For the source text click/tap here: Nedarim 63
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If one takes a vow until the rains, or until there are rains, the vow remains in effect until the second rain of the rainy season falls. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: Until the time of the second rainfall arrives, even if rain does not fall. If one takes a vow until the rains end, the vow remains in effect until the entire month of Nisan has ended; this is the statement of Rabbi Meir.
Rebbi Meir says that the first rain is the third of Cheshvan, the second rain is the seventh and the third rain is the twenty third.
Rebbi Yehudah holds that the first rain is the seventh of Cheshvan, the second rain is the seventeenth and the third rain is the twenty third.
Rebbi Yosi holds that the first rain is the seventeenth of Cheshvan, the second rain is the twenty third and the third rain is Rosh Chodesh Kislev.
The time of the first rain is when we start reciting v'Sen Tal u’Matar.
We explore the history of the recitation of the rain prayer and how it differed historically and among different communities.