The Time for Requesting Rain in Different Places in the World - Rabbi Isser Springer shlita

00:02 Speaker 1 You’re listening to “Lemaan Yishme’u,” a podcast from Machon Halacha Chabad.

00:09 Speaker 2 Welcome to a special class for the beginning of winter. In this class, with Hashem’s help, we’ll learn when we begin asking for rain and when we stop. At first glance, there’s no problem here. We all know, from the time we go to cheder, or even earlier, that we begin asking for rain on 7 Marcheshvan. That’s the day when the last person in Eretz Yisroel reached his home on the banks of the Euphrates River. And we stop asking at the end of winter: on the first day of Pesach, we say the Prayer for Dew, and with that we stop asking for rain. Simple enough. But in this class, with Hashem’s help, we’ll look at the background. We’ll see that it isn’t quite so simple, but a little more complicated. We’ll also learn about three different places: Eretz Yisroel and its laws, the usual lands outside Eretz Yisroel, such as Europe, and the Southern Hemisphere. Let’s begin, with Hashem’s help, with the Gemara. The Mishnah quotes Rabban Gamliel as saying, “We ask for rain on 7 Marcheshvan,” and that is how the Gemara rules. The Gemara then raises a question: Rabbi Yochanan said, “We ask for rain after Shemini Atzeres.” When we begin mentioning rain, we also begin asking for it. The Gemara asks: isn’t this a contradiction? On the one hand, Rabbi Elazar rules in the Gemara that the halacha follows 7 Marcheshvan, which is what we do today. But Rabbi Yochanan ruled that the halacha is to begin after Shemini Atzeres. So there’s a difficulty here. The Gemara gives three ways to resolve this contradiction. First, it could be a disagreement between two people. Rabbi Yochanan said that after Shemini Atzeres we ask, “Grant dew and rain for a blessing.” Rabbi Elazar ruled in accordance with the Mishnah, that we begin on 7 Marcheshvan. “Are you setting one person against another?” You can’t challenge what Yossi said based on what Moishy said. One said this, the other said that. They’re entitled to disagree. So too with Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Yochanan: one said one thing, the other said something else, and that’s perfectly

02:35 Speaker 2 fine. That’s one possibility. A second possibility is that they’re speaking about two different places. It isn’t a disagreement at all. Each is saying something different because each is talking about an entirely different place. In Eretz Yisroel, the harvest is brought home during Tishrei, so Rabbi Yochanan said that there we begin asking for rain after Shemini Atzeres. Rabbi Elazar, however, was speaking about Bavel. In Bavel, we can’t yet ask for rain after Shemini Atzeres; we ask only after the harvest has been gathered in, on 7 Marcheshvan. So there’s no disagreement—just different places. The third explanation is the one we know, the one accepted as halacha. We won’t go into why the halacha favors this third explanation, but let’s remember it for the rest of our class. There’s no distinction between Eretz Yisroel and Bavel; the distinction is between different periods. When the Beis Hamikdash stood, people went up for the festivals and then had to travel home. That took time. Until 7 Marcheshvan, they didn’t ask for rain because there were still Jews on the road who needed clear skies so they could travel without difficulty. Remember, too, that they didn’t have cars like ours, or trains, or paved roads. Heavy rain while they were traveling on dirt roads in horse-drawn wagons, sometimes needing to sleep overnight out in the open, would have been very unpleasant. It wasn’t like today, when we can fly from country to country even if it’s raining—it doesn’t make much difference to us. So as long as the Beis Hamikdash stood, they asked for rain on 7 Marcheshvan. After the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed and there were no longer pilgrims, we return to the original, normal time: we ask for rain immediately after Shemini Atzeres.

