Terminology: The amud is a lectern located at the front of the shul. The bimah is a raised "platform" from where the Torah is read. It is usually located in the center of the shul. Some Sefardim and Yemenite shuls only have a bimah and no amud, and the bimah is in the back of the shul.

One reason I have heard for using the amud is that the chazzan should not daven from a high place in keeping with the phrase from Psalms (130:1) "Out of the depths have I called you, G-d".

My question, thus, relates only to Ashkenazic shuls. I've seen several shuls where the Chazzan davens from the bimah, regularly, and many do not have an amud. Is this permissible?

  • <<the bimah is in the back of the shul.>> - That is wrong the bimah MUST be in the middle of the shul not in the back. – RibbisRabbiAndMore Jun 7 '18 at 21:37
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    @RibbisRabbiAndMore, the Romaniote schul in NYC has it against the back wall. Many Sephardi schuls do have the teba (bimah) farther back than in Ashkenazi schuls – Noach MiFrankfurt Jun 7 '18 at 22:20
  • When the Rambam records the laws germane to the proper construction of a shul, he mentions that a shul should have a raised platform in the middle, which we call the bimah (Hilchos Tefillah 11:3). – RibbisRabbiAndMore Jun 7 '18 at 22:30
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    @RibbisRabbiAndMore It's a lot more complicated than a straight halacha in the Rambam. I might just post a new thread on the topic. – DonielF Jun 7 '18 at 23:37
  • @RibbisRabbiAndMore And I have done so. A lot more complicated than I originally anticipated, and I mostly only dealt with Achronim. That post is here. – DonielF Jun 8 '18 at 0:51

According to Shulchan Aruch (OC 90:1), the Chazzan may stand on an elevated area to daven if his intention is that the congregation be able to hear him.


Chazan’s Place In Shul

Rabbi Moshe Leib Halberstadt (Source: Chazan’s Place In Shul)







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