Putting Feet together during Tefillah

Hi all,

First we will discuss when we put our feet together...

1) When praying the Amidah
2) When reciting Kaddish
3) During Kedusha
4) When we say Barchu

Why?
1) Humility...
2) Be Like an ANGEL...

Angels are categorized as having one foot... this is because they don't move forward... during these times we need to be like angels who do not walk...

Why???

How to recite the Shma?

1. One may recite the Shema while sitting or standing.14 Some permit reciting the Shema while laying on one's side. Others only permit this in cases of need.15 One should not go out of his way to stand for the Shema as our Sages did not require this.16
2. One who is walking should stop walking while reciting the first verse andBaruch Shem and may then continue walking while reciting the remainder.17
3. Many have the custom to sit because the passages are from the Torah so it is as if a person is studying Torah when he or she recites them, and sitting is the position for study.

1. One should cover his eyes with his right hand while saying the verse of Shema in order to reduce distractions and enhance concentration.18 For the same reason, the first verse should be said aloud.19
2. One should say the first verse as follows: Shema Yisrael (Hear O Israel), pause, Adonai Eloheinu (the L-rd is our G‑d), pause, Adonai echad (the L-rd is one). The pauses emphasize the meaning of the words.20
3. The second verse ("Baruch shem…") is recited in an undertone, except on Yom Kippur when it is recited out loud.21
4. One should be careful to enunciate each word and letter of the Shema properly.22

3 Steps taken prior to and follwing the Amidah

Before the Amidah, the custom is take three steps back and then three steps forward. The idea is to step into a place of prayer, a different headspace that is more than a few inches distant from where you were, in which you know that you are standing before the Creator.

So too, at the end of the Amidah, we take three steps back and bow, as we leave the space of prayer. Rambam writes that you should take leave from your prayer, the way you take leave of a ruler. So too, the priests would take three steps back in withdrawing from the altar. In this spirit, some people also walk backwards off the bimah, out of synagogue, or away from the Western Wall because you would not show your back to a king.

There are different interpretations of the three steps; Orach Hashulchan says it alludes to the three-fold “hoshech anan va’arafel” darkness, cloud and obscurity that covered Mount Sinai when Moses received the Torah. The idea is to step back from a space of spiritual intensity and return to the everyday world.

At the end of the Amidah we take 3 steps backwards as mentioned in the Gemara (Yoma 53a) as the proper way to take leave of a king. 

There is another deeper reason for taking three steps backwards, but the simple explanation for the custom is in order to recall the three miles which the Jewish people retreated from Mount Sinai, (from fear, upon hearing G-d's voice), before they returned and were given the Torah.