04:49 Speaker 2 That is the plain meaning of the Gemara and the straightforward halacha, and many of the Rishonim write that this is what we should do in practice. In other words, many Rishonim say that today, when the Beis Hamikdash no longer stands, when do we begin asking for rain? When do we begin saying, “Grant dew and rain for a blessing”? Immediately after Shemini Atzeres—the earlier time. This is stated in the name of the Geonim, and by the Ramban, the Meiri, the Ran, the Ritva, and many more of our Rishonim. We’ve mentioned several prominent, well-known Rishonim, but it also appears in quite a few less familiar ones. When do we begin asking for rain? Immediately after Shemini Atzeres. Yet, as we know, we begin on 7 Marcheshvan. Why? The Ran gives a very interesting explanation: even after the destruction, Jews continued to make the pilgrimage. The Rebbe explains that they weren’t fulfilling the mitzvah of pilgrimage, but they still went, and therefore the enactment to ask for rain in Eretz Yisroel on 7 Marcheshvan was not abolished. Strictly speaking, the time for asking for rain should have been moved from 7 Marcheshvan to after Shemini Atzeres. In practice, it wasn’t moved, because there were still Jews who continued to make the pilgrimage. We see in a number of sources that in the days of our Sages, people continued to make the pilgrimage after the destruction. The Midrash says, “Although the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, the Jewish people did not discontinue their pilgrimage three times a year.” Even in a later period, Sefer Chassidim, by Rabbeinu Yehuda HeChassid, mentions that Rav Hai Gaon, who lived many years after the destruction—nine hundred years afterward—would travel from Bavel to Jerusalem every year for Sukkos. Jews continued the practice of making the pilgrimage, and therefore

07:08 Speaker 2 some say it is a mitzvah. But as we said, the Rebbe explains the Alter Rebbe’s words to mean that it is a custom. In any case, the enactment of 7 Marcheshvan was not abolished. They did not move the time for asking for rain to after Shemini Atzeres, even though that is the straightforward halacha, because the practice of pilgrimage still continued. So we’ve seen that the time when we begin asking for rain, 7 Marcheshvan, is indeed the halacha, but it isn’t quite so simple. We’ve discussed asking for rain in Eretz Yisroel; now let’s turn to places outside Eretz Yisroel. When do they ask for rain where the Rebbe is? When do they ask in England, Spain, France, or Italy? The Gemara says that in the diaspora, we ask for rain on the sixtieth day of the tekufah—on the sixtieth day after the beginning of the tekufah of Tishrei. I’ll explain very briefly, and not exhaustively, given our limited time: there are four tekufos in the year, determined by the movement of the sun. Each day the sun circles the Earth at a different point. It circles the globe, and the next day it circles one degree farther north, then farther north again and again until it reaches its northernmost point and begins moving south. The tekufah of Tishrei is when the sun circles the Earth at its midpoint, and from then on it moves farther south each day. We’re in the Northern Hemisphere, and from the beginning of the tekufah of Tishrei, the sun moves one degree south each day. When it reaches its southernmost point, the tekufah of Teves begins. Then, as the sun moves north, when it is once again at the Earth’s midpoint, that is the tekufah of Nissan. That’s the general idea in a nutshell. Our Sages say: when do we begin asking for rain in the diaspora? Not on 7 Marcheshvan, but later, on the sixtieth day of the tekufah of Tishrei. Why is the diaspora different? Again, there are several opinions. Some say that Bavel is different. In Bavel there is less

09:40 Speaker 2 need for rain. Babylonia is situated more favorably than Eretz Yisroel, so it is possible to begin asking for rain later. There is less need for it there, but other places in the Diaspora are a different matter. Each place depends on its own circumstances. In other words, Babylonia is a place where the need for rain is less pressing, so we can wait to ask for it until the need is felt. But in Italy, England, Spain, and all sorts of other places, we should assess the need according to that location. That is what the Rishonim wrote. It says in Seder Rav Amram—by the way, Seder Rav Amram is the earliest siddur we have. Rav Amram was one of the Geonim, one of the heads of the yeshivos in Babylonia. Halachic questions would reach the yeshiva in Babylonia from the far reaches of the Diaspora, and Rav Amram received a question from Spain. A short question: How does one pray throughout the year? To that short question, Rav Amram gave a long, detailed answer. He wrote out the entire order of the prayers for weekdays and Shabbosos, fast days and festivals, special days and ordinary days. He sent them everything, and that is the earliest siddur we have: Seder Rav Amram. Seder Rav Amram writes: “In all places that depend on rain, like Eretz Yisroel and Francia”—he is talking about an area in Europe, France and Germany—he says: “In these places they say ‘Tal U’matar’ on the seventh of Marcheshvan,” 7 Cheshvan. In his day, people in the Diaspora actually followed the practice of asking for rain as early as 7 Marcheshvan in places where it was needed. The same is written in one of the earliest halachic works, perhaps the earliest, Halachos Gedolos: “And so is the practice throughout Africa.” In other words, in Africa too, in Tunisia and similar places, they had the practice of asking for rain on 7 Marcheshvan. That was in the period of the Geonim, and it continued into the period of the Rishonim. The Ran, the Meiri, the Ramban, and the Rosh write about places where they lived or places they passed through

