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When To Pause or Join Minyan: Regular Shacharit
Shema
When the minyan reaches the shema in shacharit:
  • If you are between bar'chu and end of amida, simply:
    • Cover your eyes like everyone else, but don't say the shema line.
  • If you are anywhere else:
    • Pause and, with everyone else, say the first two lines of the shema (Shema, Yisrael… and Baruch shem…), and then
    • Resume where you were.
Reason You may not interrupt your prayer between bar'chu and end of amida.

Amida
Situation  You are saying your amida in a minyan and it is close to the end of the fourth hour of the day.
What To Do  Do not pause, even if the leader says kaddish or kedusha, if doing so will delay you past the fourth hour.
HaMotzi: Speaking after Washing
Situation You washed your hands in order to eat bread. You spoke before saying hamotzi.
What To Do You do not need to wash your hands again.
You do not need to say the blessing on washing hands again.
Sukka: Overhangs: Women and Children

Women and children of either gender may sit under an invalidated part of the sukka since they are not required to sit in the sukka at all.  However, if they wish to say the blessing leisheiv baSukka, they must sit under a valid part of the sukka while they say the blessing. They must also eat at least 1.9 fl. oz. of bread or mezonot while under the valid part.

Introduction to Blessing the Children/Birkat HaBanim
The Blessing for the Children has two parts:
  1. Introduction
    For Boys: “Yesimcha Elohim k'Efraim v'chi'Menashe”
    (May God make you like Ephraim and Menashe)

    For Girls: “Yesimeich Elohim k'Sara, Rivka, Rachel, v'Leah” 
    (May God make you like Sara, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah)
    Note The formula asks God to make the boys like Ephraim and Menashe but to make the girls like Sarah, Rivka/Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah. We might think that Sara, Rivka/Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah should be paired with their husbands, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob instead of with their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Yet, while Isaac and Jacob had the advantage of growing up in religious homes and in Eretz Yisrael, all of the fore-mothers as well as Ephraim and Menashe lived righteous lives even though all grew up in bad environments outside of Eretz Yisrael.
  2. Priestly Blessing/Birkat Cohanim (Numbers/Bamidbar 6:24-26)
    This is the blessing that the priests (cohanim) use when blessing the Jewish people.  For words to the blessing, please click here and scroll down to "Birkat Cohanim": http://practicalhalacha.com/blessings#B.
Blessings: Scents: Sniffing First
Situation You see a flower but do not know whether it has a scent.
What To Do You may sniff the flower and, if it does have a nice scent, you may then say borei minei (or atzei or isvei as appropriate) vesamim and then take a big whiff.
After-Blessings (Bracha Achrona): Changing Location: Food within View

SituationYou eat one item outdoors, then eat food from another category inside your car, which is within view of where you ate the first food.

What To DoYou may say the after-blessings for both foods while in your car (or both outside of your car), even if it is a food that normally would require you to return to the place at which you ate it.

Women: Eating Outside the Sukka
Women and girls may eat bread or mezonot outside of a sukka.  They do not need to eat any meals in the sukka, but if they do, it is a mitzva and they say leisheiv ba'sukka.
Blessings: Scents: The Four Blessings
Choose the correct smell blessing (Note that these blessings are not said on synthetic scents!): 
  • Borei minei vesamim Generic; this is the default blessing if you are not certain which category applies; also say this when smelling a mixture of scents;
  • Borei isvei vesamim  Plants which do not have stiff stems;
  • Borei atzei vesamim  Trees and stiff-stemmed plants (such as roses); and
  • Ha'notein rei'ach tov ba'peirot  Fragrant fruits, such as lemons and some etrogs.
If Doubt Whether You Said Blessings on Torah Study
If you are not certain that you have said any of the morning blessings on studying Torah (from la'asok b'divrei Torah to notein haTorah), you should not say them later.  But when you say “ahava raba” before the morning shema, you may intend it to cover such blessings; then after the amida, you should say some Torah verses (psukim).
Amida Errors: Sim Shalom
Situation It is mincha for a fast day and you said shalom rav instead of sim shalom.
What to Do If you realize that you erred before you finish saying that blessing, go back and say sim shalom. If you have already finished the final blessing, don't repeat.
Havdala: Who Drinks the Beverage
For men: No one should drink the havdala beverage except the person saying havdala. This is a non-binding custom, not a halacha.
For women: This custom does NOT apply to women. Women who say havdala for themselves may give their havdala beverage to someone else to drink.
Note During the Nine Days, the person saying havdala may drink the wine.
Jewish Festivals: Ending: Before Havdala: Baruch HaMavdil and Birkat HaMazon
Saying Baruch ha'mavdil bein kodesh l'chol after dark at the end of a Jewish festival or of Rosh Hashana does not affect the additions you will then say in birkat ha'mazon.
Situation On a Jewish festival afternoon, you washed your hands, said ha'motzi, and started eating.  It is now dark and the end of the Jewish festival.
What To Do You may say Baruch ha'mavdil bein kodesh l'chol and do melacha, and then
  • Continue to eat your meal, or
  • Say birkat ha'mazon INCLUDING ya'aleh v'yavo and ha'rachaman hu yanchileinu yom she'kulo tov.
Fore-Blessing (Bracha Rishona) over Cholent
Cholent blessing (if the cholent is not eaten as part of a meal) follows the most important ingredient and is somewhat subjective to the eater.  
  • German cholent —A variety of wheat is primary; say borei minei mezonot. 
  • Hungarian cholent—Barley is primary; say borei minei mezonot.
  • Polish cholent —Beans are primary; say borei pri ha'adama.
  • Russian cholent —Potatoes are primary; say borei pri ha'adama.
  • If meat is most important, say she'hakol.     
Note You may need to say more than one blessing (bracha rishona) if there is no one preeminently important ingredient in a mixture of food types in one utensil, such as a casserole or cholent,  but only if:
  • You especially like more than one ingredient, and
  • Both (or more than two) of the ingredients can be eaten distinctly. 
Sheva Brachot: What To Eat in order To Bless
A man saying any of the seven blessings does not need to have eaten bread at that meal, but he must have eaten enough food (anything except water or salt) to say an after-blessing.
Rosh Hashana: End: Baruch HaMavdil Bein Kodesh L'Chol and Birkat HaMazon
Saying Baruch ha'mavdil bein kodesh l'chol after dark at the end of Rosh Hashana (as for Jewish festivals) does not affect the additions you will then say in birkat ha'mazon.
Situation You washed your hands, said ha'motzi, began eating your meal on Rosh Hashana afternoon, and it is now dark.
What To Do You may say Baruch ha'mavdil bein kodesh l'chol and do melacha, and then continue to eat your meal or say birkat ha'mazon INCLUDING ya'aleh v'yavo and ha'rachaman hu yichadeish alenu et ha'shana ha'zot l'tova v'livracha.