[Avodah] Saturday evening begin Prayer for Rain

[Ari Meir Brodsky via Avodah]

Dear Friends,

I write to you from Bar-Ilan University in Israel, where I am into my
second year of post-doctoral research in the Department of Mathematics.
Here in Israel, we began praying for rain 6 weeks ago, on the
Jewish-calendar date of 7 Heshvan, according to Mishna Taanit 1:3.  Thank
God we've received some rain since then.  Nevertheless, I have a feeling
that many of you still expect my annual friendly reminder....

Jews outside of Israel should include the request for rain in daily
prayers, beginning with Maariv this motzei Shabbat (Saturday evening),
December 5, 2015, corresponding to the evening of 24 Kislev, 5776.  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.

Diaspora Jews begin requesting rain on the 60th day of the fall season, as
approximated by Shmuel in the Talmud (Taanit 10a, Eiruvin 56a). 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.)

In unrelated news, here is some recent work of mine in Set Theory:

A seminar talk I gave at the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies in
Yerushalaim, including a video recording:
http://u.math.biu.ac.il/~brodska/Souslin-trees-Oct-2015-IIAS.htm

Research paper recently submitted:
http://www.assafrinot.com/paper/20

Older work - my PhD thesis, completed in 2014:
http://hdl.handle.net/1807/68124
External examiner's report on my thesis:
http://u.math.biu.ac.il/~brodska/BrodskyThesisReportMar2014.pdf
American Mathematical Society review of my thesis work:
http://www.ams.org/mathscinet-getitem?mr=3274402

Possibly more understandable to many people:  If you're curious about how
often we read from three sifrei Torah when Rosh Chodesh falls on Shabbat
during Chanukka, as will be the case this year, then see here for this as
well as other Chanukka-related calendrical facts:
http://individual.utoronto.ca/aribrodsky/Chanukka.htm
And here for how to calculate the molad, as this week we will announce the
upcoming month of Tevet:
http://individual.utoronto.ca/aribrodsky/MentalMoladMethod.htm

Finally, I would like to apologize to many of you for not maintaining
communication over the past year since I've arrived in Israel.  I'm sorry I
haven't always responded to your messages.  It's taken me a while to get
used to my new surroundings, but I hope to make more effort to keep in
touch with you in the near future.

Wishing everyone a happy Chanukka,
-Ari Meir Brodsky


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