12:00 Speaker 2 where the practice was to ask for rain from 7 Marcheshvan. In other words, they understood that the Gemara’s statement that in the Diaspora one begins asking on the sixtieth day of Tekufas Tishrei applied only to Babylonia, which was the main Diaspora community in their time, and to places resembling Babylonia. But places that did not resemble Babylonia could begin on 7 Marcheshvan. Not only that: regarding Eretz Yisroel, we learned that some of the Rishonim ruled that after the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, people there begin asking for rain on the night after Shemini Atzeres. The Ritva writes that there are places in the Diaspora where the practice was to begin asking immediately after Yom Tov, as they do in Eretz Yisroel. And the Ritva writes that this is certainly a fine custom and a correct approach. But the accepted approach, the one established as halachah—and in a moment we will hear a fascinating story about how that ruling developed up to our own day—is that everywhere in the Diaspora, Hungary, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, everyone asks for rain on the sixtieth day of the tekufah, without assessing the needs of each place separately. Apparently, this view understood the words of our Sages in the Gemara to mean that throughout the Diaspora one asks from the sixtieth day of Tekufas Tishrei. We do not vary the practice from place to place; instead, there is a general rule: in Eretz Yisroel, 7 Marcheshvan or the night after Shemini Atzeres, and in the Diaspora, the sixtieth day, following the main Jewish center of that period. So we have seen the different opinions concerning the Diaspora. The accepted opinion is the sixtieth day of Tekufas Tishrei throughout the Diaspora. But there are other opinions too, and we saw that the view that places in the Diaspora needing rain ask for it already on 7 Marcheshvan was very widespread. By the way, today almost no place in the Diaspora remains where they ask for rain on 7 Marcheshvan. To the best of my knowledge, there is just one exception: the only place in the world where they ask for rain from 7 Marcheshvan is the island of Djerba, off Tunisia. Djerba is a distinctive island with

14:24 Speaker 2 many distinctive practices, and one of them is that they begin saying “Vesein Tal U’matar Livrachah” already on 7 Marcheshvan. Let’s turn to a story—a fascinating story that tells us about the history of the Jewish people on the one hand, and the history of this halachah of asking for rain on the other. This is what happened. In Ashkenaz there lived one of the most outstanding Torah sages, the Maharam of Rothenburg. He wrote books and Tosafos; the Tosafos to Tractate Yoma in our Gemaras are by the Maharam of Rothenburg. The Tosafos in every tractate are not all by the same author, and of course we will not go into that at length. But those on Yoma are by the Maharam of Rothenburg. He also wrote other books, responsa, and liturgical poems. We recite one of them on Tisha B’Av. The Maharam of Rothenburg was one of the most outstanding Torah sages. Many, many, many of the great Torah sages of the next generation were his students. The best known is the Rosh, Rabbeinu Asher, whose rulings appear at the end of the Gemara and whose Tosafos also appear in some editions today. He was among the foremost students, alongside the Mordechai, the author of Hagahos Maimoniyos, the author of Tashbetz Katan [?], and many, many others—dozens of outstanding students. The Maharam of Rothenburg was imprisoned by order of the ruler of Ashkenaz at the time. As is well known, the ruler demanded a huge sum for his release. The Maharam would not agree. He said that if they paid that sum to redeem him, people would then try to seize more and more Jews, and that would cause great harm to the Jewish people. So the Maharam remained in prison. Because of this and other decrees, his student the Rosh realized that he had to flee Ashkenaz. And so he did. The Rosh fled Ashkenaz and traveled through various places. What matters to us is that he passed through Provence, a region in southern France, where he saw the practice of beginning to ask for rain already on 7 Marcheshvan. This would later play a part in the Rosh’s discussion, as our story continues. From Provence, the Rosh went on to Spain, [unclear]. The leading Torah sage in Spain in that generation was the Rashba,

