Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 8, scan section 4

having learned this, he proceeds to inform us when rain must be mentioned and prayed for. If so, let him teach us concerning the rain — why does he mention " the power manifested in the descent of rain " ? Said R. Johanan : " Because rain descends with the power of God, as it is written [Job, v. 10] : ' Who giveth rain upon the surface of the earth, and sendeth out waters over the face of the fields ' ; and further it is written [ibid. ix. 10] : ' Who doeth great things which are quite unsearchable, and wonders which are quite without number'" (and rain is also included among these " great things "). Whence do we know, however, that mention must be made of rain in the eighteen benedictions of the daily prayer? Be- cause we have learned in a Boraitha thus : It is written [Deut. xi. 13] : " To love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul." And what service can be per- formed with the heart ? The service of prayer, and immediately following the passage quoted it is said [ibid. 14] : " I will send rain for your land in its due season, the first rain and the latter rain," etc. R. Johanan said : Three keys are in the hands of the Holy One, blessed be He, which are not intrusted to any messenger, and they are : The key of rain, the key for a woman lying-in, and the key for the resurrection of the dead. The key of rain, as it is written [Deut. xxviii. 12] : " The Lord will open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven, to give the rain of thy land in its season " ; the key for a woman lying-in, as it is written [Genesis, xxx. 22] : " And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb " ; and the key for the resurrection of the dead, as it is written [Ezekiel, xxxvii. 13] : " And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and when I cause you to come up out of your graves, O my people." The sages of the West say, that also the key to a man's earnings are in the hands of God alone, as it is written [Psalms, cxlv. 16] : " Thou openest thy hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing." Why did not R. Johanan mention this also? Because R. Johanan may claim that rain itself is the means of earning a live, lihood. " R. Eliezer said: ' From the first day of the Feast of Taber^ nacles" ' The schoolmen propounded a question : Whence does R. Eliezer derive his teaching ? Does he derive it from the palm-branch which is brought along for use at the morning ser- TRACT TAANITH (FASTING). 3 vice only, or from the pouring of water, which is brought also in the evening, as the Master says : " It is written [Numb. xxix. 24] : 1 Their meat-offerings and their drink-offerings ' (in plural), that is to say, that they may be brought even in the evening, and there- fore R. Eliezer holds that mention of the rain should be made even on the eve of the Feast of Tabernacles?" Come and hear : R. Abbahu said : " R. Eliezer derived his teaching from the palm-branch. " Some say, that R. Abbahu had a tradition to that effect, while others hold that he takes it from the following Boraitha : From what time is mention made of rain in the daily prayer? R. Eliezer said : " From the time the palm- branch is taken " {i.e., from the time the morning-prayer is said). R. Jehoshua, however, said : " From the time when the palm- branch is laid aside" {i.e., from the time of the Additional Prayer, when the palm-branch is not used). Said R. Eliezer : " Because the four articles * of the Feast of Tabernacles are used only for the purpose of favorably inclining the judgment concerning rain ; and as those four articles cannot grow without water, neither can the world exist without water, therefore mention of rain must be made even in the morning." And R. Jehoshua replied : " But rain during the festival of Tabernacles is considered an unpro- pitious event ! " (because it prevents the sitting in the booth). Whereupon R. Eliezer rejoined : " I do not mean to say that rain should be prayed for but merely that it should be mentioned, and it is the same as the mention of the resurrection of the dead, which though this can take place only at the appointed time, it is nevertheless mentioned all the year round. Therefore if a man desires to mention rain in the prayer the whole year, he may do so." Rabbi, however, said : " I say, that when a man ceases to pray for rain, he should also cease mentioning it." And R. Jehu- dah ben Bathyra said : " Mention of the rain should begin to be made on the second day of the Feast of Tabernacles." R. Aqiba said : " Even on the sixth day." R. Jehudah in the name of R. Jehoshua said : " The last of the ministers of the congregation who on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles officiates at the reading-desk should mention the rain ; but not he who offici- ates first. On the first day of the Passover, the minister who officiates first should still mention it, but not he who officiates last." * See Leviticus, xxiii. 40. 4 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. We have learned in a Boraitha : Our sages did not impose the duty on a man to make mention of the dew and wind in the prayer ; but if he desires to do so, he may. Why so ? Said R. Hanina : Because dew and wind are never withheld. Whence do I know this? Because it is written [I Kings, xvii. i] : "Then said Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, unto Achab, ' As the Lord the God of Israel liveth, before whom I have stood, there shall not be in these years dew or rain, except according to my word ' " ; and further, it is written [ibid, xviii. i] : " Go, show thyself unto Achab ; and I will give rain upon the face of the earth," but in the latter passage dew is not men- tioned, because it was never withheld. It might be asked, how- ever, why Elijah swore that it would not fall ? He meant to say merely that no dew which would benefit the soil would fall, for all the dew which should fall would not be productive of any good. Whence do we know that the wind will not be withheld ? Said R. Jehoshua ben Levi : " Because it is written [Zech. ii. 10] : 1 For as the four winds of heaven have I spread you abroad,' which signifies, that as the world cannot exist without winds, so it cannot also exist without Israel." R. Hanina said : From what we have learned so far, we see that if a man said in his prayer during the dry season, " He causeth the wind to blow," he is not obliged to say his prayer over again ; but if he said " He causeth the rain to descend," he is bound to say the prayer again. During the rainy season if he omitted in his prayer the words, " He causeth the wind to blow," he need not be made to say the prayer over again, but if he omitted the words, " He causeth the rain to descend," he should