Shulchan Aruch: Chapter 112 - Prohibition to Make Any Interruption in First Three and Last Three [Blessings of Shemoneh Esreh]

SECTION 112 The Prohibition to Make Any Interruption in the First Three and Last Three [Blessings of Shemoneh Esreh]. (1)

1 “A hundred and twenty elders,1 among them several prophets, instituted the recitation of the eighteen blessings of Shemoneh Esreh in a certain sequence.”2 The first three [are placed at the beginning] in order that one should open by setting forth the praise of the Omnipresent, like a servant who first sets forth his master’s praises and then asks him for a reward.3 The last three blessings are analogous to a servant’s taking leave of his master and departing [after] receiving his reward.4 The thirteen intermediate blessings are the request for the reward.

Therefore, if an individual wishes to request the fulfillment of his own needs in the intermediate blessings, he may do so, as will be stated in sec. 119[:1]. By contrast, in the first three and the last three blessings, which set forth [G‑d’s] praises, one should not ask for the fulfillment of individual needs. One may, however, ask that the needs of our people be satisfied,5 for [as we see,] the blessing Retzeh6 and the blessing Sim Shalom7 are requests that relate to the needs of the people as a whole. [The rationale is that] while a servant is setting forth his master’s praise, he may ask that public needs be satisfied, for [this acknowledgment] that the community at large depends on the master also serves to praise and honor him.

For this reason, it is customary in these countries8 to recite the Krovetz9 hymns in the first three and last three blessings [of Shemoneh Esreh], even though they include several requests. Even according to those who hold that piyyutim may not be interposed in the midst of the blessings of Shema, the above hymns do not constitute an interruption in the midst of Shemoneh Esreh, as is stated in sec. 68[:2].