Special Features
for Pesach

A Pesach Thought...

The greatness of Pesach is that it is not contained within the Seder night or a seven day holiday. Its presence is felt and its message is transmitted in almost every area of Jewish Life and practice.

When the Hagada asks, "Maybe from Rosh Chodesh?" - we answer that there are certain aspects of Pesach that can only be done on Seder night. Yet a bit earlier in the Hagada, we analyzed the pasuk of remembering Mitzrayim ALL THE DAYS OF YOUR LIFE.

We have weekly mitzvot that directly link to the Exodus, and we have daily reminders. Even the basic statement of belief - one of the very few words we were to hear directly from Him - I Am the Lord your G-d...

Yetzi'at Mitzrayim is not just something we commemorate, it is something that defines our very identity. Everything we are and everything we do is linked back to our experiences in Egypt. Even G-d's original covenant with Avraham Avinu was tied to our future Egypt experience.

We stop asking for TAL U'MATAR with Mincha on Erev Pesach. We continue to say MASHIV HARUACH in Maariv and Shacharit of the first day of Pesach. Then we say T'FILAT TAL and from Musaf of the first day of Pseach, we will be saying MORID HATAL. And at Maariv following Yom Tov, we will begin saying V'TEIN BRACHA in the weekday Amida.

Those shuls that say T'filat Tal when they put the Torahs back in the Aron (Minhag Yerushalayim), definitely "drop" GESHEM from the silent Musaf Amida, until Simchat Torah.

Many (most) shuls in Jerusalem, and pretty much the rest of the world, say T'FILIAT TAL at the beginning of the repetition of the musaf Amida. The Gabbai is supposed to announce MORID HATAL (accompanied by an authoritative bang on the table) before our silent Amida. If he does this, we switch to Morid HaTal in the silent Amida. Without that announcement, we would continue saying GESHEM in our silent Musaf Amida, and consider the subsequent T'FILAT TAL to be the official announcement to switch.

Jews who live in Chutz LaAretz and daven Nusach Ashkenaz, do not have a summer replacement for GESHEM. They will say MASHIV...GESHEM in their private Musaf, and drop it after TAL, i.e. at Mincha.

If one mistakenly says MASHIV HARUACH U'MORID HAGASHEM after T'FILAT TAL, the Amida is considered invalid and must be repeated. Catching oneself within the second bracha of the Amida, requires backtracking to the beginning of that bracha and saying from there - ATA GIBOR...

Forgetting MORID HATAL does not require repeating or even returning to say it.

If one is not sure whether he said it properly or not, if a habit has not yet been established (saying it correctly at least 90 times - approx. a month), then one must assume that it was NOT said correctly - see previous paragraph. If one has already established a habit (90 times), then the assumption is that it was said properly, and no remedial action is called for. If one's doubt developed after a time, one need not consider that a real doubt. Only if immediately upon completion of the Amida one has a doubt, then he acts as above.

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