Arriving Late to Shul vol. 4, no.22
One should try to arrive to shul on time so that he can recite all the prayers in their proper order and recite the Shemoneh Esreh with the congregation (which is the main purpose for praying with a minyan). However, if one happens to arrive to shul when the congregation has already progressed well into the order of the prayers he faces many different courses of action. What he should do will depend on how far the congregation has progressed and his estimation of how quickly he can catch up. (It might be helpful to have a siddur available when reading this issue for clarification purposes.)
Before one begins Psukei D’zimra he should try to recite at least the blessings al netilas yodaim , elokai neshoma and the blessings of the Torah.1
If he finds the congregation at the end of Psukei D’zimra, he should recite at least Baruch Sheomer, Ashrei, and Yishtabach. In this way he fulfills a minimum requirement of reciting P’sukei D’zimra and allows him to catch up in order to be able to recite the Shemoneh Esreh with the congregation.
If he judges that he has time to say more of Psukei D’zimra he should recite the following in order of importance: Psalms 148, 150, 146, 147, 149; Vayevarech Dovid until Lshem tifartecha; Hodu until V’hu rachum; Psalm 100; the remainder of Psukei D’zimra. (One might want to mark off in his private siddur the above order of importance for easy reference.)
On Shabbos he is required to recite Nishmas before Yishtabach. If he has time to recite more than the bare minimum he should follow the above order of importance. If he has more time he should recite, in order of importance, Psalms 19, 34, and 90.
Even though one may skip sections of Psukei D’zimra in order to catch up to the congregation, he may not skip any of the blessings of Shema or the Shema itself. It is better to recite Shemoneh Esreh without the congregation than to recite the Shema after Shemoneh Esreh.
1) See Mishneh Brurah 52
