The Seventh of Heshvan (Marheshvan):
Tal Umatar - The Prayer for Dew
and Rain
A. Overview
The month of Heshvan is without festivals and is, for this reason,
known as Marheshvan – a hint of the mundane, rather than
the sad. However, in addition to meaning "bitter", the prefix
also means "a drop of water".
While the Prayer for Rain is recited on Shemini
Atzeret ("as soon as the lulav is laid down" – i.e.
in Israel), when we are no longer commanded to dwell in the Succah, the
regular Amidah prayers include only the phrase:
"Mashiv haruach umorid hagashem" – "Who
causes the wind to blow and the rain to fall",
but not yet the actual prayer for rain to fall:
"Vetein tal umatar livracha" – "And
grant dew and rain as a blessing". This is only said for the first
time on the 7th of Heshvan (in Israel) and from the 4th/5th December
(in the Diaspora).
The agricultural environment was and is part and parcel of all the Jewish
Festivals. There are also specific celebrations and moments connected
with water, and the blessing of rain, including: the Prayer for Dew on
Pesach and its inclusion in the Amidah; Tashlich on
Rosh Hashanah; Simchat Bet Hashoeva during Succot; the
Prayer for Rain on Shemini Atzeret; the different date for its
inclusion in the Amidah; Tevilah (ritual immersion).
In Biblical and Bet Hamikdash (Temple) times, two weeks therefore intervened
between Shemini Atzeret before the prayer for rain to fall was
pronounced, in order to allow all the pilgrims who had ascended to Jerusalem
to return to their homes - and their largely agricultural livelihoods
and ordinary lives – even as far away as the Fertile Crescent. This
was also of spiritual significance – a return to the profane and
a memory of the holy.
[The discussion in the Talmud demonstrates that the date was empirically
deduced.]
Many commentators mention that the date of the prayer also coincides
with the Parshah (weekly Torah reading) of Lech-Lecha, in which Abram
is commanded to leave his homeland (the Fertile Crescent) in order to
go to the Land, which is then promised to him and his descendents –
an ascent in holiness - and that the prayer holds the same significance.
The Tal Umatar prayer was said throughout the millennia of
Jewish Exile from Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel), but has returned
to its full significance in modern Zionism and Israel. In the Diaspora,
the first of which was in Babylon, where rain was not needed so early
or so urgently, this prayer was inserted at a later date, in the evening
of the sixtieth day after the autumn equinox – December 5th (6th
preceding a leap year; 4th in the centuries further from the leap year
correction century). The date was originally set according to the Julian
(not Gregorian) calendar.
The only other Jewish prayer linked to the solar calendar is Birkat
Hachamah (blessing the sun) in Nisan, once every 28 years.
B. Online References
Shema Yisrael
Presentation of the discussion from the Mishnah, Gemarah, and Halachah
from the Shulchan Aruch; calculation of the date of the prayer in the
Diaspora http://dafyomi.shemayisrael.co.il/taanis/insites/tn-dt-10.htm
Discussion of the Mishnah and Gemarah sources for the two different Prayers
for Rain http://dafyomi.shemayisrael.co.il/taanis/insites/tn-dt-04.htm
Chabad-Lubavitch
Explanation of the law; insights into compassion for the traveler
http://www.sichosinenglish.org/books/sichos-in-english/28/17.htm
The difference between rain and dew |
http://www.sichosinenglish.org/books/sichos-in-english/50/28.htm#n234
Online Kitzur Shulchan Aruch
Related text in English [with print version] http://www.geocities.com/yona_n.geo/kizzur/kizzur19.html
Sephardic Institute
Detailed discusion of Halachic texts relating to the Diaspora date for
saying Tal Umatar, the different calculations and schools of thought
http://www.judaic.org/halakhot/talumatar.pdf
Virtual Bet Midrash - Yeshivat Har Etzion
Discussion of the different dates for the prayer, including for the pilgrims
themselves in Temple times (see last section of file)
http://www.vbm-torah.org/archive/salt-bereishit/03-5lekh.htm
Rabbi Eliezer Segal
Lively discussion of the origin of the Diaspora date for the prayer and
the Solar calendar http://www.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/Shokel/941215_Conundrums.html
Torah Org
Halachah Yomit on the dates of recital of additions, or accidental omission
http://www.torah.org/learning/halacha/classes/class36.html
How it works against the solar or civil calendar
http://www.torah.org/advanced/haaros/out3-4.html
OU/NCSY
See: Note 17 on the Julian calendar dating of the prayer in the Diaspora
http://www.ou.org/ncsy/events/virtualshabbaton/luminari.htm
|