Prayer for the molad of Tammuz, 18.44pm, Wednesday, June 13th, 2018
A special prayer written to mark the molad, or beginning of the new month, of Tammuz 5778
Master of the world, all able, from whom nothing is hidden, in the merit of the Molad of the month of Tammuz, which will fall on Wednesday 6:44 and 7 Chalakim, when on the third of (Tammuz) Hashem stopped the sun and the moon, like it says,
“The sun in Giv’on stopped, and the moon in The Valley of Ayalon, and the sun stopped, and the moon stopped, until the nation TOOK revenge against it enemies.”
Master of the world, all able, in the merit of Yehoshu’a Bin Nun, who stopped the sun and the moon, and in the merit of the eighty students of Hillel, which included thirty students who knew how to stop the sun and the moon, and in the merit of Nakdimon Ben Gurion, for whom the sun נקדה (was punctuated) for him*.
And, in the merit of Abah Techina Chasidah who saved a person from death and through this came home late and the sun had already set (for Shabbat) and all the city gossiped about him that, ‘ Abah Techina Chasidah desecrated the Shabbat’, and then the sun shone again anew for him.
And, in the merit of all the Tzadikim and Tzidkaniot that were in all the generations that the sun continued shining for them, nullify from before me all the not-good decrees that come because of the natural systems, and nullify from before me all the laws of the nature which are from the days of the creation until today.
And also all the laws of nature until the end of all the generations should be nullified before me, like it says, “U’be’yom pakad’ti u’pakad’ti”, from the sin of the gold calf and the sin of the spies, from the selling of Yosef, until the crying for nothing.
==
*See the Gemara, Taanit 19, which describes how all of Am Yisrael came to Jerusalem for a Festival, but there was not enough water for them to drink because of a drought. So Nakdimon ben Gurion, a very wealthy Jew, went to the Roman Governor to borrow twelve cisterns of water from him.
Nakdimon promised to return the water by the end of the rainy season, and if not, that he would pay the Governor twelve talents of silver instead. When that day came, there was still no rain. That day, the Governor sent Nakdimon ben Gurion three messages asking for payment, but Nakdimon argued that he still had until the end of the day.
The Governor went to the Roman baths, to prepare for the celebration he was going to hold when Nakdimon made his fortune, while Nakdimon went to the Temple to pray. He said, “You know God, that I didn’t do this for my own – or my family’s – glory,” and when he concluded his prayers, the rain came down so hard all the cisterns were instantly filled, and even overflowed.
But the Governor met Nakdimon and claimed that because the rain had fallen after sunset, he still owed the money. So Nakdimon went back to the Temple to pray, and the sun miraculously shone again through the clouds again, even though it was past sunset, absolving Nakdimon ben Gurion from his debt.
