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Every day, towards the end of שמונה עשרה for שחרית, after ברכת כהנים we say the ברכה of שלום. To be specific, we say שים שלום, regardless of what נוסח you Daven. At מנחה and מעריב - people who Daven נוסח אשכנז say a different version of the ברכה of שלום, שלום רב. Their reasoning is that שים שלום echoes the language of ברכת כהנים and is reserved for תפילות where ברכת כהנים is said (שחרית - מוסף - מנחה לתענית ציבור etc.). Therefore, it would seem inappropriate to recite it at a תפילה where we don't say ברכת כהנים.

Some examples of how שים שלום echoes the language of ברכת כהנים are:

  • "שים שלום" - echoes the words "וישם לך שלום"
  • "באור פניך" - echoes the words "יאר ה' פניו"
  • "ברכנו אבינו" - echoes the words "כה תברכו" and "ואני אברכם"

But, there are some נוסח ספרד קהילות who do say שלום רב at מעריב. So, here's my question: if they say שלום רב at מעריב because we only say שים שלום at תפילות where there is ברכת כהנים - then why do these people say שים שלום at מנחה?!? Do they either have an answer to how מנחה is connected to ברכת כהנים, or a different reason why they say שלום רב at מעריב?

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  • The reasoning you mention is post facto. In truth, the brachot of שים שלום and שלום רב were parallel versions, and there were places that did שים שלום always, places that did שלום רב always, and places that had them mixed (or liked both, so put them in different places, similar to some reasons for switching between אהבה רבה and אהבת עולם).
    – magicker72
    Commented Oct 31 at 0:28
  • @magicker72 So then why do they only do it at Maariv and not at Mincha - are you suggesting that they just randomly chose which Tefilos to say each version?
    – Shalom L'olam
    Commented Oct 31 at 0:30
  • I don't have a firm answer for you, but these mixes of practices usually aren't intentional, and the explanation comes afterward. In this case, the explanation led to the practice to say שים שלום on some minchas, which wasn't the case before AFAIK.
    – magicker72
    Commented Oct 31 at 0:54
  • @magicker72 We often don't know if they were intentional or not, at least for classic rites. We only know if they were intentional they were intentioned too early to have left a clear record. However, in the OP's case, we're talking about chasidim where we do have records of most of the changes they made to traditional nusach and why they happened.
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Oct 31 at 13:08
  • @DoubleAA Sure, maybe I should've hedged more. In any case, I wasn't saying that the whole question is badly posed, just that the reasoning for "minhag Ashkenaz" as a whole is likely ex post facto.
    – magicker72
    Commented Oct 31 at 13:16

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