[Avodah] requests in rosh chodesh musaf

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Jun 19, 2024 at 06:31:24AM +0300, Joel Rich via Avodah wrote:
> Any thoughts on the ordering of the requests in rosh chodesh musaf, in
> particular why are mchilat cheit and slichat avon at the end when in the
> weekday shmoneh esrai they are at the beginning? (I understood their
> weekday placement was based on prioritizing the closeness of our
> relationship with HKBH before asking for our personal needs.)

I couldn't find a source. My own speculations didn't get me to anything
compelling, but I am going to share them anyway in case someone else can
run with it or think of an answer based on a problem they notice in the
following:


Also in YK, "Al Tira Yaaqov", a Selichah said on YK (in Mussaf it is
after the 10 Harugei Malkhus, otherwise it's shortly after Vidui),
ends with "limechilas cheit, velishilkhas avon, velkhaparas pashah."

My first thouhg was that maybe it had to do with the structure of
the barakhah, "Selach Lanu". A berakhah generally opens and closes
(the penultimate sentence) with me'ein hachasimah. So, a berakhah
that ends "Chanaun hamarbeh lisloach" should begin with "Selach"
more than "Machol".

But then I remembered Vidui itelf, with the refrain of "selach lanu,
mechal lanu, kapper lanu", putting selichah before mechilah. So,
there are times Selichah comes before Mechilah without it being the
thesis of a berakhah.

But something else I did note, which may or may not be significant:
In the examples I thought of, when mechilah comes first, mechilah and
selichhah have different nouns. But when selichah comes first, there is
no specification of kind of sin. Maybe mechilah comes before selichah
for the same sin, but working on chata'im comes before working on avonos.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 "As long as the candle is still burning,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   it is still possible to accomplish and to
Author: Widen Your Tent      mend."
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF        - Anonymous shoemaker to R' Yisrael Salanter