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Ta'anis 10

1) HALACHAH: WHEN WE START ASKING FOR RAIN

OPINIONS: The Mishnah records an argument when to start asking for rain in the Shemoneh Esreh ("v'Sen Tal u'Matar"). Raban Gamliel says that we start on the seventh of Marcheshvan, fifteen days after Sukos has ended, in order to give the people who came to the Beis ha'Mikdash for the festival time to return home. Rebbi Elazar says that the Halachah follows Raban Gamliel.

The Gemara cites a Beraisa in which Chananyah states that in Golah (outside of Eretz Yisrael, in Bavel), we start asking for rain on the 60th day after the Tekufah (the vernal equinox). Shmuel says that the Halachah follows Chananyah.

Based on these rulings, when should the people in Eretz Yisrael start asking for rain, and when should the people in Bavel and in other places outside of Eretz Yisrael start?

(a) The Gemara earlier (4b) explains that we ask for rain on the seventh of Marcheshvan in order to give the Olei Regalim time to return home, as the Mishnah here states. The Gemara points out that nowadays, in Eretz Yisrael, we ask for rain right after Sukos, because the Beis ha'Mikdash is no longer standing and there are no Olei Regalim for whom we should delay asking for rain. In places in Chutz la'Aretz where the rainy season differs from that in Eretz Yisrael and the fruits are still drying in the fields after Sukos, we wait until the seventh of Marcheshvan to begin asking for rain in order to let the fruits finish drying.

When Chananyah says that we wait until the 60th day of the Tekufah to start asking for rain, the Gemara explains that it is referring to an area like Bavel, which is naturally saturated with water and does not need rain until much later into the winter. The Rishonim, therefore, write that based on these Gemaros, there should be three different times to start asking for rain: (1) immediately after Sukos in Eretz Yisrael when there are no Olei Regalim, and in areas outside of Eretz Yisrael where their fruits are not drying in the fields; (2) on the seventh of Marcheshvan in any place where there are fruits in the field that need to dry out, or in Eretz Yisrael when the Beis ha'Mikdash is standing and there are Olei Regalim; (3) 60 days after the Tekufah in any place in which rain is not needed until later in the winter.

(b) The RIF, however, quotes only the Gemara that says that we start asking for rain on the seventh of Marcheshvan in Eretz Yisrael, and on the 60th day after the Tekufah in the Golah. He makes no mention of the option of asking for rain immediately after Sukos. The RAMBAM also makes no mention of this option. Apparently, they rule that when the Gemara earlier (4b) mentions the opinion of Rebbi Yochanan who says that we ask for rain right after Sukos, the conclusion is that the Halachah does not follow Rebbi Yochanan's opinion, and thus that date is not an option.

The Mishnah, however, says that the only reason we start asking for rain on the seventh of Marcheshvan is to give time to the Olei Regalim to return home. But today, there are no Olei Regalim, and if so, logically we indeed should start asking for rain right after Sukos! Why should we wait until the seventh of Cheshvan?

Possibly, once the initial Takanah was instituted that we ask for rain on the seventh of Marcheshvan -- to give time to the Olei Regalim to return home -- that Takanah remains in effect even though the reason for its institution no longer exists. (See Beitzah 5a.)

The RAN gives another reason for waiting until the seventh of Cheshvan even today. He asserts that it was customary in his day to travel to Yerushalayim for the festivals, in commemoration of Aliyah l'Regel. Therefore, it is still important to wait for the people who traveled to Yerushalayim to return home before beginning to ask for rain.

(The RAMBAM in Perush ha'Mishnayos adds that the people in every country begin asking for rain on the date that is their equivalent of the seventh of Marcheshvan in Eretz Yisrael -- that is, the date when it normally starts to rain in that land. He does not mention this in the Mishnah Torah, though.)

According to this view, there are only two possible times to begin saying "v'Sen Tal u'Matar:" (1) the seventh of Marcheshvan, or (2) 60 days after the Tekufah.

(c) The Rishonim (ROSH, RITVA and others) write, however, that the common practice in their areas was to ask for rain on the 60th day after the Tekufah in all of Chutz l'Aretz, even outside of Bavel (such as in Spain and Germany). This was a tradition from the Ge'onim.

