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על קן צפור יגיעו רחמיך – Just as Your mercy reached the bird and you decreed (Deuteronomy 22:6), “Do not take the mother together with her young,” so too should God have compassion upon us as well.

Introduction The first section of this mishnah deals with a person who adds in potentially heretical statements to his Tefillah. The second half of the mishnah deals with a person who makes a mistake while leading the Tefillah in public.

משתקין אותו – [We silence him] for making the Holy One, blessed be He’s attributes ones of mercy, and they are none other than decrees of the King upon his servants.

The one who says, “On a bird’s nest may Your mercy be extended,” [or] “For good may Your name be blessed” or “We give thanks, we give thanks,” they silence him. This section was also found, word for word, in Megillah 4:9. My commentary here is the same as my commentary there (so it should sound familiar). There are three “heretical” saying in this mishnah. I’ll try to explain them one at a time. The mishnah says that for each “they silence him.” This implies that the mishnah is describing one who “passes before the ark,” meaning one who leads the Amidah prayer. If he tries to enter in one of these prayers they remove him as prayer leader. ““May Your mercy reach the nest of a bird:” This line is explained in the Talmud in several different ways. One is that he is complaining to God saying, “Your mercy is on the nest of this bird” but not on me. God commanded shooing away the mother bird before taking the young, an act of mercy for the mother (Deuteronomy 22:6). The person praying complains that God has not shown similar mercy to him. A different explanation is that this saying understands God’s commandments as being only about mercy, when really they are decrees which we are to obey without questioning their reasoning. Another explanation is that he says “Your mercy reaches only to this nest” but cannot extend any further. In such a way he limits God’s power. “May Your name be mentioned for the good:” This implies that God’s name should not be connected with the bad or the evil. As in the first section, this might imply some sort of dualism we thank God for the good and don’t mention the evil because its source is a different god. “We give thanks, we give thanks:” Again the problem seems to be one of dualism giving thanks twice sounds like it is being given to two different gods. However, in this section the dualism may not be of a good god and a bad god, but simply two gods. There were ancient sects of Jews (including Christians) who while professing monotheism, gave divine roles to other characters, such as God’s word (the Logos), God’s spirit or Jesus.

על טוב יזכר שמך – Implying on Your [God’s] goodness (alone) we give thanks to you, but we do not thank Him [God] on the bad things , and yet we are obligated to bless God on the bad things as we do on the good things (see Tractate Berakhot, chapter 9, Mishnah 5).

One who was passing before the ark and made a mistake, another should pass in his place, and he should not be as one who refuses at that moment. This refers again to a person leading public prayer, one who passes before the ark. If he makes a mistake, for instance he loses track of what blessing he was reciting, or he says the wrong elements within a blessing, another person should replace him. We should remember that in the time of the Mishnah they did not have prayer books. The Tefillah would have been recited by memory. Hence someone who made a mistake would probably have had a great difficulty getting back on track. He couldn’t just look at his book, or be shown the place. The best option seems to have been to replace him. Normally, when a person is asked to lead prayer he should be modest and politely refuse, saying that there are others more worthy of him to lead the prayer. However, in this case he shouldn’t refuse because the rest of the community is waiting.

מודים מודים – which [when you repeat the word “Modim/We thank you,” it appears like one is accepting upon oneself multiple deities, and the Jerusalem Talmud explains that this when it is recited by the community, whereas for an individual [worshipper], they are [words of] supplication.

Where does he begin? At the beginning of the blessing in which the other made a mistake. The second person picks up from the blessing where the first person began to go wrong. Even if the first person began to make a mistake at the end of the blessing, the second guy must begin that whole blessing over again.

ולא יהא סרבן באותה שעה – In the manner of those who descend before the Ark [to lead the service] that they must refuse once, but he should not refuse when they [the members of the congregation] tell him, “go down,” because it is shameful that the Prayer is interrupted so much.