Policy for Make-Ups

Tziporah Herzfeld asks:

If someone missed/forgot to say shacharit, is that person supposed to say mincha twice?

Tziporah is referring to the halacha of Tashlumin, which we just touched on in my halacha classes, and dealt with in depth in our Tefilla curriculum.  The short answer is yes, in a rule based on the Gemara at the beginning of the 3rd perek of מסכת ברכות, or at least half true.  If you forgot, or missed it by accident then you say tashlumin, but you may not make it up if you missed it on purpose -you knew you had to daven, that you were going to miss it, and decided not to daven, even though you could have.  Some other rules about this הלכה that is all too relevant, especially in these short days.

• It works not only from שחרית to מנחה, but also from מנחה to מעריב and from מעריב to שחרית.
• מוסף can be said all day, but can't be made up once the day is over.
• The way to do it is the following:  If you are now davening שחרית or מנחה, say אשרי in between the two שמונה עשרהs.  If you are now davening Maariv, wait as long as it takes to walk 4 אמות (about 10-15 seconds?) in between them.  You should be taking the three steps backwards at the end of the first, and forward to begin the second.

This time of year, I sometimes have students who are either sick on the day of their midterm or misread the instructions of the test in a BIG way and come to me in a panic.  I think back to a time in my first semester in law school when on my contracts final, I accidentally misread the test and left out a question that was 25% of my test.  When I realized what I had done, I ran the 15 blocks back to school and a kind administrator sat with me for another 45 minutes and let me complete the test.  I still think of her warmly for this act of mercy that saved my first semester GPA, and not to overstate things, really had long-lasting impact on my life - that grade helped me get my job that I held until I came to teach here.

While most don't feel that same sense of panic when we miss a tefilla (perhaps we should, though perhaps not) it is assuring to know that the Administrator in charge is sympathetic to our excuses, and is willing to give us a second chance when we need it.