Taanit 19 - December 1, 27 Kislev

If a calamity befalls a city or rain doesn't fall, does the nearby city also need to fast and blow the shofar? On what does it depend? When is something considered a plague on account of which fasting is needed - how many deaths in how many days? For what types of calamities can the community cry out in prayer even on Shabbat? One can pray for all sorts of things except if too many rains come and they want to ask for the rains to stop as in the story of Honi HaMaagel. The Mishna describes the whole story about Honi when he prayed for rain and how many stages he had to go through until the rains came in the way he wanted. When the rains were too great and the people asked him to pray for it to stop, he refused as one does not pray for rains to stop. Shimon ben Shetach was surprised by Honi brazen manner in which he demanded rain from God, but conceded that God in fact listened to Honi and therefore it is hard to say anything against him. If one's prayers are answered during the day in which one is fasting, does one continue to fast until the end of the day or is there no need? What is the difference between a famine and a drought? What are different types of rains that some can be good for crops but bad for trees or good for trees but bad for reservoirs, etc? On what issues does one not fast for during the shmita year? Once the Temple was destroyed, the amount of rain decreased and some years there is less rain than needed or the rains do not come in their proper time. A story is told of Nakdimon ben Gurion who borrowed water from a rich gentile for the Jews to have when they came to the Temple for the holiday. He committed to pay a lot of money in the event that he didn't return the water in time. The day the loan was due came and there was still no rain. The gentile began to mock Nakdimon, but Nakdimon claimed that he still had until the end of the day to pay back the loan. The story continues on the next daf...