Question:
B”H
Kavod haRav,
Regarding the proper way to pray on a Rosh Hashanah that falls on Shabbat:
1. When, if at all, may a person ask for personal needs?
2. Regarding crowning Hashem King on both days, can we have gratitude and say thank you for things that happened in the previous year, or is the focus more on the days themselves and looking forward?
3. If we are allowed to ask for personal needs, when specifically? (only second day?)
4. Is there a specific mindset to have while the shofar blasts are being sounded in addition to thinking of crowning Hashem the King?
Thanks very much. Shanah Tovah
Answer:
B”H
Kavod haRav,
Regarding the proper way to pray on a Rosh Hashanah that falls on Shabbat:
1. Is there a specific mindset to have while the shofar blasts are being sounded in addition to thinking of crowning Hashem the King?
2. Regarding crowning Hashem King on both days, can we have gratitude and say thank you for things that happened in the previous year, or is the focus more on the days themselves and looking forward?
3. If we are allowed to ask for personal needs, when specifically? (only second day?)
4. When, if at all, may a person ask for personal needs?
Thanks very much. Shanah Tovah
Answer:
Hello,
- The are numerous ideas to think about, however the best thing to think is very simply, that Hashem is our king, He commanded us, ad there fore we listen to what he says. This is the idea of what Rosh Hashana is all about.
- We definitely should have much gratitude to Hashem for keeping us alive during the past year. We concentrate on this idea, during pesukei dzimra, and in shemona esrei during modim. Having gratitude for the thousands of blessing that Hashem bestows upon us is a very powerful form of prayer! When we thank Hashem for what He gives us, we are expressing humility, that we weren’t deserving of what we were given, rather that it was His kindness, and therefore we are thankful to Him. We all know, that the people that we give to and show sincere appreciation for what we do encourages us to give even more. It is the same with Hashem.
- Regarding asking for personal needs, on Rosh Hashana and when it falls on Shabbos I am attaching an article that I wrote on this. Here it is.
- As ראש השנה approaches and we are all preparing ourselves, I would like to share a very nice I heard from from R’ E. Diskin shlit”a.
Regarding davening for things on Rosh Hashana, the Zohar says that on ראש השנה we don’t ask for personal things, it is day of being busy with making Hashem the king, and one who does ask for personal things is like a dog that just asks for a bone and think of anything but himself. R’ Diskin once noted, that it doesn’t say in the Zohar that it is forbidden, rather that it is out of place. The Yaaros Devash says that what the Zohar is saying about does not go on physical things that we are asking in order to do Hashem’s will. For example, if we ask for health so we can bring up our children and do mitzvos, that is asking for Hashem’s things, and part of making him king. This is what we daven for זכרינו לחיים… למענך אלוקים חיים, we daven for life for you and your service! The same things is with וכתוב לחיים טובים… וכל החיים יודוך סלה, writes us for life, because the living thank you!
More than this; the Ramban holds that when someone is in aעת צרה he has a mitzvah d’oraysa to daven, in that case it is a mitzvah to daven for life, and everything that might be decreed on us on Rosh Hashana. In fact, the Ritva says that for this reason a person can make a neder to do good things because it is an עת צרה. In that case why does the Zohar say not to daven for personal things?
The answer to this is with a moshul of a king that had to punish his son, and he sent him into exile to distant mountains, where it was very cold. Years went by, and the king went to visit his son. While he was there, he told his son, ask me for any three things and I will give it to you. His son told him, “The mattress I am sleeping on has bedbugs, can you please someone to exterminate them? For the second thing he said that his shoes are worn out and have holes on the bottom, could he get a shoemaker to patch up the holes. And the third request was that he also has holes in his coat, and he needs a tailor to put on a patch. The king told him I will do these things for you, but why didn’t you just ask me to take you back to the palace, then you would have all of the things you asked for plus a lot more?
This is what we are doing on Rosh Hashana, when we ask Hashem”מלוך על כל העולם כולו בכבודך” Rule over the whole world, take us home and be our father and king. This includes everything that we need. In the palace there is money, food, and everything we could want. Therefore, there is no need for us to waste our requests with silly things when they could all be included in much better things.
Therefore, on ראש השנה our concentration is on making Hashem king. HOWEVER, R’ Yisroel Salanter said that this that we shouldn’t daven for personal things was for previous generations, but nowadays the more personal things we ask for the better. The Chazon Ish added that even when ראש השנה is on Shabbos we can still ask for personal things! (Also see Halichos Shlomo who says this)
But still, how does the Zohar fit with what R’ Y. Salanter and the Chazon Ish said?
R’ Diskin said a beautiful moshul. A king wanted to build a new palace, and he got together a lot of money, and he divided the tremendous project into different parts. He called a meeting among his children, and each one may take a job, so he asked each one what they would like. The oldest one said that he wants to take care of the money. The next one said he wants to oversee the actual building of the palace. The third one said he wants to oversee the interior decorating. The fourth one said he wants to oversee the gardens, orchards etc. The sixth son was sitting on a couch and asked what he wants said, “I wouldn’t mind a can of coke”. The king was enraged at what his son said and told him, “from the time the palace is built, for three years you are not going to step foot in there, if you don’t want to build it, you won’t have part in it!”
There was another son, but he wasn’t at the meeting. This son got sick with a terrible illness, and he lay motionless and practically unconscious for months. The king would check up on him from time to time, and he tried everything he could, but he was just very weak, wasn’t eating and couldn’t even open his eyes. That day after the eating the father went to visit his son, and to his father’s great surprise. He opened his eyes and asked for a drink! The king was so excited, he quickly told his servants to bring his son whatever he asks for. He sixth son heard what happened and he asked the king, “why is it, that when I asked for a drink, I got punished, but when my brother asked, you gave him whatever he asked for?” The king answered, you silly son, your brother is very, very weak, and he can barely talk, I have been waiting for him to be able to talk to me for months, he finally spoke to me, that is the biggest happiness for me. You on the other hand are strong as a bull and you didn’t ask to help build the palace, all you are interested in is yourself, so you got punished!”
In the previous generations, people were more connected to Hashem, their neshomos and connection to Hashem was healthier and stronger, therefore when it came time to building the palace, they were expected to concentrate only on building the palace. However, in the later generations we are unfortunately very weak, and the king is very happy when we at least daven. How often do we daven and have the feeling that we are standing in front of Hashem who is the total boss, and in control of everything? How often do we feel that we are standing in front of the king, who controls every aspect of our lives? When we finally get that feeling on Rosh Hashana, and we ask Hashem with all our hearts, and say, “Hashem the world belongs to you, you are the king, and you control everything, I need you to give me health, a shidduch, happiness, etc…. This for us is a tremendous way of making Hashem the king. Therefore, what was unacceptable in previous generations is now a big accomplishment. This is why R’ Yisroel Salanter and the Chazon Ish said that nowadays we may ask for personal requests.
May HKB”H answer all of our requests l’tovah
