Laws of supplications for rain prayed for in the Land of Israel, and it has thirteen clauses: 1. The order of fasts observed in the Land of Israel for rain: When the 17th of Marcheshvan arrives and no rain has fallen, the scholars begin to observe fasts. Only the advanced students fast three times, on Monday, Thursday, and Monday. All students are eligible for this, and the rules of these fasts are like those of an individual fast.
2. When the first day of the month of Kislev arrives and no rain has fallen, the court decrees three communal fasts: on Monday, Thursday, and Monday. The entire community enters the synagogues, prays, cries out, and entreats, following the customary practice during all fasts.
3. If these passed by and were not answered, the court decreed three additional fasts on the public: Monday, Thursday, and Monday. On these days, one must refrain from eating from dawn, and it is forbidden to engage in work during the day, but not at night. Bathing the entire body in hot water is prohibited. Therefore, they immerse in lukewarm water, but they may wash their face, hands, and feet in hot water, and the rest of the body in cold water is allowed. They are also forbidden from anointing themselves with oil, except if it is to remove dirt. They are forbidden from marital relations on these days. They are also forbidden from wearing leather shoes in the city. However, they pray in synagogues and supplicate like on other fasts.
4. If these passed by (and were not answered) seven additional fasts are decreed by the beis din on the public: Monday and Thursday, Monday and Thursday, Monday and Thursday, and Monday. Everything that is prohibited on the three [previous] fasts is also forbidden on these. These are permitted [additional practices] for which they blow the shofar to awaken the public. They recite additional blessings, pray in the streets of the city, rebuke the people, add six blessings in the morning and afternoon prayers, wear sackcloth, and on Monday evening, they start [the fast] a bit. (Those familiar in selling food and drink) (B"Y in the name of Rashi) in order for people to find for purchase for the Friday night meal, on Thursday, all day, those who sell food open their shops due to the honor of Shabbat. If a shop has two entrances, they open one and close the other. If a shop has a small side entrance, they open it as usual on Thursday, and there is no concern.
5. Pregnant women and nursing mothers fast, but not during the first three and last seven months [of pregnancy]. However, they should only eat enough to sustain the fetus, (and it is forbidden for them to take on additional stringencies and fasting) (Responsa Teshuvot Shaul, Siman 498).
6. After decreeing these thirteen fasts, if they were not answered, no additional fasts are decreed. These matters apply when fasting for rain, as when these [fasts] pass, the rainy season has already elapsed, and there is no benefit in fasting for rain. However, for other calamities, they fast and continue until they are answered.
7. When fasting for rain, and these thirteen fasts have passed without being answered, they diminish in business transactions and building for joy (unless a wall is inclined to fall) (Tur). And they reduce engagements and marriages unless the commandment of procreation and multiplication is not fulfilled. They also reduce greetings between one person and another, and scholars should not greet each other except with a nod or a slight inclination to the head. And when an ignoramus extends a greeting, they respond to him with soft speech and a bowed head. However, scholars alone return the greeting. They fast on Monday and Thursday, and Monday, until the arrival of the Nisan equinox. And it is permissible to eat at night, engage in work, and other matters. They cease fasting on Rosh Chodesh, Chanukah, and Purim. Once the Nisan equinox has arrived, and it is when the sun reaches the beginning of the zodiac sign of Taurus, they no longer fast because rain is not expected at this time. It is considered a sign of a curse since significant rainfall does not occur at the beginning of the year
8. All this order applies when there is no rainfall at all, but if rain falls in the fourth part [of the rainy season (the term 'the fourth part' refers to the rain that falls to stimulate the growth of every plant and herb of the earth. It is called 'a quarter' because it penetrates and goes beyond the ground, as it is written, 'For as the rain comes down, and so on, and gave seed to the sower and bread to the eater.) when the herbs sprout and begin to wither, they fast and cry out until rain falls or until the plants dry up. Similarly, if the time for Passover arrives or is approaching, which is the time of the blossoming of the trees in the Land of Israel, and there is no rainfall, these individuals fast and cry out until suitable rain falls for the trees, or until their season passes. Similarly, if the festival of Sukkot arrives, and there is not enough rain to fill the cisterns, pits, and caves, they fast until the appropriate rain for filling them falls. And if they do not have water for drinking, they fast for rain at any time when they do not have water to drink, even during the hot days. If there is a break in rainfall between one rain and another for 40 days, it is considered a drought. They fast, cry out until rain falls, or until their season passes.
9. In the land of Israel and similar places, but in their respective locations, their rainy season begins before the seventeenth of Marheshvan. If, by that time, rain has not fallen, they fast on Monday, Thursday, and Monday, and pause again at the beginning of the months of Hanukkah and Purim. Afterwards, they continue in intervals of six days. If rain still hasn't come by the 24th of Marheshvan, they decree thirteen fasts in order, as we have mentioned
10. All communal fasts imposed outside the land, one may eat at night, and their regulations are like those of other fasts not decreed for the community, such as Yom Kippur. This applies only in the land of Israel and is due to rain. In those ten communal fasts, which are three in the middle and seven at the end
11. They would fast for rain, and they were answered based on how much rain fell. They would cease the fast when the water reached a depth of one handbreadth in the plowed land, two handbreadths in uncultivated land, and three handbreadths in a well-irrigated field; (And the measure of how much rain is needed to recite the blessing on them is discussed above in Section 231). And if rain begins to fall after midnight, they should complete that day (and see above, Section 459, at its end). If it began to rain before midday, they should not complete that day. Instead, they should eat, drink, and celebrate the festival. In the evening, they should gather and recite the complete Hallel.
12. The complete Hallel is recited only when they were answered on the day of their fast; specifically, if they were not answered until the day following their fast, it is not recited.
13. If rain falls for them on the night of their fast before dawn, the complete Hallel is not recited.