16:44 Speaker 2 Rabbeinu Shlomo ben Aderes. The Rashba received the Rosh with great honor, hosted him for several days, and studied with him for several days straight. He then gave the Rosh a letter of recommendation, and the Rosh was appointed rabbi of one of Spain’s important communities, the community of Toledo. The incident took place in the year 5073, a little over seven hundred years ago. That year, about ten years after the Rosh arrived in Spain, he was sitting outside his house on Seder night after the prayers. There was a drought in Spain that year. They had added a special prayer for rain, a special prayer that more rain should fall. And on Seder night, before the Seder, the Rosh was sitting outside. Apparently he was waiting for them to finish getting things ready inside. It does not say why, but it says that the Rosh was sitting at the entrance to his house, with some of his companions standing by him on his right and left, discussing words of Torah, of course. And the Rosh said: “Now would be a good time to raise a matter that has always puzzled me. A question has always troubled me, and now is the time to raise it. Why shouldn’t we continue mentioning and asking for rain until Shavuos? Why stop asking for rain on the first day of Pesach?” It was the first day of Pesach, and the next day in shul they were supposed to switch to Tefillas Tal. The Rosh said, why? Every year, the Rosh said, as we will see shortly, rain is still needed after the first day of Pesach. Especially this year, a year of drought. If there is a drought, we need more rain, and if we need more rain... if we need more rain, then we should continue praying for it. Those students of the Rosh said, “Excellent.” Kabbolas ol. Whatever the Rosh said was sacred to them. They said, “No problem. We’ll go tell the shul’s chazzan, the person who will lead the prayers, that tomorrow he should continue praying for rain.” They went to the chazzan. I don’t know—perhaps he had already begun his Seder, or perhaps he too was waiting outside—but in any case

19:00 Speaker 2 They told him what the Rosh—Rabbeinu Asher—had said: “Tomorrow, this year, we will not stop mentioning rain. We will not stop; instead, we will continue asking for rain.” Well, the next day, that is what he did. Instead of switching to Tefillas Tal, he mentioned “Who causes rain to fall”—the special prayer for rain. But apparently, because of the urgency, and since this all happened on Seder night, there was no time to consult everyone. As the Rosh writes: “Some of the sages raised an uproar, for the matter had not been decided with their counsel.” There were several sages with whom this move had not been coordinated in advance. “They spread the word, saying that it was improper to mention rain; it is a sign of a curse.” The Rosh, who had initiated the move, said nothing that day. He remained silent until the night of Chol Hamoed. On that night, the Rosh writes that although he did not usually write about such matters, because of the desecration of Hashem’s name, the uproar, and the dispute, he would explain it. The Rosh writes: “Each place must be treated according to its circumstances. The people of Bavel depart from the law stated in the Mishnah.” The people of Bavel begin asking for rain later. The Mishnah says to ask for rain from 7 Cheshvan, but the people of Bavel begin only on the sixtieth day after the autumn equinox. The Rosh says: If the people of Bavel can begin later than 7 Cheshvan, then surely we, who want to follow what the Mishnah says, have the stronger position—especially when we need rain at this time. Each country should ask according to its needs, particularly in a year of drought. The Rosh says: I thought that this year, with a drought, everyone would agree. Once they saw it done this year, once they tried continuing to ask for rain, they would understand that this was more appropriate, because this place generally needs more rain, and they would continue doing it every year. The Rosh says: I also said this to my teachers in Ashkenaz, and my teachers accepted

21:08 Speaker 2 the reasoning in principle. In Ashkenaz, there was not such a pressing need for it, but they accepted the reasoning in principle. Here in Spain, though, where the need is truly great and rain is absolutely necessary, why shouldn’t we do it? The Rosh also relies on the Rambam’s words in his Commentary on the Mishnah. The Rambam says there that each place should act according to its circumstances. The Rosh concludes: “I saw that the community would no longer accept from me the words of the living G-d. So I, too, retracted.” The Rosh says: I could have asked for rain in my own prayer, because it was a need shared by the many. I could have said “Grant dew and rain for blessing.” But I did not want to create separate factions. To prevent a dispute, the Rosh set aside his own position, even though his view was clear. That was what should have been done. But to avoid the dispute that arose—apparently only because the matter had not been coordinated in advance, as seems to emerge from the discussion involving the Rosh and his son—he gave it up. In any case, a dispute is a dispute. The Rosh decided it was better to avoid it: not to follow the halachah in the most perfect and best way, but to act in a way that was somewhat less appropriate, so long as there would be no dispute. And so the halachah was established in practice everywhere, in Eretz Yisroel and outside it: throughout the world, we stop asking for rain on the first day of Pesach. Even someone who still needs rain does not continue asking for it. This goes against the Rosh’s view, because he did not want a dispute. A little over five hundred years ago, Jews—and people in general—reached the Southern Hemisphere. There, the seasons of winter and summer are the reverse of ours. As we said earlier, when is our winter? Between Tishrei and Nissan. At the beginning of the autumn season, the sun begins moving south until it reaches its southernmost point, and then it begins moving north again, back toward us.