The source for this practice is apparently RASHI's rule (DH Tasa'i) that all of Chutz la'Aretz follows the custom of Bavel. However, the application of this rule to the prayer for rain needs further explanation. The date on which we begin to ask for rain depends entirely on the climate of the land. If so, why should all countries follow the practice of Bavel if their climates differ from that of Bavel? (ROSH 1:4, Teshuvos 10:4)

The RITVA explains that in principle, the Chachamim did not want there to be different times among different people for saying the prayer for rain. Therefore, the Chachamim enacted that there are only two times at which to begin asking for rain: (1) immediately after Sukos, when there is no Beis ha'Mikdash and there is no reason to delay saying it, or (2) whenever there is any reason to delay saying the prayer for rain -- such as in Chutz l'Aretz, where there are fruits drying in the fields -- it is delayed until 60 days after the Tekufah. Although the Gemara earlier (4b) said that people in a place that has fruit drying in the fields after Sukos should start asking for rain on the seventh of Marcheshvan and not sixty days after the Tekufah, the Gemara immediately afterwards says that the only circumstances in which we ask for rain on the seventh of Marcheshvan is in Eretz Yisrael when the Beis ha'Mikdash is standing. That answer of the Gemara is retracting the preceding answer and saying that nowadays we do not ask for rain on the seventh of Marcheshvan anywhere. Consequently, there are only two possible dates for beginning to ask for rain today: (1) immediately after Sukos, or (2) 60 days after the Tekufah. Similarly, in the times of the Beis ha'Mikdash, there were only two possible dates for beginning to ask for rain: (1) the seventh of Marcheshvan (in Eretz Yisrael), or (2) 60 days after the Tekufah (in Chutz la'Aretz).

The Ritva agrees with the Rif and Rambam that there are only two possible time to start saying "v'Sen Tal u'Matar" nowadays, but he argues when those two times are. According to the Ritva, the two possible times are right after Sukos or 60 days after the Tekufah, and according to the Rif and Rambam they are the seventh of Marcheshvan or 60 days after the Tekufah.

HALACHAH: The SHULCHAN ARUCH (OC 117) rules that in Eretz Yisrael, we begin asking for rain on the seventh of Marcheshvan (like opinion (b), the Rif and Rambam), even nowadays. In Chutz la'Aretz, we begin asking for rain on the 60th day after the Tekufah (like opinion (c), the Ge'onim), in all parts of Chutz la'Aretz.

B'Di'eved, the Shulchan Aruch rules that if a person said "v'Sen Tal u'Matar" during the summertime in a country that needs rain in the summer, then he may rely on the opinions that say that we ask for rain in each country based on when they need rain (Rosh, Rambam in Perush ha'Mishanyos), and he need not repeat the Shemoneh Esreh. (He may recite a Tefilas Nedavah if he wants to be stringent.) However, there is a Machlokes Acharonim what defines "a place that needs rain in the summer." However, the Acharonim argue exactly what defines "a country that needs rain in the summer." Some maintain that it means a country in which it normally rains in the summer, and rain is good for the land at that time as well. Others say that it refers to a place that is suffering from a draught and is in *dire need* of rain (and only in such a place, according to these Acharonim, is the Shulchan Aruch lenient that one need not repeat Shemoneh Esreh if he asks for rain in the summer).

The BI'UR HALACHAH concludes that because of the uncertainty, one should repeat the Shemoneh Esreh as a Tefilas Nedavah, if he is in a place in which rain normally falls in the summer but in which there is no drought.

QUESTION: The Gemara rules that outside of Eretz Yisrael, we begin asking for rain "60 days after the Tekufah of Tishrei."

What is special about this date? Rav Yonah Mertzbach (ALAH YONAH, p. 22) explains why this date was chosen. In Eretz Yisrael, where rain is needed more, if no rain falls until the first of Kislev, Beis Din institutes days of prayer and fasting. The Chachamim chose to institute the prayer for rain in Bavel on a day corresponding to this important date in Eretz Yisrael, since it is the very latest time for rains to begin in Eretz Yisrael. However, since most people out of Israel are non-Jews, who use a solar calendar, and since the rainy season is actually more closely related to the solar year than to the lunar year, the Chachamim instituted that we pray for rain on the first of the "solar month of Kislev." The Gemara refers to a "solar Shevat" (Rosh Hashanah 15a) which is 30 days after the Tekufah of Teves. Likewise, "solar Kislev" would begin 60 days after the Tekufah of Tishrei, and that is when those outside of Israel should begin to ask for rain.

