Responsum: On the Shema‘

R. Sar Shalom, the head of the academy at Mata-Meḥasya [Sura]: One should say [the phrase beginning] “pa‘amayim”¹ in the morning prayers on Sabbaths and holidays and Yom Kippur. There is no tradition of this in the academy or in all of Babylon. Rather, [it is said] during the Musaf prayer only, and on Yom Kippur during the Ne‘ilah prayer as well. This is because an evil decree was imposed on the Jews that the Shema‘ may not be said at all. [So] the prayer leader would say [this phrase] quietly during the Amidah of the morning service, whether it was a weekday or a Sabbath. And once the evil decree was revoked—and now we read the Shema‘ prayer as it was established—the worshipers asked to remove it entirely, for the Shema‘ prayer had been returned to its place. But the scholars of that generation said that it has now been established [that we say this phrase] during the Musaf prayer, which does not include the Shema‘. Why did they establish it during the Musaf prayer? So that the miracle would be proclaimed over the generations. Therefore, one should say it during the Musaf prayer, but it should not be said during the morning prayer, since the Shema‘ has already been said there in the proper manner.