[Avodah] Oseh hashalom

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Wed, Sep 27, 2017 at 01:53:41PM +0000, Joseph Tabory via Avodah wrote:
: Early Ashkenaz used the formula Oseh hashalom for the final blessing of
: the Amidah (which was the standard formula in the pre-crusade Eretz Israel
: minhag) whenever they said "besefer chayyim" (i.e. yamim noraim)...

Nusach EY, as far as we can tell from the Cairo Geniza has a berakhah that
started "Shalom Rav" and ended "... Oseh hashalom. Amein!" every tefillah.

I find it funny that when Early Ashkenaz split the difference for the
majority of the berakhah, using Rav Amram Gaon's nusach (the Babylonian
"Sim Shalom") in the morning and Nusach EY (Shalom Rav) in the afternoon,
they didn't also switch off on the closings. So the usual Minchah and
Maariv Birkhas Shalom in Nusach Ashkenaz opens in one country and closes
in another. Instead we switch off for an entirely different occation --
10 yemei teshuvah.

To me this gives strength to the supposition that even well before
Chassidei Ashkenaz's gematria, /something/ indicated a connection
between the variant "Oseh hashalom" and 10YT. Could well have been the
same gematria. Or not; as I don't recall lots of discussion of gematria
in general from the period, but I am no mumcheh.

: Chasidei ashkenaz mentioned that "hashalom" was a gematriya for Safriel,
: the angel who writes the books during the yamim noraim. The Ari did not
: wish to change the usual formula of the final blessing but he thought
: that the gematriya was significant. So he instituted the use of "Oseh
: Hashalom" in the kaddish after the Amidah.

The ahistorical merging of nusachos to produce Nusach Ashkenaz
also suggests that early Ashkenazim also (like the Ari haQadosh)
had significant reason to want "haMvareikh es amo Yisrael basholom"
in frequent use. That it took the special 10YT connection to justify
abandoning it.

 -----

While discussing the closing of Birkhas Shalom a mere week before yontef,
let me repeat a joke told in shiur by R' Herschel Schachter. (Retold to
me by my cousin, R' Jonathan/Eliezer Chelst, now a sho'el umeishiv in
"Lakewood East".) You need to sing the punchline in standard Ashkenazi
yontef nusach for the joke to work.

    Why are so many Jews overweight?
    Because we ask for it every yontef. There, at the end of Shemoneh Esrei,
    we sing:
	Hamevareikh es amo Yisrael bash.... Amei-ein!

Note: An amein chatufah is not only halachically improper (OC 124:8),
apparently it can ch"v lead to heart disease and diabates!

GCT!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             If you're going through hell
micha at aishdas.org        keep going.
http://www.aishdas.org                   - Winston Churchill
Fax: (270) 514-1507