Tilting at Windmills to Make it Rain

Source: The Jewish Pray for Rain in the Post-Talmudic Diaspora by Arnold A. Lasker and Daniel J. Lasker

סידור אשכנז, ימי חול, תפילת שחרית, עמידה, ברכת השנים א׳-ו׳

בָּרֵךְ עָלֵֽינוּ יי אֱלֹקֵֽינוּ אֶת־הַשָּׁנָה הַזֹּאת וְאֶת־כָּל־מִינֵי תְבוּאָתָהּ לְטוֹבָה, וְתֵן בימות החמה: בְּרָכָה בימות הגשמים: טַל וּמָטָר לִבְרָכָה עַל פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה וְשַׂבְּ֒עֵֽנוּ מִטּוּבֶֽךָ וּבָרֵךְ שְׁנָתֵֽנוּ כַּשָּׁנִים הַטּוֹבוֹת: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יי מְבָרֵךְ הַשָּׁנִים:

Siddur Ashkenaz, Weekday, Shacharit, Amidah, Prosperity 1-6

Blessing of the Years / Birkat ha-Shanim

Bless for us, Adonoy our God, this year and all the varieties of its produce for good; and bestow

From the first day of Pesach until the evening service on December 4, or, on a civil leap year, December 5, we say the following line.

blessing

From the evening service on December 4, or, on a civil leap year, December 5, until the First day of Pesach, we say the following line.

dew and rain for a blessing

upon the face of the earth; satisfy us from Your bounty and bless our year, like the good years. Blessed are You, Adonoy, Blesser of the years.

Babylonian practice was different from that of the Land of Israel. The Talmud reports that Hananiah pointed out that the Babylonian Jews started to say tal u-matar much later than the 7th of Marheshvan. They did not beign to do so until the 60th day from Tequfat Tishrei (the autumn equinox). This practice was subsequently declared by Samuel to be the halakhah for Babylonian Jews. Both groups agreed on when to stop saying it, the last weekday service prior to Passover.

תענית י״ד ב:ד׳-ו׳

שְׁלַחוּ לֵיהּ בְּנֵי נִינְוֵה לְרַבִּי: כְּגוֹן אֲנַן, דַּאֲפִילּוּ בִּתְקוּפַת תַּמּוּז בָּעֵינַן מִטְרָא, הֵיכִי נַעֲבֵיד? כִּיחִידִים דָּמֵינַן אוֹ כְּרַבִּים דָּמֵינַן? כִּיחִידִים דָּמֵינַן וּבְ״שׁוֹמֵעַ תְּפִלָּה״, אוֹ כְּרַבִּים דָּמֵינַן וּבְבִרְכַּת הַשָּׁנִים? שְׁלַח לְהוּ: כִּיחִידִים דָּמֵיתוּ וּבְ״שׁוֹמֵעַ תְּפִלָּה״

Taanit 14b:4-6

The Gemara relates a story on a similar topic: The inhabitants of Nineveh sent a question to Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi: People such as us, who require rain even during the season of Tammuz, and who live in areas where rain falls all year round, what should we do when there is a drought during the summer? Are we likened to individuals or are we likened to a community? The Gemara explains the practical difference between these two options: Are we likened to individuals and therefore we pray for rain in the blessing: Who listens to prayer [Shome'a Tefilah]? Or are we likened to a community and we pray for rain in the ninth blessing, the blessing of the years [Birkat ha-Shanim]? He sent his answer to them: You are likened to individuals and therefore you pray for rain in the blessing: Who listens to prayer.

From the extand sources, we learn that the general practice among the Jews of Europe was to follow the Babylonian procedure of starting to say tal u-matar on the 60th day from the atumnal equinox.
The only exception to this general rule seems to have been in Provence. Most of our sources point to a difference practice, namely, beginning the request for rain on the seventh of Marheshvan. [matching the Israeli custom]

Rosh's Great Adventure

In a responsum occasioned by a drought in Spain in 5073 (1313 CE), and written during Hol ha-Mo'ed Passover of that year, Rosh described his efforts he had made [to modify the dates of tal u-matar] over a long period of time.
(Rosh apologized at the end of the responsum for writing during Hol ha-Mo'ed, which was against his custom. Since, however, the matter was so pressing, and since there are elements of the responsum that dealt with the holiday, he made an exception in this case.)

In his native Germany, Rosh had helt that rain was necessary from the middle of Tishrei to Shavout, and that it was especially needed in the early fall - before the sixtieth day from the equinox - to protect the newly sown seeds from being eaten by rats and chickens. He, therefore, had argued with his Jewish countrymen there against the practice of limiting the prayer for rain to the period from the sixtieth day from the equinox to Passover.
Rosh, therefure, urged his fellow German Jews to pray for rain between the seventh of Marsheshvan and Shavout by inserting the words tal u-matar in the Blessing of the Years at that time. When confronted with Rabbi Juda ha-Hasi's instructions to the inhabitants of Nineveh that they should say their prayer only in Shome'a Tefilah, he responded that the two situations were different. Nineveh was only a city; Germany was a whole country. Since the entire country needed rain at a time other than the traditional period, the Jews there were within their rights to incorporate the prayer into the Birkat ha Shanim.
None of Rosh's fellow German Jews disputed his reasoning, since they recognized the logic of his position. Nevertheless, they refused to listen to his recommendations that they change their custom.

Passing through Provence on his way from Germany to Spain (in 1303 CE) Rosh faced a somewhat different situation. There he was pleased to learn that the Jews in Montpellier began saying tal u-matar on the seventh of Marheshvan. When he was told, however, that they stopped saying it at Passover, he asked whether this was because they had no need for rain after that time. When they answer that, indeed, they did need rain, Rosh repeated to them the position he had taken with the German Jews, i.e. that the Jews of each country should ask for rain when they need it. The Provencal reaction was similar to the German reaction, namely that Rosh's logic was sound, but custom is custom.

Whe he reached Spain, Rosh saw that the need for rain there was even greater than in Germany or Provence. Though he mentioned to his colleagues several times that they ought to ask for rain between Passover and Shavout, he did not make a public issue of it at the time so as to not change the local custom.
This brings us to the year 1313, when he wrote his responsum on the subject. Because of the drought refered to above, Spanish Jews were fasting for rain and saying special prayers on Sabbaths and holidays. Now, he thought, was a propitious time to bring about the change he wanted. If he could convince Spanish Jews to say tal u-matar this year until Shavout, he felt, they would find the practice agreeable and continue it in following years. So, once again, Rosh tried to convince a group of Jews to follow the logic of the situation rather than the custom.

In Rosh's own words, "The heart of the community was unwilling to accept the words of the living God."