MASHIV HA-RU'AḤ

MASHIV HA-RU'AḤ (Heb. מַשִּׁיב הָרוּחַ ; "He causes the wind to blow"), a phrase in the amidah prayer, inserted after the first verse of the second blessing. It has two variants. The one for the winter season, "Thou causest the wind to blow and the rain to fall" is said from the last day of sukkot (after the prayer for rain ) until the last day of passover (until the prayer for dew ), and "who causest the dew to descend" is recited during the summer months in Ereẓ Israel, but only in the Sephardi ritual elsewhere. The praise of God as the dispenser of rain is referred to in the Mishnah (Ber. 5:2; Ta'an. 1:2) which ordains that it should be mentioned together with resurrection of the dead, as the sustenance of the living and the resurrection of the dead are both manifestations of the gevurot ("powers") of God. Another prayer for rain is recited in the ninth blessing of the Amidah. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Elbogen, Gottesdienst, 44ff., 518ff.; JE, 5 (1903), 643–5.