Question:
Since Rosh Hashanah falls out on Shabbos this year, are we allowed to say personal bakashos during davening? Also, in the Artscroll Machzor there are various personal tefillos printed in the gray-shaded sections, such as tefillos for parnassah, good children, etc. Should those be said on Shabbos Rosh Hashanah, or should some/all of them be skipped?
Answer:
As brought from the Zohar 6-22(1), a person who asks for personal things on Rosh Hashana is viewed like a dog, only interested in the food he is asking for. Additionally, on Shabbos and Yom Tov we don’t ask for personal things. However, things that involve ruchnius are permitted, as we do numerous times over Shabbos, such as saying yukum porkon, brich shmei, kadsheinu bmitzvosecha, etc. The Yaaros Devash says that what the Zohar is talking about does not apply to physical things we need 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 in fact what we daven for זכרינו לחיים... למענך אלוקים חיים, we daven for life for you and your service! The same is with "וכתוב לחיים טובים... וכל החיים יודוך" סלה, "writes us for life, because the living thank you"!
However, the poskim say that we are allowed to ask, and in fact it is good to make personal requests. Some poskim, however, say that personal requests should be saved for the end of shemona esrei, in the middle of Elokai Nitzor, where we can insert our own personal prayer.
I once heard a very nice explanation from R’ Eliyahu Diskin shlit”a about how to understand this. On the one hand, the Zohar says that if we do, we are like a lowly dog that doesn’t understand anything but to ask for bones, but on the other hand, R’ Y. Slanter, the Chazon Ish, and other poskim said differently?
R’ Diskin explains this with a beautiful moshul. A king wanted to build a new palace, and he gathered a lot of money and divided the tremendous project into different parts. He called a meeting among his children, and each one was to take a job, so he asked each one what they would like. The oldest one said that he wanted to take care of the finances. The next one said he wanted to oversee the actual building of the palace. The third one said he wanted to oversee the interior decorating. The fourth one said he wanted to be in charge of the gardens, orchards, etc. The sixth son was sitting on a couch and asked what he wanted. He 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 a 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 the son was just very weak, wasn’t eating, and couldn’t even open his eyes. That day after the meeting, the king went to visit his son, and to his father’s great surprise, the son opened his eyes and asked for a drink! The king was so excited. He quickly told his servants to bring his son whatever he asked for. The sixth son heard what happened and 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 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, didn’t ask to help build the palace. All you’re interested in is yourself, so you got punished!”
In previous generations, people were more connected to Hashem, and their neshomos and connection to Hashem were healthier and stronger. Therefore, when it came time to build the palace, they were expected to concentrate only on building the palace. However, in later generations we are unfortunately very weak, and the king is very happy when we at least daven and make a heartfelt request to him. How often do we daven and feel that we are standing in front of Hashem, who is the total boss and in control of everything? How often do we actually 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 of our heart, saying, “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 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, etc., said that nowadays we may ask for personal requests.
Have a kesiva v’chasima tova
Sources:
Mateh Efrayim 584-25 Piskei Tehuvos 582-7, Oz Nidberu 14-21(1),Dinim Hvanhagos 20-5 in the name of the Chazon Ish, Orchos Rabeinu 2-pg. 181, Halichos Shlomo 17-11, Be’er Yisroel pg. 33, Hilchos Chodesh Tishrei pg. 53 in the name of R Eliyashiv that since Rosh Hashana is meant to be a day of tefillah, that it is permitted, even when Rosh Hashana is on Shabbos, however personal requests shouldn’t be said during mussaf, rather by the other tefillos.
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