By Rabbi Yair Hoffman

Beginning tonight, Wednesday evening, December 4th, 2024, we begin reciting the phrase “V’sain Tal Umatar” (And give dew and rain for a blessing) in the Shmoneh Esrei prayer of the Maariv (evening) service.

What if I Forgot to Say V’sain Tal Umatar?

• If a person said “V’sain Bracha” (And give a blessing) instead of “V’sain Tal Umatar Livracha”, and realized the error after finishing the Shmoneh Esrei, the entire Shmoneh Esrei must be repeated.
• If the error was caught while in the middle of Shmoneh Esrei, corrective action can be taken by inserting the phrase “V’sain Tal Umatar Livracha” in the Shema Koleinu blessing, before the words “Ki Ata Shomeiya”.
• If the Shema Koleinu blessing was already completed, but the Retzei blessing was not yet begun, the phrase “V’sain Tal Umatar Livracha” should be inserted between the two blessings of Shema Koleinu and Retzay.
• However, if the Retzei blessing was already begun, the individual must return to the beginning of the Bareich Aleinu blessing and use the proper phrase of “V’sain Tal Umatar.”

What if I’m Uncertain?

• If a person does not remember whether they said “V’sain Bracha” or “V’sain Tal Umatar”, the halacha assumes the blessing was recited without proper thought, out of habit.
• Halacha states that habits of prayer become established after 30 days of repetition. So, 30 days after December 4th, if in doubt, the Shmoneh Esrei need not be repeated, as it can be assumed “V’sain Tal Umatar” was said out of habit.
• Before 30 days, it is assumed the wrong phrase (“V’sain Bracha”) was used, so the Shmoneh Esrei must be repeated.
• The Mishna Berura qualifies this by saying that if the person intended to say “V’sain Tal Umatar” in Shmoneh Esrei, and later cannot remember what they said, they need not repeat the Shmoneh Esrei. This is because it can be assumed they recited the blessing properly, since that was their intention.
• In Eretz Yisroel, they began saying it on the 7th of Cheshvan.

AND NOW FOR THE LONG VERSION

Generally speaking, the actions of leaders of foreign religions do not ever affect what Orthodox Jews do.  Here, one Pope’s actions affected how we refer to things.  It affected the secular date of when we begin saying it. Read on for clarification.

THE DOCTOR’S SUGGESTION

In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII acted upon a suggestion of  an Italian doctor named Aloysius Lilius. and initiated three changes to the calendar that did have some repercussions in our halachic observance, at least in the way we record the secular date as to when in the year we begin amending one line in the Shmoneh Esreh in Chutz La”aretz. In Israel itself, we began saying it at Maariv of the 7th of Cheshvan.

In Chutz la’aretz we say vesain tal umatar 60 days after the Tekufah, which was Sept 21st in the Julian calendar.  That would have been Dec, 1st.

THE THREE CHANGES

The Pope made these three changes to the Julian Calendar, but at first, only the Catholic countries followed it.  Most of what was to eventually become the United States of America did not adopt it, however, until the year 1752.

• 1] He fast-forwarded the calendar ten days. In 1582, there was no October 5th through October 14th.
• 2] He ruled that every 100 years there would not be a leap year. There was no February 29th in the year 1900, nor in the years 1700 or 1800.
• 3] He ruled that every 400 years there would be a leap year and that rule number two would not apply. Rule #3 has only be used twice in the year 1600 and in the year 2000.

What this boils down to is that in the year 1701 we said it on Dec. 2^nd. In 1801 we said it on  Dec. 3rd.  In 1901 we said it on Dec. 4th.

until the year 2101 we continue saying v’sain tal umatar on the night of December 4th and before a leap year we begin saying it on the night of December 5th.

In 2101 we will say it on December 5th and before a leap year on December 6th.

As an interesting note, if ArtScroll would have existed in the 1800’s it would have said to add in v’sain tal uMatar on December 3rd and before a leap year on December 4th.

IN THE NEXT OPPORTUNITY

• If you remembered after saying Hashem’s Name, then you just continue on until the Bracha of Shma Koleinu and add the words, “v’sain tal umatar livracha” right after “vkabel berachamim veratzon es tfilasainu” and before “ki attah shomaya tfilas” (MB 117:16). If one still forgot and did not yet say Hashem’s name at the end of the bracha, then just say “v’sain tal umatar livracha and continue saying Ki Attah shomaya.
• If you have already said Hashem’s Name – then we have a debate between the Mishna Brurah and Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l as to what to do. The Mishna Brurah (117:19) says to say “Lamdeini chukecha” – a Pasuk in TaNach and then to say v’sain Tal uMatar livracha and finish with Ki Attah Shomaya.
• Rav Moshe Feinstein questions this and asks how it is possible to just recite random Psukim in the Shmoneh Esreh? [He recommends that one just finish up the bracha and add it before one says Retzai, like the Shulchan Aruch recommends to do if you did end up finishing Shma Kolainu.] Unless you are a talmid of Rav Moshe, most people follow the Mishna Brurah.
• If one has already completed the entire Shmah koleinu bracha without having said v’sain tal uMatar, then the Shulchan Aruch rules that you just say it then and recite Retzai.

If you forgot to say it before then and actually started retzai – then you are now in for some major repeating. You have to stop where you are and just go back to the beginning of Baraich Aleinu and continue saying the Shmoneh Esreh from there.

IF YOU FINISHED THE SHMONEH ESREH

If you forgot it and completed the Shmoneh Esreh – then repeat the entire Shmoneh Esreh from the beginning (See SA 117).

NOT SURE WHAT YOU SAID

If you are not sure what you said, we assume you didn’t say it for the first 30 days. After 30 days, we assume that you did say it properly. The Mishna Brurah (114:40) suggests that if you sing the words “v’es kol minei s’vu’asah l’tova v’sain Tal uMatar livracha” 90 times then the assumption changes. We assume that you did say it. On Maariv of January 3rd (or January 4th of a leap year) is the day when the assumption changes if you did not end up following the 90 times recommendation.

So was Gregory XIII good for the Jews?  No.  He wasn’t.

He was the one who forced Jews to attend mandatory sermons trying to get Jews to convert.  The Catholic Church has not apologized for this He was the one who forced the Jewish community to pay for the costs of this institution as well.  The church never paid restitution for this either.  The author can be reached at [email protected].