Tal to Matar: The Significance of the MarCheshvan

(2) May my discourse come down as the rain, My speech distill as the dew Like showers on young growth, Like droplets on the grass. (3) For the name of יקוק I proclaim; Give glory to our God!

(28) “May God give you Of the dew of heaven and the fat of the earth, Abundance of new grain and wine.

(1) ויתן לך...מטל השמים, something that you will require. Yitzchok did not mention rain, seeing that dew is always beneficial whereas rain can prove very destructive on occasion, as we know from the deluge or when it falls at the wrong time.

(13) In the evening quail appeared and covered the camp; in the morning there was a fall of dew about the camp.(14) When the fall of dew lifted, there, over the surface of the wilderness, lay a fine and flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground.

§ It is taught in another baraita: With regard to dew and with regard to wind, the Sages did not obligate one to mention them by reciting: He makes the wind blow and the dew fall, in the second blessing of the Amida, but if one seeks to mention them, he may mention them. The Gemara asks: What is the reason that this recitation is optional? Rabbi Ḥanina said: Because winds and dew are consistent and not withheld,And dew, from where do we derive that it is not withheld? As it is written: “And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab: As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be no dew or rain in these years but according to my word” (I Kings 17:1), and it is written: “Go, show yourself before Ahab, and I will send rain upon the land” (I Kings 18:1). God stated that He will resume rainfall, whereas He did not say to Elijah that He will restore dew. What is the reason? Because dewis not withheld, and therefore it continued even during this time of drought. The Gemara asks: And since dew is not withheld, why did Elijah swear that there would be no dew as well as no rain? The Gemara explains that this is what Elijah said to Ahab: Not only will there be no rainfall, but even the dew of blessing, which helps crops grow, will not come. This prediction was indeed fulfilled. The Gemara asks: But if so, let God restore the dew of blessing when He ended the drought of rain, in the aforementioned verse. The Gemara answers: This was not necessary, because the matter is not recognizable, i.e., people cannot distinguish between dew of blessing and the regular dew which is always present.

(25) Dew—to revive

(26) who rest in] the clefts of rocks.

(27) Our God and God of our fathers!

(28) Dew—grant it to favor Your land.

(29) Designate us for blessing in Your joy—

(30) with abundant grain and wine—

(31) by Your bounty.

(32) Re-establish [Jerusalem] the city of Your desire

(33) —through dew

(34) Dew—decree it for a year that is good,

(35) and crowned [with]

(3) If you follow My laws and faithfully observe My commandments,(4) I will grant your rains in their season, so that the earth shall yield its produce and the trees of the field their fruit.(5) Your threshing shall overtake the vintage, and your vintage shall overtake the sowing; you shall eat your fill of bread and dwell securely in your land.

(1) גשמיכם בעתם, “your rains at their appointed times.” If these rains would descend at the wrong time they would make your crops rot instead of ripen.

(10) For as the rain or snow drops from heaven And returns not there, But soaks the earth And makes it bring forth vegetation, Yielding seed for sowing and bread for eating

(17) For יקוק’s anger will flare up against you, shutting up the skies so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its produce; and you will soon perish from the good land that יקוק is assigning to you.

(5) when no shrub of the field*shrub of the field I.e., suitable for pasturage. was yet on earth and no grasses of the field*grasses of the field I.e., cereal grasses, suitable as crops. had yet sprouted, because God יקוק had not sent rain upon the earth and there were no human beings to till the soil,

(2) כי לא המטיר BECAUSE GOD HAD NOT CAUSED IT TO RAIN — And what is the reason that God had not caused it to rain? כי אדם אין לעבוד את האדמה BECAUSE THERE WAS NO MAN TO TILL THE GROUND, and there was, therefore, no one to recognize the utility of rain. When Adam came (was created), however, and he realised that it was necessary for the world, he prayed for it and it fell, so that trees and verdure sprang forth.

Ḥoni again said before God: I did not ask for this harmful rain either, but for rain of benevolence, blessing, and generosity. Subsequently, the rains fell in their standard manner, until all of the people sought higher ground and ascended to the Temple Mount due to the rain. They said to him: Rabbi, just as you prayed that the rains should fall, so too, pray that they should stop. He said to them: This is the tradition that I received, that one does not pray over an excess of good... [Shimon Ben Shetach responds] However, what can I do to you, as you nag God and He does your bidding, like a son who nags his father and his father does his bidding. And the son says to his father: Father, take me to be bathed in hot water; wash me with cold water; give me nuts, almonds, peaches, and pomegranates. And his father gives him. About you, the verse states: “Your father and mother will be glad and she who bore you will rejoice” (Proverbs 23:25).

(3) 3. The sefardic custom is to say both mashiv haruch and morid hatal in the summer.

(1)The Laws of the Mentioning of the Wind and Rain and Dew. Containing 9 S'ifim
We start to say "Who makes the wind blow and rain fall" in the second blessing in the Musaf prayer [i.e. Amidah] of the latter Yom Tov of "Chag" [the Sukkot-Shemini Atzeret holiday] (i.e. Shemini Atzeret), and we do not stop [saying it] until the Musaf prayer [i.e. Amidah] of the first Yom Tov of Pesach.

(15) The nations are but a drop in a bucket,
Reckoned as dust on a balance;
The very coastlands are lifted like motes.

One must write Marcheshvan as a single word and if it is written as two words - Mar Cheshvan - I am in doubt that it is legitimate. Even if one says that this is acceptable, I am still in doubt in a case when Mar is written at the end of one line and Cheshvan at the beginning of the next. It appears to me that Mar is its own word meaning, as some people explain, that the rains fall in this month and Mar refers to raindrops as it is written "The nations are but a drop in a bucket..." (Isaiah 40:15)