When I told my mother I was going to be studying in Jerusalem for the fall, the first words out of her mouth were (and I kid you not), "After Sukkot? Bring rain boots!"Her advice was born out of her experience living in Israel with my father in the 70's where they were deluged with rain and she had to purchase wellies here in Jerusalem.And so I brought the less comfortable but more waterproof black boots with me on my adventure (rather than my go-to every(winter)day boots that I wanted to bring). Alas, I have not yet had cause to use them.Israel is in the midst of a rough seven year drought. A couple of years ago, some rabbis even took flight to end it, getting on a flight over Israel to pray for rain. Praying for rain is an ancient custom within Judaism. We have been praying for rain for a very long time. It is structured within our prayers. We are to start asking for rain around Sukkot time however, many don't start praying in earnest for about 10 days after the end of Sukkot (on the 7 of Cheshvan). If we are in such a drought, why not start immediately? Well the tradition stems from when all the Jews would make a pilgrimage to Israel for Sukkot, one of our Shalosh Regalim.Since we eat and hang out in our sukkahs for a week during sukkot (some even sleep in them), it isn't the best idea to then pray for rain, so it was agreed that we would wait until after Sukkot. However, there are all these pilgrims in Jerusalem for this holiday. Surely we don't want to make their journey back home harder or impossible by the land being flooded. So we wait 10 days until the furthest pilgrim is finally home (rough estimates on walking/camel time). It is at that point that we begin praying for rain in earnest.On the flip side of this, it is important to note that when we stop praying for rain, around Passover, we must have the rain stop. If the rain were to continue at that point, the wheat crops would be ruined.
At this point it is 27 days since we started praying for rain in Israel, perhaps it is too much to hope that we would have been washed with the cleansing rains from the heavens at this point... but I don't think so. And I don't think it is selfish to say so. I want the rain. I want the rain to quench the land. I want to wear my dusty rain boots. I want the Jerusalem weather of my mother's memory.Jews in Chutz L'aretz (the other lands) will begin praying for rain on December 5. Remember, this isn't rain for Brooklyn or Denver... this is rain for Israel. Israel where we are constantly aware of the unique agricultural aspects of the land and Judaism.Here's hoping I can break out my mother's rain boots soon! (and this 70-80 degree weather breaks!)[And mom... I really do miss those boots I left at home... :)]
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