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Rain features prominently throughout the Jewish textual tradition. In the Torah, it is repeatedly described as a marker of God's blessing in the land of Israel. Jewish liturgy incorporates special prayers for rain, and rabbinic and philosophical sources are replete with discussions of the significance of rain and the laws and customs associated with asking for rain.
Notable Sources
All Sources
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When to Pray for Rain
MISHNAH
Deeply tied to the survival of ancient agricultural societies and the enduring desire for sustenance and prosperity, rain became a focus of Jewish prayer in antiquity. The Mishnah in Ta’anit records a debate as to when to resume praying for rain after the dry summer months in the land of Israel.
An Advocate for Rain
MIDRASH
As a necessary building block of life in ancient Israel, rain is a blessing. This early medieval midrash (biblical interpretation) suggests that it is the day of Shemini Atzeret itself that is an advocate for rain.
Fasting for Rain
TALMUD
Rain is a common metaphor in Jewish texts for divine blessing and so also signifies the state of the relationship between God and humanity. The Babylonian Talmud in tractate Ta’anit recounts stories in which great rabbis declared fasts for rain and lessons about whose prayers are answered.
Resurrection of the Dead
HALAKHAH
Rain brings life, even to that which is dead. The nineteenth-century chacham of Baghdad, Yosef Hayyim, better known as the Ben Ish Chai, presents a mystical interpretation of rain, linking it to spiritual refinement and resurrection of the dead.
Divine Abundance
CHASIDUT
Chasidic thought ascribes different characteristics and emanations to God and associates blessings and rain with divine abundance. The Zera Kodesh, a Chasidic work by Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Horowitz, connects rain and blessing to Aaron the high priest, the Jewish people, oil, and incense.
The Flood
TANAKH
Ten generations after creation, God brought the flood to destroy nearly all of humanity. By commanding Noah to build an ark to save him from the deluge, God saved Noah, his family, and the animals, while the rain washed away the world around them.
The Prayer for Rain
LITURGY
Shemini Atzeret, the last of the fall festival days, marks the beginning — one hopes — of the rainy season in the land of Israel. It is on this day that the extended prayer for the blessing of rain is traditionally recited.
The Reward for Being Forgiving
MUSAR
What is the connection between praying for rain and practicing forgiveness? Rabbi Israel Salanter — founder of the nineteenth-century Musar movement — explains why Rabbi Akiva’s prayers for rain were answered when Rabbi Eliezer’s weren’t, in reference to a narrative in the Babylonian Talmud.
גשם, ואן גוך. 1889
גשם, ואן גוך. 1889
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