23:18 Speaker 2 In Nissan, the sun is over the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere—in Australia, Brazil, Argentina, and places like them—their summer falls during our winter. Their long vacation, the height of the heat, when people walk around panting and trying to cool off, comes when we mark 10 Teves. That is when snow falls on the peaks around Jerusalem and in the Galilee mountains, and the elders of Tzfas try to remember whether this is the worst it has ever been or not. But we will not get into that. There, it is the other way around. Jews arrived and settled in this place where everything is reversed. Several questions troubled them, such as the blessing over blossoming trees, which is recited in Nissan—but their trees do not blossom in Nissan. Their trees blossom in Tishrei, because everything is reversed. The biggest question that troubled them, though, was when to begin asking for rain. When should they begin saying “Grant dew and rain for blessing”? At the time, they understood that rain during their summer—in the Southern Hemisphere, in Kislev, Teves, and Shvat—was harmful. Not only was it of no benefit; it caused damage. They sent a question to one of the leading rabbis of that generation, Rabbi Chaim Shabbetai, the rabbi of Salonika in Greece. They asked him: What should we do? When should we ask for rain? In his responsa, Toras Chaim, he gave them an original answer: You never say “Grant dew and rain for blessing” in the blessing of Barech Aleinu. Why? When it is winter for the rest of the world, you cannot say it, because for you rain is not a blessing; it causes harm. And when it is winter for you, you still cannot say it in Barech Aleinu, because individuals make their request for rain only in Shomea Tefillah. And you are individuals. There were only a few Jews in the Southern Hemisphere then, so he told them: You are individuals; you must ask for rain,

25:29 Speaker 2 as the Gemara says, only in Shomea Tefillah. For about two hundred and fifty years, that was the custom in the Southern Hemisphere. During their winter, they asked for rain in Shomea Tefillah. During their summer, in Kislev and Teves, they did not ask for rain at all; instead, they said “Grant blessing.” Two hundred and fifty years passed. New rabbis arrived and reopened the question. They said that it had now become clear how to benefit from rain even in the summer. I quote: “In general, the land produces crops throughout the year—potatoes three times a year. Rain is very necessary for them in that country all year round.” They need rain all year. Summer rains do not cause harm; they help. People know how to benefit from them, how to make the most of those summer rains. The question was put to several leading Torah authorities, foremost among them Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan of Kovno. They answered that these Jews should say Barech Aleinu and “Grant dew and rain for blessing,” like all other Jews. In Nissan, Kislev, and Teves, they would say Barech Aleinu like all other Jews. In the summer—during their summer, which is our winter—they would not say “Grant dew and rain” in Barech Aleinu. They followed the Rosh’s approach: all the Jewish people maintain the same practice, even in places whose needs differ. We do not change it. If rain is actually harmful, as they had originally reported, that is another matter. But once it became clear that rain in their summer was not harmful, they would do as we do. On the sixtieth day after the autumn equinox, they would begin saying Barech Aleinu, and they would stop on the first day of Pesach. That is how the custom began a little over a hundred years ago. In our generation, in 5721, about sixty years ago, another responsum on the subject was written by Rabbi Shmuel Halevi Wosner, in Shevet Halevi. He was one of the truly outstanding Torah authorities of the generation, one of its leading halachic decisors, but at that time he was still a halachic decisor

27:46 Speaker 2 It begins. He was not yet such an important and well-known rabbi, and he writes: “In my opinion, during your winter, in Tammuz, you should say ‘Vesein Tal Umatar’ in Bareich Aleinu. But during the usual winter, which is summer for you, in Teves, you should not say it in Bareich Aleinu.” Why? He says this cannot be compared to what the Rosh wrote. The Rosh is discussing a place in the Northern Hemisphere, which, generally speaking, is like Eretz Yisroel and Babylonia. There are just some differences. But over minor differences, we do not create separate groups. When you are in the Southern Hemisphere, though, everything is reversed: winter and summer are the complete opposite of the Northern Hemisphere. There, they should not do it that way. There, they should say “Vesein Tal Umatar” in Bareich Aleinu during the months of Sivan, Tammuz, and Menachem Av, and not during Teves and Shvat. But he writes, “I do not rely on my own opinion until a great and well-known rabbi agrees with me,” even though it seems obvious to him. In practice, later volumes of his responsa show that he became more convinced, and this view became more definite for him. But in any case, that is what he writes. That concludes our general survey of the history of the rulings on this issue. We have three—three possibilities. One opinion says that they should never say “Vesein Tal Umatar Livrachah” in Bareich Aleinu, but only during their winter, in Shema Koleinu. The second says to say it in Bareich Aleinu during our winter, because rain then benefits them. And the third says that during their winter they should say it in Bareich Aleinu. Those are the three opinions. The most widespread practice is to follow the custom of the rest of the Diaspora. During our winter, in Kislev, Teves, and Shvat, they say “Vesein Tal Umatar Livrachah” in Bareich Aleinu. On 15 Menachem Av 5740 [?], at home, the Rebbe spoke about this subject, and we will end with that. Something very interesting came of it. The Rebbe said,

