[Avodah] Saturday Evening begin Prayer for Rain

[Ari Meir Brodsky]

Dear Friends,

	This is a friendly reminder to Jews outside of Israel that our daily
prayers should include the request for rain, beginning with Maariv this
Saturday evening, December 5, 2009, corresponding to Motzei Shabbat, 19
Kislev, 5770. The phrase ותן טל ומטר לברכה "Veten tal umatar livracha" -
"Give us dew and rain for a blessing" is inserted into the 9th blessing of
the weekday shemone esrei, from now until Pesach. I encourage everyone to
remind friends and family members of this event, especially those who may
not be in shul at that time.

	We begin requesting rain in the Diaspora on the 60th day of the fall
season, as approximated by Shmuel in the Talmud (Taanit 10a, Eiruvin 56a).
As this year the starting date falls on Shabbat, we begin the insertion on
Saturday evening. For more information about this calculation, follow the
link below, to a fascinating article giving a (very brief) introduction to
the Jewish calendar, followed by a discussion on why we begin praying for
rain when we do: http://www.lookstein.org/articles/veten_tal.htm (Thanks to
Russell Levy for providing the link.)

	Also, if you're curious about how often there are two Shabbatot
during Chanukka, as there are will be this year (but not again for the next
17 years), you can find that as well as other Chanukka statistics at:
http://individual.utoronto.ca/aribrodsky/Chanukka.htm

	And in case you ever find yourself stranded somewhere at Birkat
HaChodesh without a calendar listing the time of the Molad, you may want to
learn my Mental Molad Method, at:
http://individual.utoronto.ca/aribrodsky/MentalMoladMethod.htm

Wishing everyone a happy Chanukka,
-Ari Brodsky.

-----------------------
Ari M. Brodsky
ari.brodsky at utoronto.ca