Tekufas Tishrei, the vernal equinox, occurs on September 23 (or September 24 in the year preceding a leap year). Hence, 60 days after that would be November 22 (or November 23 before a leap year), which is, in fact, the date given by the Avudraham for beginning to ask for rain (cited by the Beis Yosef in OC 117). Why, then, do we ask for rain only on December 4 (or 5), 12 days later?

ANSWER: The Gemara in many places quotes Shmuel as saying that the four Tekufos of the year are each exactly 91 days and 7 1/2 hours long, which means that the full year is 365 days and 6 hours long (91 days and 7 1/2 hours x 4). Julius Caesar, in the year 3714 (46 B.C.E.) arranged an eternal *solar* calendar, the first 365 day calendar, based on the earth's relationship with the position of the sun. His calendar was very similar to the one used by the modern world today. At that time, his astronomers advised him that the solar year is exactly 365 1/4 days (365 days and 6 hours), the same as Shmuel's calculation. (Besides the 365 days of the average year, he instituted the addition of a 366th day (nowadays, February 29) every four years in order to reflect the extra day that the solar year gained after the passage of four years because of the four 1/4 days.)

However, in truth this figure for the length of the year is inaccurate; it is a bit too long. The true solar year is 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds. Shmuel's calculation was off by approximately 11 minutes per year, which means that with the passage of time, the actual solar year lags behind Shmuel's year. The equinoxes and solstices slowly migrate through the calendar with the passage of time; every 128 years (11 minutes X 128) the equinoxes and solstices arrive one day too early on the calendar.

At a later time (in 1582 C.E.) it became evident that the calendar was not compensating properly for the true length of the year. In order to prevent the summer months from occurring during winter and the winter months during summer, they modified the Julian calendar and adopted a new version, known as the Gregorian calendar. The first change they made to the calendar was to cut out 10 days that were mistakenly added to the year over the passage of time, due to the miscalculation of the Julian astronomers. (The day after October 4 that year was not October 5, but October 15.)

They also adjusted the calendar to compensate for the discrepancy between the actual solar year and the Julian calendar year by deducting three leap years every 400 years. Three out of four centesimal years (for example, the years 1700, 1800, and 1900) will *not* be leap years although they are divisible by four (they will have no February 29), and only a centesimal year in which the numer of centries is divisible by 4 (such as the years 1600 and 2000) will be leap years. (This means that according to their calculations, the year is 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes and 12 seconds long. This is actually off by approximately 26 seconds, but it is close enough for most practical purposes. It will only cause the calendar to be ahead by one day after 3,323 years.)

At that time, the Jewish authorities agreed that it was not necessary to institute a parallel change to the Jewish solar calendar with regard to calculating when the Tekufos occur (which, in Halachah, affects the date to begin asking for rain and to recite Birchas ha'Chamah). We still rely on Shmuel's calculation. However, as a result of the change made by the Gregorian calendar, sixty days after the Tekufah was changed from November 21 (the night which becomes November 22 at midnight) to December 1. In 1700, when another leap year was skipped by the Gregorian calendar, the day for saying "v'Sen Tal u'Matar" became December 2, and in 1800 it moved up to December 3 (this is the date given by the Chayei Adam and his 19th century contemporaries). In 1900, the date was moved up to December 4. This is why "v'Sen Tal u'Matar" is said in Chutz la'Aretz beginning from December 4 (or 5, in the year preceding a leap year) today.

It is comforting to note that this date, December 4 (or 5), will not change upon the arrival of the year 2000 since that year is a centesimal year divisible by 400, which *is* a leap year according to the Gregorian calendar -- giving us one less thing to worry about for Y2K. Only in the year 2100 will we have to change the date for starting to say "v'Sen Tal u'Matar" in the Golah, and Mashi'ach will certainly arrive well before that date.

10b

AGADAH: The Beraisa says that if one mistakenly ate on a public fast day he should not make himself seen in public, so that all of the people fasting should not feel bad when they see that he is not suffering (Rashi). The idea that one should avoid exulting while others are suffering is derived from the verse (Bereishis 42:1) in which Yakov Avinu, who had ample food to eat, told his sons not to let themselves be seen as satiated among the others people of the land, who were suffering from famine. For this reason, Rashi points out, Yakov sent his sons to Mitzrayim to buy food even though they did not need food to eat, since they had plenty and were not suffering from the famine.