29:50 Speaker 2 He spoke about how, from 15 Menachem Av, the nights grow longer, and so we increase our Torah study at night. The Rebbe then spoke about what happens in the Southern Hemisphere, where the pattern is reversed. The nights grow shorter rather than longer. They are approaching winter—the nights grow shorter because they are approaching summer, not winter. The Rebbe then addressed this point as well. The Rebbe said that it would make sense for them to request rain during their own season, during their winter, as Rabbi Shmuel Wosner says in Shevet Halevi: to say it in Bareich Aleinu. Many chassidim asked whether the Rebbe meant that they should change their custom. After all, they would say it—sorry—in Tammuz, during their winter, in Tammuz and Menachem Av. Many chassidim asked the Rebbe whether that was what they should actually do. Until then, they had been saying “Vesein Tal Umatar” in Kislev and Teves, as we do. Was the Rebbe now saying to change and follow Rabbi Shmuel Wosner, saying it during their winter, in Tammuz and Menachem Av? The Rebbe clarified that he had not meant this as a practical ruling. For practical halachah, we should learn from the Rosh, who set aside his own opinion because he did not want separate groups to form. So the Rebbe said that, in principle, that is how it should be, but to avoid creating separate groups, they should continue the existing custom. Here the Rebbe made a rare and unusual request, one that, as far as I recall, had never been made before. The Rebbe asked that a collection of passages from various halachic authorities dealing with this subject be attached to that week’s Likkutei Sichos; it was later included in Hisvaaduyos. The purpose was to show that earlier authorities had said they should request “Vesein Tal Umatar Livrachah” during the usual winter—the winter of the Jewish people as a whole, in the Northern Hemisphere—and not during their own winter. And indeed, it was published as an attachment to Likkutei Sichos, later appeared in Hisvaaduyos, and was also included in Likkutei Halachos Uminhagim and Shulchan Menachem: a collection of passages from later authorities dealing

31:56 Speaker 2 with the issue related to what the Rebbe had discussed at that time. That collection shows that most opinions hold that the usual winter, in Kislev, Teves, and Shvat, is when they should say “Bareich Aleinu, Vesein Tal Umatar Livrachah.” And that is indeed the practice. Not according to—rather, as the Rebbe says, the other statement was more for the sake of avoiding disagreement. So, to summarize what we learned in our classes: First, we discussed Eretz Yisroel and saw that the accepted custom and halachah follow the authorities who begin requesting rain on 7 Cheshvan, because of the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Although it is not exactly the same today, that consideration still remains. We then discussed places outside Eretz Yisroel. We saw that there are different opinions, but the accepted halachah is to begin sixty days after the autumn equinox, even though some said to begin earlier, on 7 Cheshvan or after Shemini Atzeres. We stop on the first day of Pesach, despite the Rosh’s view that it would be proper to continue requesting rain until Shavuos. And in the Southern Hemisphere, we saw that the accepted practice is to say “Vesein Tal Umatar Livrachah” during the usual winter—while they are wearing short sleeves, wiping dripping sweat from their foreheads, and setting their air conditioners to sixteen degrees. That is when they say “Vesein Tal Umatar Livrachah” in the blessing of Bareich Aleinu, to be in step with the rest of the world. As the Rebbe explains, the central part of the world is Eretz Yisroel; that is the inner meaning. In any case, this was established as the custom of Chabad chassidim in order to avoid disagreement. May we have a healthy winter, and may our prayers be accepted favorably—both our prayer for rain and our prayer for the true and complete Geulah. Much success, and a healthy winter.