**Rabbi Mansour's Seudat Shelishi lecture this Shabbat, will begin with Mincha at 5:30 PM, and this week it shall take place in the main floor sancturary at Har HaLebanon.**
During the winter season, beginning from Shemini Atzeret, we insert in the Amidah the phrase, "Mashiv Ha'ru'ach U'morid Ha'geshem" in place of "Morid Ha'tal." If a person forgot to recite "Mashiv Ha'ru'ach," and mistakenly recited "Morid Ha'tal," must he repeat the Amidah, and, if so, under which circumstances does this apply?
According to all opinions, if one caught his mistake before concluding that Beracha, meaning, before he recited the Beracha, "Baruch Ata Hashem Mechayei Ha'meitim," he simply returns to the point where "Mashiv Ha'ru'ach" is normally recited and continues as usual from there. If, however, he remembered only after he recited "Mechayei Ha'meitim," then, according to the Ben Ish Chai (Rabbi Yosef Chayim of Baghdad, 1833-1909), he should insert "Mashiv Ha'ru'ach" right at that point, before beginning the Beracha of "Ata Kadosh." If he remembered only after he began reciting the Beracha of "Ata Kadosh," then he must return to the beginning of the Amidah.
Chacham Ovadia Yosef, however, in his work Halichot Olam, disagrees. Although the Shulchan Aruch indeed rules that a person who forgot to recite "Mashiv Ha'ru'ach" must repeat the Amidah, he refers only to a case where the person did not recite "Morid Ha'tal," either. But if one mistakenly recited "Morid Ha'tal" instead of "Mashiv Ha'ru'ach," and he caught his mistake after he concluded the Beracha of "Mechayei Ha'meitim," then he should simply continue praying the Amidah as usual, because in such a case the recitation of "Morid Ha'tal" suffices. Even though one would be required to go back and recite "Mashiv Ha'ru'ach" if he realizes his mistake before concluding the Beracha of "Mechayei Ha'meitim," if he concluded this Beracha he need not – and in fact should not – recite "Mashiv Ha'ru'ach" at this point or return to the beginning of the Amidah.
Chacham Ovadia adds that even if one realizes his mistake after reciting the words "Baruch Ata Hashem," before concluding "Mechayei Ha'meitim," he should not insert the words "Lamedeni Chukecha" (as is normally done in such situations) and then go back to recite "Mashiv Ha'ru'ach." Since he recited "Morid Ha'tal," he does not go back to correct his mistake unless he has yet to recite God's Name in the Beracha "Baruch Ata Hashem Mechayei Ha'meitim."
Summary: If one recited "Morid Ha'tal" instead of "Mashiv Ha'ru'ach" in the Amidah and realized his mistake before he recited God's Name in the Beracha "Baruch Ata Hashem Mechayei Ha'meitim," he goes back to recite "Mashiv Ha'ru'ach" and then continues as usual from theree. If he realized his mistake only after he recited "Baruch Ata Hashem," he simply continues praying the Amidah.
