Motzei Shabbos Parshas Noach is leil zayin Marcheshvan, the night Eretz Yisroel starts saying V'sein Tal U'matar Livrocha, while Chutz La'aretz waits until sixty days after the tekufah. That raises the question of where Eretz Yisroel ends: the Golan, the Arava down to Eilat, soldiers stationed in Sinai, and the kehillos Down Under whose seasons run the other way. And once the night comes, which words are me'akeiv, and where does a person put them in if he forgot.

In this episode:

- Whether the Golan, Eilat and soldiers in Sinai start on zayin Cheshvan, and the Ramban on yishuv Eretz Yisroel in kivush Olei Mitzrayim

- The Ritva, the Ra'ah and the Orchos Chaim on starting right after Sukkos, and Rav Chaim Shabsai and the Halichos Shlomo on one who already did

- Tal, matar, livrocha and al pnei ha'adama: which words are me'akeiv, and why leil zayin is different from Ya'aleh V'yavo at night

- The hachraza and the clap before Shmoneh Esrei, and where it goes if forgotten: Bareich Aleinu, between the brachos, Shma Koleinu, or back after R'tzei

- U'lemikveh hamayim kara yamim: the Ramban on the name Yam, the galei hayam in Bava Basra, and what happened to the gvul of the yam in the Mabul

Sources: Shulchan Aruch and Rema OC 117:1, Rambam, Teshuvos HaRosh, Rav Chaim Shabsai (quoted by Rabbi Akiva Eiger), Ramban (Gittin), Mishnah Berurah, Ritva (Ta'anis 10), Chiddushei HaRa'ah (Ta'anis), Orchos Chaim, Halichos Shlomo (Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach), Pri Megadim, Shulchan Shlomo, Aruch HaShulchan OC 117, Mishnah Berurah 117:6, Halachos Ketanos, Shulchan Aruch, Rema and Magen Avraham OC 236, Kaf HaChaim, Chazon Ish, Igros Moshe OC 4, Ravya (OC 114), Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, Teshuvos VeHanhagos 2:58 (Rav Moshe Sternbuch), Da'as Noteh and Ishei Yisroel (Rav Chaim Kanievsky), Yerushalmi. Machshavah section: Ramban and Rabbeinu Bachya (Bereishis 1:9-10), Gemara Bava Basra 73a, Yirmiyahu, Gemara Chagigah 12, Nefesh HaChaim (Sha'ar Aleph and Sha'ar Daled), Ramban (Toras Hashem Temimah), Medrash in Rabbeinu Bachya, Maharal (Gur Aryeh).

Right before Hoshana Rabbah a man in Eretz Yisroel called with a shailah. Rain was expected over Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah, which in Eretz Yisroel are one day, and he was leaving to spend Yom Tov at his parents' house. He wanted to take his sukkah down before he went. The Mishnah says gamar le'echol, lo yatir es sukkaso, and the Rishonim give three different reasons for it.

In this episode:

- Rashi's ta'am, that the whole day is still for sleeping and learning in the sukkah, and why the Tur and the Mishnah Berurah bring only his reason

- Whether eating in a sukkas chaveiro is a tza'ar, and whether a son at his parents' house is echad mi'bnei beisam

- The Ran's chiddush that a person needs a sukkah kol shiv'a: a mitzvah of binyan sukkah or only a hechsher mitzvah, and why you are pocheis bo daled al daled

- Reb Shlomo Zalman and Rav Elyashiv on the Ran, the Meiri's bizuy mitzvah and prikas ol, and the Chashukei Chemed on taking down the s'chach in the rain

- Why the Torah begins with Bereishis: the Ramban on the geirushin of Adam HaRishon, the Dor HaMabul and the Dor HaFlaga, and ki ba'avodaso yinchaluha

Sources: Mishnah Sukkah 48, Rashi, Ritva, Rema OC 640:4 and Mishnah Berurah, Tur and Mishnah Berurah OC 666, Ran, Divrei Menachem (Rav Menachem Mendel Kasher), Gemara and Rashi Makkos 8, Rema OC 624, Tosafos, Minchas Shlomo, Orchos Ish (Rav Elyashiv), Meiri, Rabbeinu Yonah, Semag, Rabbeinu Chananel, Chashukei Chemed (Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein, Sukkah 48), the Gra on the Rashba. Machshavah section: Rashi (Bereishis 1:1), Ramban (Bereishis 1:1 and 1:10).

In perek zayin of Hilchos Teshuvah the Rambam writes that since every person is a baal bechirah, he should be mishtadel to do teshuvah and lena'er kapav me'chet, so that he dies a baal teshuvah and merits chayei olam haba. One sentence, and four kashos: what bechirah has to do with it, why "yishtadel" when teshuvah is a chiyuv, why the ikar seems to be lifnei misasav when perek beis says teshuvah gemurah is miyad, and how olam haba can be the reason when perek yud calls avodah al menas lekabel schar a lower madreigah. In this Shabbos Shuva drasha the Rav works through each one.

In this episode:

- Why the Rambam says one must do teshuvah even from deos ra'os, when Hilchos Deos only asks us to keep recalibrating to the derech ha'emtza'is

- What being b'tzelem Elokim means for the world a person builds with his own actions

- Schar mitzvah mitzvah and the Ramban's pshat in al menas lekabel pras

- Ya'azov rasha darko ve'ish aven machshevosav, and the shofar's call of uru yesheinim mi'shnaschem

- Konam einai b'sheinah, mehalech k'omed, and a mussar on davening with chiyus

Sources: Rambam Hilchos Teshuvah 7:1-3, 1:1, 2:1-2, 3:4, 5, 10; Hilchos Deos 1; Avos 1:3; Yeshayahu 55; Nedarim (konam einai b'sheinah); Shabbos (mehalech k'omed, Ben Azzai) with Tosafos; Rebbe Akiva Eiger. Machshavah section: Gra on tzelem Elokim, Reb Chaim Volozhiner, hakdamah to Shir HaShirim attributed to the Ramban, Reb Leibele Eiger.