One must be very careful to juxtapose the blessing of Redemption directly to the Amidah prayer, meaning not to interrupt with anything between "Who redeemed Israel" and the Eighteen Blessings. Our Sages of blessed memory said (Berakhot 9b): Whoever juxtaposes Redemption to Prayer will not be harmed the entire day. And in the Jerusalem Talmud (first chapter, end of halakhah 5): Immediately after Redemption comes Prayer, as it says: "May they be pleasing... and my Redeemer" — this refers to Redemption, and adjacent to it: "May the Lord answer you on the day of trouble" — this refers to Prayer. And whoever immediately connects Redemption to Prayer, the Satan does not accuse on that day. And whoever does not juxtapose Redemption to Prayer, to what is he compared? To a beloved of a king who came and knocked on the king's door. The king came out to see what he seeks, and found that he had departed — so too does he depart. See there.

The Tur wrote: But "Amen" after "Ga'al Yisrael" is not considered an interruption. And so ruled our teacher the Rema. However, our teacher the Beit Yosef ruled not to answer "Amen" after "Ga'al Yisrael." And this is according to the Zohar, and this is our practice, as I wrote in siman 66, that even Kaddish, Kedushah, and "Barchu" one should not answer between Geulah and Tefillah. And one waits at "Shirah Chadashah" as explained there. And the Tur wrote that some have the custom to say verses beforehand, such as: "Shome'a Tefillah adecha kol basar yavo'u" [Psalms 65:3], "Ki shem Hashem ekra havu godel l'Elokeinu" [Deuteronomy 32:3] — but one should not say them as it constitutes an interruption. However, "Hashem sefatai tiftach ufi yagid tehilatecha" [Psalms 51:17] — is not an interruption, since the Rabbis instituted it in the prayer — it is like a long Geulah (Gemara). But in Musaf and Minchah one may say "Hashem sefatai tiftach" beforehand if he wishes, but not afterward.

Our teacher the Rema wrote that some say that the requirement to juxtapose Geulah to Tefillah applies specifically on weekdays or festivals, but on Shabbat it is not required. And it is good to be stringent unless one needs to do otherwise. Thus far his language. The reason for this opinion is that since we derive this from "May the Lord answer you on the day of distress," and Shabbat is not a day of distress. On festivals, however, it is like weekdays because judgment takes place on them, as we learned in the first chapter of Rosh Hashanah: On Pesach they are judged concerning grain, on Shavuot concerning the fruit of the tree... But many great authorities have agreed that this verse "May He answer you" is merely support for this, but the juxtaposition of Geulah to Tefillah is part of the essential law of prayer. Therefore it applies on Shabbat as well, and such is the custom. Only at Maariv is there more leniency than at Shacharit, and this will be explained in Section 236 with God's help.

The prayer leader, when he must repeat the prayer aloud, should say beforehand "Lord, open my lips..." And at its conclusion he should say quietly "May the words..." And although we do not find a prohibition for the prayer leader to interrupt between the silent prayer and the loud prayer, nevertheless it is proper not to interrupt. And he should not say any verse except "Lord, open my lips..." (see Magen Avraham subsection 4). And if before he recited the Shema he found a congregation praying—he should not pray with them, but rather pray in order so that he can juxtapose Geulah to Tefillah, which is preferable to praying with a congregation. This applies to Shacharit. But at Maariv it is not so, as will be explained in Section 236 with God's help.