VeTen Tal U'Matar Livracha (Give Dew and Rain For a Blessing)

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I wrote this last year in December on the old Kahane.org Forum. This coming Saturday Night, Jews in Israel will start praying for rain so it appropriate to paste now.

I would like to remind everyone that starting Ma'ariv of December 4, Diaspora Jews started inserting VeTen Tal U'Matar Livracha (Give Dew and Rain For a Blessing.) to the weekday Amidah. The reason that it is on December 4 is that it is supposed to be 60 days after the first day of Fall, and since we use The Julian Calendar of exactly 365.25 days per solar year for determining this, it has drifted from about November 22 to December 4 (December 5 preceeding a leap year.). This drift is because The Julian Calendar has a leap year exactly once every 4 years while The Gregorian Calendar omits a leap year in years ending in 00 unless it is divisible by 400. Therefore while 1600, 1700, 1800, 1900, and 2000 were all leap years on The Julian Calendar, only 1600 and 2000 were leap years on The Gregorian Calendar. Thus, while the date of saying VeTen Tal U'Matar Livracha was December 1 (Or December 2 before a leap year.) through 1500 to 1699, it is now December 4 (Or December 5 before a leap year.) and will start being December 5 in 2100 (Or December 6 before a leap year.). 
 
Israeli Jews already started adding VeTen Tal U'Matar Livracha on 7 Cheshvan, the date on which the last Jews would return home to the banks of The Euphrates River after the Sukkot pilgrimage to Jerusalem. This way, it wouldn't rain on them on their way home. Diaspora Jews don't need the rain until later. This is the actual prayer for rain while the regular "Mashiv HaRuach U'Morid HaGeshem", stated since Shmini Atzeret is simply stating the fact that "G-d causes the wind to blow and the rain to fall". We continue saying VeTen Tal U'Matar Livracha until VeTen Bracha (Give a Blessing.) returns to the weekday Amidah on Chol HaMoed Pesach. 
 
 
« Last Edit: Dec 5th, 2005, 2:27am by King Hezekiah »  IP Logged

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  Re: December 4: VeTen Tal U'Matar Livracha
« Reply #1 on: Dec 5th, 2005, 2:29am »  Quote  Modify  Remove 

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I went to synagogue today for Mincha and Ma'ariv to experience the switch over and between Mincha and Ma'ariv they changed the sign in the synagogue to say to say VeTen Tal U'Matar Livracha and the gabbai announced it before Amidah. Before they didn't talk about it besides the instructions for The Amidah. But the Chabad rabbi talked about it in the syangogue in his house on Shabbat. 
 
I know about the History of this prayer and its calendar from reading earlier stuff lerm wrote about Birchat HaChama which similarly drifted in The Spring from March 21 to April 8 and from discussing it with him and in synagogue last Spring.