YeshivaThe torah world Gateway
Beit Midrash
- Jewish Laws and Thoughts
- Prayer
The daily prayers of the Jewish people year round always include prayers for bountiful rain to fall in the Land of Israel. During the rainy season those prayers change in their intensity and language. Jews living in New York, huddled under their umbrellas and wrapped in protective headgear, pray for rain in the Land of Israel because that is the location where rainfall is essential for survival and success. On Shmini Atzeret Jews the world over pray for a rainy season in the Land of Israel. In the springtime during the holiday of Pesach the prayers are for dew in the Land of Israel. Consciously or subconsciously Jews are always concerned about the situation in the Land of Israel. The Land of Israel for Jews is comparable to the statement of the great Chasidic rebbe of Berdichev regarding God Himself, so to speak. He said: "One can be for God. One can be against God. But no one can be without God!" The individual Jew can be for the Land of Israel. He can also be for whatever reason against the Land of Israel. But he cannot be without the Land of Israel. And therefore Jews are not only concerned about security, prosperity, social conditions, political developments and governmental policies in Israel - they are concerned about the weather there as well. Their prayers and their conscience force this concern upon them without forethought. There is no way to be a truly traditional Jew without thinking constantly about rainfall in the Land of Israel. We are truly a uniquely strange and wonderful people!
The great miracle workers recorded for us and immortalized in the Talmud are almost all rainmakers. The great Choni even was able to have the ability to fine tune and adjust the fall of rain so that it would be completely beneficial but not disruptive of normal human life. He was criticized for his temerity in being so insistent regarding Heaven but Heaven itself, so to speak, appreciated his efforts on behalf of the people and the Land of Israel and blessed him and his efforts. Heaven always sees things differently than do we humans. Rain is the symbol of Heavenly interest and beneficence to human life. All of us are aware of the necessity of rain for life to continue. The rainy season has now officially begun on the calendar of the Land of Israel. Whether the clouds have looked at the calendar is yet a matter of debate and mystery. But our prayers remind of us the fact that we are in the rainy season and that the Land of Israel desperately needs rain. People begin to realize that Heaven needs to help us, certainly in regard to rainfall in the Holy Land. May the coming rainy season be a blessing for all of us.
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
fast navigation
The Land of Israel LGBT'S IN ISRAEL
The question was asked, how can one make Aliyah with the LGBT parades?
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 7 - Five Accumulative Proofs of G-d
As a preparation for the Kuzari's classic proof of G-d from the mass-revelation at Sinai, we start here with 5 other directions to strengthen our belief which also contribute to what the Kuzari will present as well.
Ein Aya Muscle & Meaning: The Dual Nature of Gevurah (Physical Strength)
Is physical strength and fitness a necessity or an ideal? Although it if often totally overlooked among topics of Judaism, Rav Kook writes that it clearly is also a necessity to deter the many enemies of Israel, but even in Y'mot HaMashiach, in the Messianic era, to a certain extent, it's ideal continues even after our enemies will have been finished off.
Chukat "HOW ENTEBBE STOLE THE BICENTENNIAL
The Difference Between Historic & Eternal"
As we approach America's 250th birthday, it's worth remembering her 200th Bicentennial birthday, on Jul. 4th 1976, when Israel "stole the show" by shocking the world & miraculously saving 101 hostages in a foreign continent. As Pres. As Pres. Trump decides which countries get priority in his new Middle-East, it's worth reminding him of the difference between historic events and eternally historic ones. This obviously connects with this week's parsha, as well!
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 6 - The Parable of the King of India
The advantages of testimony over circumstantial evidence or philosophical speculation.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 5- "Proofs of G-d"
This may be the most important class of the entire book, where we finally get to the Jewish proof of the existence of G-d and truth of the Torah. We should follow His own direction where He tells us how to get to Him: through the Nation of Israel: Jewish history, Jewish prophets (and today, prophecies fulfilled), and national reward & punishment towards Am Yisrael.
Ein Aya One Humanity, One Creator, One Jerusalem
Rav Kook innovatively and beautifully explains this aggadeta where our sages say that after Jerusalem was destroyed her cinnamon fragrance is only found locked in a particular kingdom's treasury.
