Praying for the rain: Starting the agricultural year on the right foot
Prayers for rain are among the earliest liturgical texts, and withholding it is regarded in the Bible as a punishment.
By DVORA WAYSMANRain in Jerusalem(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Simhat Torah is the time to rejoice and to celebrate the completion of the reading of the Law. Yet a little known, but important, aspect of the holiday is the fact that Jews pray for rain. After all the joyous processions with the Torah scrolls, after the singing, dancing and merriment, when the scrolls are returned to the Ark, we recite the prayer for rain.Why pray for rain, and why at this particular time? For Jews who live in the Southern Hemisphere it doesn’t even make sense, for in that part of the world summer is approaching, yet they are still required to make the petition. And is a winter of hard rain really necessary in Chicago?Historically, when the Jewish nation was forced to leave its homeland and scatter in the Diaspora, the holidays related to Judaism were already firmly intertwined with the physical realities of the Land of Israel, with its landscape, nature and agricultural problems. Tishrei, the seventh month, is linked to the start of the winter rains. Even today, in an era of irrigation, crops in Israel will no doubt fail if a winter of drought is realized.We are commanded in Exodus 23:16: “You shall keep the festival of the ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the fields the fruit of your labor.” The festival referred to is Sukkot, of which Simhat Torah is the holiday’s eighth-day addendum. By “the end of the year” is meant the end of the agricultural year. In biblical times, crops still in the fields were hastily gathered for storage before the winter rains. The figs and grapes were brought in from the rooftops where they had been drying in the sun; olives were pressed for oil or marinated for eating and the date clusters were cut from the palm trees.The liturgical poems plead for abundant water because of the merit of our ancestors. Prayers for rain are among the earliest liturgical texts, and withholding it is regarded in the Bible as a punishment. God is acknowledged as the power causing rain, and in the prayers He is petitioned for fertility of the fields and preservation from famine.According to the Mishna, the world is judged through water. Today, with the Jewish people again settled in Israel, there is an even greater awareness of the unbroken unity of the Land of Israel and the Nation of Israel.No matter in which part of the world Jews may live today, Judaism has only one tradition, which centers around the belief in one God who controls all the forces of nature, the fate of all crops and the destiny of all nations.It is fitting that when we celebrate on Simhat Torah, we pray for good winter rains that will ensure fertility for the Land of Israel.• The writer is the author of 14 books, including The Pomegranate Pendant – now a movie titled The Golden Pomegranate. Her latest novel is Searching for Sarah.She can be reached at dwaysman@gmail.com.Blog: www.dvorawaysman.com
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