Note 98 — II. OUR DUTIES. (continued 4)

Lit. “the eighth day, a festival.”—A prayer for rain (‏גשם‎) is inserted in the Musaf-Service, and corresponds to the prayer for dew on the first day of Passover; for fine weather we pray on the first day of the Festival, for rain on the eighth day. From Shemini-atsereth to the Musaf of the first day of Passover the words ‏משיב הרוח ומוריד הגשם‎ “Thou causest the wind to blow and the rain to fall,” are inserted in the second paragraph of the Amidah. The words do not contain a direct prayer for rain, but a praise of Him who causes the rain to fall (‏גבורות גשמים‎), whilst the daily direct prayer for rain (‏ותן טל ומטר‎ “Give dew and rain”) begins about two months later,—the time when the pilgrims that had come from distant countries to Jerusalem to the Festival were assumed to have reached their homes. ↑