OU Torah Tefillah on OU Tal u’Matar: The Prayer for Dew and Rain By Rabbi Jack Abramowitz

In the winter months, the words “v’sein tal u’matar livracha” (“send dew and rain for a blessing”) are inserted in Shemoneh Esrei, in the bracha “Birkas HaShanim.” (That’s the one that ends “m’vareich hashanim”). Outside of Israel, we start saying the request for dew and rain at Maariv on the sixtieth day after the autumnal equinox, which is typically the fifth of December; in the year before a leap year in the a solar calendar, December 6. In Israel, this insertion begins on 7 Cheshvan. In either case, it is recited until Pesach. [A reader asked why this article says December 5 and 6 rather than December 4 and 5, as it says in his siddur. This is because of a gradual "slippage" that occurs between the Jewish and secular calendars; older siddurim may say December 3, or even December 2. Consult your own rabbi or a reliable luach for matters of practical application.]