches Kedushah, for in this way everyone sees that he is returning to his place for the sake of Kedushah. And if the place is too crowded to stand there – he may return to his place when the shaliach tzibbur has begun the repetition of the Shmoneh Esreh. And this is the opinion of the Rif. And similarly when they say piyyutim – he should return to his place at the beginning of the piyyut, for in such a case it is apparent to all why he is returning to his place: whether for the sake of saying the piyyutim, or for the sake of hearing the repetition of the shaliach tzibbur at his place. And as long as the shaliach tzibbur has not begun – he should not turn his face to another side but rather stand with his face to the east, for when he turns his face he will cause a loss of kavanah to those who are still praying because he will look at them (Taz subsection 5). But when the shaliach tzibbur has begun he may turn his face, and only stand until Kedushah. And there is one who wrote that while standing there he is obligated to align his feet as in prayer (Magen Avraham subsection 5 in the name of Radach). And these are bewildering words: what relevance is there to aligning his feet there? (And I looked in Radach bayit 23, and it refers to Kedushah, see there.) And this is not necessary at all, and we do not practice so, for there is no reason for this. (Also that which the Magen Avraham cited from Binyamin Zeev – it is not there at all, as the Eliyah Rabbah wrote.)

Some are accustomed to be meticulous that while taking the steps—a person should not pass between him and the place where he prayed. And the reason for the matter: because some say that six steps are required, since it is not called a "step" unless he uproots both his feet. And so was the custom of the sages of France. And they have support, from that which is written at the beginning of Ezekiel regarding the living creatures in the Chariot: "And their feet were a straight foot," "their feet"—two, "foot"—one, making three. And afterwards it is written: "And the sole of their feet was like the sole of a foot..."—making also three. Therefore, they consider the three steps he takes returning to his place at the time of Kedushah as a combination with the first three. According to this, there should be no interruption between them (see Beit Yosef). However, there is one who is accustomed that upon seeing that someone will interrupt him—he hastens to return to his place. And it is an error, for that he should not return to his place is a law of the Gemara, while this matter of there being no interruption is merely a beautification. Therefore, they should not do so, and if they interrupted him, they interrupted. And also some are accustomed that when finishing the prayer and stepping back, and the shaliach tzibbur begins the Kedushah—he hastens to return to his place. And this also does not seem correct to me, for even though it is evident that he returns because of the Kedushah, nevertheless, one should not nullify a law of the Gemara because of this. And it is better that he say the Kedushah in the place where he stepped and not return immediately, and at the very least he should wait the time it takes to walk four amot. Furthermore: he can stand until the shaliach tzibbur reaches "Kadosh," for there the primary Kedushah begins.

And there is a doubt whether one fulfills the obligation with the steps when one steps to the sides. For sometimes the place behind him is cramped, and perhaps to the sides is also considered like taking leave from before the King? And there is no proof from what they said, "behind him." For certainly, ordinarily this is so, but where it is impossible, to the sides is also fine. And it seems to me there is a proof for this from that which we say in Yoma (53a): And so too the kohanim in their service… they would not turn their faces and go, but they would turn their faces to the side and go. And so too a student taking leave of his teacher… turns his face to the side and goes, see there. And so I am accustomed to act in places where there is great crowding behind.

Our teacher, the Rema, wrote in section 2: The shaliach tzibbur shall stand for the time it takes to walk four amot before returning to his place to pray aloud. Similarly, an individual who prays shall stand in the place where his steps ended for this duration before returning to his place. An individual who prays with the tzibbur and finished his prayer before the shaliach tzibbur—it is forbidden to turn his face to the tzibbur until the shaliach tzibbur finishes his prayer. Thus far his words. And when the shaliach tzibbur has finished—it is permitted to turn his face even before the shaliach tzibbur has begun to pray aloud. There are those who are stringent regarding an individual who prays, that he should not return until the duration of time that, if he were with the tzibbur, the shaliach tzibbur would say Kedushah. For only for the shaliach tzibbur did they permit four amot because of the burden on the tzibbur, and only between one prayer and another prayer did they permit this duration in siman 105 (Bach and Magen Avraham, subsection 8). And regarding the reason for the prohibition of turning the face, we have already written a reason. And there is another reason: so that they do not suspect him of skipping in the prayer (Levush).

And we have already written that when one paces—he uproots the left foot first. And there is one who wishes to say the reason: in order to show that it is difficult for him to depart from the prayer. And according to this, one who is left-footed uproots his left, which is the right of the world (Magen Avraham subsection 10). But we have already written the reason is because this is the right of the Shekhinah (ibid. 16 subsection 6), and according to this, even a left-footed person shall do so. And the paces are heel to toe. And he should not make larger paces than this, as it appears like one who is fleeing. And the three paces are: first the left, and afterwards the right at the heel of the left, and afterwards the left at the heel of the right. And there are those who do so: they uproot the left, and afterwards place the right next to the left, and return and uproot the left and place the right next to it, and likewise for the third. And in this manner it is like six paces. (Ma’adanei Yom Tov in Lechem Chamudot at the end of the fifth chapter, letter 67. And in the Magen Avraham subsection 10 he brought this with the expression "forced," see there.)

And so it has been explained that one who adds more than three steps, it is a matter of arrogance, as it appears that he is showing honor to the Shekhinah more than other people (Taz). And also the sheliach tzibbur must step back when he prays the silent prayer. However, when he repeats the prayer aloud, he does not need to step back three steps again, and he relies on the Kaddish after "Uva LeTzion" where he will step back during "Oseh Shalom." And even though there is an interruption, nevertheless, all of them are for the needs of the prayer (Magen Avraham, subsection 11). And nevertheless, if he is accustomed to stepping back—one does not protest against him (ibid.). And so too, if he did not pray silently but only aloud—he steps back three steps immediately after the prayer aloud. And when the sheliach tzibbur repeats the prayer, he shall say the verse "O Lord, open my lips." But he does not say "May the words of my mouth" at the end of the prayer, for he relies on what he will say in "Titkabel" after the prayer. And there are those who are accustomed to also saying "May the words of my mouth" (ibid. in the name of the Shelah), and such is the custom among us. (And the reasoning of the Taz, subsection 9, is forced.)