[Avodah] Changes in Shmoneh Esreh

[Akiva Miller via Avodah]

Yesterday, as I was davening mincha, I found myself working hard to keep my
eyes in the siddur, lest I make one of the mistakes that I'd have to repeat
Shmoneh Esreh for. It occurred to me that in the course of the year, there
are many minor changes which are *not* m'akev the tefila, such as Anenu, Al
Hanisim, and the constant choice between Sim Shalom and Shalom Rav. But it
seems to me that only four of those are so critical that - depending on
circumstances - they can be m'akev one's Shmoneh Esreh:

Morid Hageshem or omitting it
HaMelech Hakadosh vs. HaE-l Hakadosh
Tal Umatar
Yaaleh V'yavo

The chidush that came to me suddenly is that of these four changes, *three*
of them apply on Chol Hamoed Pesach. There are three parts of the tefilah
that we must get right, because messing up *any* of those three requires us
to repeat the Shmoneh Esreh from scratch.

This seems to be unique. Is there another part of the year where even two
difference changes are me'akev? In Eretz Yisrael, Tal Umatar begins only
two weeks after Geshem, but in Chu"l, I don't think there's ever a
situation where even two of those apply at the same time. Even on Aseres
Y'mei Teshuva, which has six changes (Zachrenu, Mi Kamocha, HaMelech
Hakadosh, HaMelech Hamishpat, U'chsov, B'sefer), only one of them is
critical.

I'm not sure if there is any special significance to all this. I just
wanted to point it out in case it might help others pay more attention and
not forget the changes.

Akiva Miller
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