The Gemara then quotes another verse (Bereishis 45:24), "Al Tirgezu ba'Darech," and explains that Yosef was instructing his brothers not to get involved in learning Torah while traveling, lest they lose their way. The Gemara continues with other similar Halachos for the traveler, and then returns to the topic of sensitivity for others who are suffering.

What does the Halachah of not getting involved in learning Torah while traveling have to do with the Gemara's teaching that one should be sensitive to the suffering of others?

ANSWER: To answer this question, we need to address some other difficulties. First, why did Yakov Avinu himself not instruct his sons to avoid getting involved in learning Torah while traveling? Second, why did Yosef only instruct them on their final trip home? Why did he not tell them to avoid getting involved in learning Torah the first two times that they left Mitzrayim? Third, since they traveled to Mitzrayim to buy food to bring back to Eretz Yisrael during the famine, they were involved in a Mitzvah, and we know that Sheluchei Mitzvah will not come to any harm (Pesachim 8a, Kidushin 39b, Chulin 142b). Why, then, did Yosef have to warn them to be careful?

The third question answers the first two. The fact that Yakov did not instruct them, "Al Tirgezu ba'Darech," shows that Yakov was sending them on a mission of a Mitzvah, and that is why he did not warn them to be careful. When Yosef sent them back, though, they were not on a mission of a Mitzvah, and thus he had to warn them to be careful.

However, the Mitzvah that they were doing was not the Mitzvah of buying food, since they already had food, as our Gemara says. Rather, the Mitzvah that they were performing by traveling was the Mitzvah of being concerned for the feelings of others. The Gemara is showing that regard for the feelings of others is not just a minor concern, but it is an obligation in Hilchos Derech Eretz. It teaches this by demonstrating that when Yakov told his sons to be concerned for the feelings of others by traveling to Mitzrayim (to make it look like they shared the suffering of the famine), he did *not* tell them to be careful, because Sheluchei Mitzvah will not be harmed. This shows that his concern that the natives not see that his sons were not suffering was not just a minor concern, but that it was an actual obligation in Hilchos Derech Eretz.

In contrast, Yosef, when he sent them back, told them to be careful, because they were no longer involved in the Mitzvah of not being seen by those who were suffering, since they had already traveled to Mitzrayim like those who were suffering from the famine (whether or not they actually brought food back home). The fact that Yosef told them to be careful and Yakov did not shows that Yakov had sent them on a mission of a Mitzvah of being concerned for the feelings of others. (RAV YAKOV D. HOMNICK in MARBEH SHALOM #36)

This approach, Rav Homnick points out, answers an additional difficulty in the verses. The verse of "Al Tirgezu ba'Darech" states, "He sent away his brothers, and they went, and he said to them, 'Al Tirgezu ba'Darech.'" The order of the verse is very strange. It says that he told them to be careful after they had already left! It should have written the words "and they went" *after* the words, "and he said to them...!"

Perhaps the answer is that Yosef initially intended to send them to do a Mitzvah, and thus he had no need to warn them to be careful. The Torah relates that Yosef told his brothers not to be concerned about what they had done to him, because it was all part of Hashem's plan (Bereishis 45:5). He told them that Hashem sent him to Mitzrayim in order to insure the survival of his family (45:7), and that it was only Hashem Who sent him there to make him the head of Pharaoh's household and ruler over Mitzrayim (45:8). Yosef told his brothers to tell their father that Hashem has made him master over Mitzrayim. Thus, Yosef was sending his brothers on a mission of a Mitzvah, to relate the greatness of Hashem's providence.

"He sent away his brothers" with a particular Mitzvah to perform, but "they went," though, with their own agenda. They began to leave without accepting their mission. Indeed, when they returned to Yakov, they did not relate to him what Yosef had told them to say. They did not mention that Hashem had caused Yosef to become ruler in Mitzrayim. All they said to their father was that Yosef is still alive and that he was ruler over Mitzrayim (45:26). They did not mention that it was Hashem's doing.

When Yosef saw that his brothers were not accepting upon themselves to perform the Mitzvah that he was sending them to do (the Mitzvah of relating the greatness of Hashem's providence), he realized that they would not be considered Sheluchei Mitzvah, and so at that point he had to warn them to be careful, "Al Tirgezu ba'Darech!"