May The Rain (Precipitation) be a Blessing Not a Curse

This has been an awful rollercoaster of a year when it comes to rainfall (precipitation) in Israel.  First we didn't have any, besides a short strong burst of rain a few months ago, so the rabbis requested we start to pray for rain.

It was declared an official drought.  Then came the blizzard or rainstorm depending on the climate, which brought massive amounts of precipitation to Israel, so the rabbis called off the emergency addition of prayers.

And since then, almost nothing, barely a drop. The temperature is also rising as if spring has arrived.

So we're back to having to add the special, "please let us have rain" prayers to G-d.

בע"ה יח' בשבט תשע"ד

 

 

 

תפלה על הגשמים

 

לצערנו הרב מאז ירידת השלג לא נתברכנו בברכת שמים.

יש צורך גדול להתפלל שוב על הגשמים.

בברכת 'שומע תפלה' של תפלת עמידה גם בלחש וגם בקול

נוסיף ע"פ מנהג התפלה של יוצאי אשכנז

 

'ועננו בורא עולם'

 

ולמנהג יוצאי ספרד נוסיף את המלים:

 

'אנא, א-ל חי פתח אוצרות שמים, השב רוח יזלו מים

בגשמי רצון תברך עדה, בפחי יגון כציפור לכודה,

בצדקת אברהם אב המון הכין סעודה, ואמר יקח נא מעט מים'.

from Kumah
That's a letter from a few years ago.

That's the announcement our rabbi, HaRav Elchanan Bin-Nun sent out yesterday.

Rain here in the HolyLand is the barometer of how well we Jews as a nation are obeying G-d.  And considering two crucial factors, I have no doubt that there will be rain problems.

One is that we're soon to enter the year of Shmitta, the Sabbatical for the Land and farmers. Not only is this a complicated year halachically, according to Jewish Law, but there is very little respect for differences in opinion.  Rav Ariel has thrown down the gauntlet and given his Psak, Halachic opinion. 

Rabbi Ya'akov Ariel of Ramat Gan made it clear, last week, that Jews are prohibited from buying from non-Jews during the Shemita agricultural sabbatical year, starting with Rosh Hashana in September. Speaking at Machon Torah Vehaaretz (Torah and Land Institute) conference at the Machon Lev Jerusalem College of Technology, he noted that buying from non-Jews is an option discussed every Shemita year, along with Heter Mechira (selling land to non-Jews) and Otzar Beit Din, where the land is under the ownership of a court and a farmer may only collect production costs.

No doubt that others will say the opposite, and then people will refuse to eat at each other's homes or at smachot, festive events.

The third Binyamin Netanyahu Government is more talk than action when it comes to defense.

At the start of his weekly Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said: “We are determined to maintain quiet in the south. We will do so by a policy of preventive action and strong reaction against those who try to harm us or who harm us. I suggest that Hamas take our policy into account.”

It's pretty obvious that terrorists don't care about logic. They only understand force, real force. Until we demand unconditional surrender we will be plagued by terror.  That was the crucial tragic mistake after the 1967 Six Days War. The Eshkol Labor Government turned the miraculous victory into a farce by trying to coddle a peace agreement out of the Arabs who had wanted to and still want to destroy the State of Israel.

But even more worrying is what is happening right now in the government's participation in the American bulldozed Kerry "Peace" sic talks.  Our governments over the past forty-seven years still haven't learned the lesson.

PEACE CANNOT BE NEGOTIATED WITH ARAB TERRORISTS!

That's it plain and simple.  When we have an Israeli Government that does the right thing and embraces the Land of Israel and Jewish rights to settle all of the Land and rules fairly over all of its residents, then we won't have a drought.  The water drought comes from a drought in Jewish Leadership.

Let's pray that wisdom be given to our government leaders.  May they follow all of G-d's Commandments.