Halachos of V’Ten Tal U’Matar

On December 5th, communities in the Diaspora begin saying the prayer for rain, v’ten tal u’matar, in the bracha of bareich aleinu. Due to the importance of rain in Eretz Yisrael at the beginning of the fall, people living in Israel began saying the tefillah for rain on the 7th of Marcheshvan.

This discrepancy between customs poses an interesting halachic question: What should a person do if he lives in Israel but is physically in the Diaspora on the 7th of Cheshvan? Halacha is divided on the answer to this question, so the solution is to pray for rain in shema koleinu instead of in barech aleinu.

And what should a person do if he lives outside of Israel but is visiting Israel on that date? In this case, halacha is clear: he should start saying v’ten tal u’matar and continue to do so even after he leaves the country.

A more common problem is getting confused and saying v’ten bracha instead of v’ten tal u’matar. If you realize this after completing shemona esrei, you need to repeat the entire Amidah. If you’re still in the middle of shemonei esrei, v’ten tal u’matar can be added to shema koleinu or before retzei. If you realized after beginning retzei, go back to barech aleinu and say it there.

We all have a natural tendency to complain when it’s raining, since rain often ruins our plans or makes it unpleasant to be outdoors and go about our business. But it’s important to remember that the rain is a gift from Hashem. All our food and drink has rainwater as its source. In Hebrew, rain is called gishmei bracha, blessed rain, because without it we would not be able to survive. We need to train ourselves to feel that a Great Hand is stretched out from on high, giving us life-sustaining water. And we certainly should not pray for rain and then complain when Hashem sends it to us!

In fact, when the Ribbono Shel Olam wants to tell us how great Eretz Yisrael is, He speaks about its rainfall. Rain in Israel is a sign of Hashem’s favor, and the fact that rain is dependent on our actions demonstrates that Hashem cares about us and is in constant dialogue with us. When we daven for rain, we should also thank Hashem for giving us the opportunity to be close to Him.