e-geress Vol. 1, No. 5 Jan. 28, 2000
Publisher: Rabbi Yechezkel Fox
Editor: Rabbi Yisrael Rutman
|
The water cycle is undoubtedly one of the wonders of nature. Its failure---in the form of drought---has not ceased to be one of the major problems faced by humanity. Ask anyone in Sub-Saharan Africa. Nor is lack of rain a problem limited to the deserts of the Third World. Ask anyone who lived through the Dustbowl of the American Midwest in the 1930's. And if you never heard of the Dustbowl---of vast tracts of once-fertile farmland blown away by the wind, sending the farmers of the great American heartland migrating across the continent in search of food and work ---you can look it up under "The Great Depression." What saved the Midwest from permanent economic shutdown, and not only that, but transformed it into the Breadbasket of the World? Well, it wasn't just Yankee ingenuity. There was something called the Ogallala Aquifer. The discovery of this immense underground water supply stretching for 174,000 square miles from Texas to Montana, is essentially what saved so many. It surely took a good deal of technological know-how to fully exploit the Ogallala, enabling the world-feeding production levels of the post-World War Two era; but had there been nothing underground, all the wheat and corn of Kansas and Nebraska would never have seen the light of day, either. As one Midwesterner said, "It was as if we could make it rain all the time." Which raises a question: If the water supply, whether it comes from underground or overhead, is really a gift from G-d, why doesn't He make it rain all the time? If G-d is good, and He loves us, then He surely wants us all to have what we need in order to live. Why, then, isn't there a regular, abundant supply of water for everyone? Before we propose an answer to this question, let's compound it with another: Why is it that the human body needs food and water on a daily basis? What is this three meals-a-day business all about, anyway? Why weren't we created in such a way that one vitamin-enriched meal a year would suffice? (Think of all the money we'd save in tips!) The answer to both questions is found in the Torah's description of the end of the six days of Creation. "...And every shrub and every herb of the field had not yet sprung up, for the Lord G-d had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground." Rashi, the father of Torah commentators, writes that the reason He had not made it rain yet was "there was no man to recognize the benefit of rain. And when Adam came and recognized that it was necessary for the world, he prayed for it and it descended, and the trees and the grasses sprouted." In other words, the Creator designed the physical universe in such a way that, although nature generally runs by itself, this pivotal element in the natural cycle, without which there can be no life, is dependant on us. Our prayers have in them the power to make it rain. Let us then pray for rain---once a year seems like a fair quota, on Rosh HaShana, let's say---and then we should be all set. Why does Jewish law require us to pray every day for rain (in the winter months) and for a host of other things, as well? The answer is that G-d wants our prayers! He wants us to acknowledge Him as the source of peace, health, food and, not least of all, life-giving rain. Nor is a once-a-year request sufficient. We need to ask for what we need over and over again in order to internalize the knowledge that He is indeed the source of all good things. The attainment of such G-d-awareness is a life-long project, a continuous process, and not something amenable to an annual perfunctory request. Both the need for and the lack of rain and other essentials are designed for our benefit. It is all meant to provide us with an ongoing opportunity to develop ourselves spiritually. So, the next time you read about a drought in Israel or anywhere else, and about attempts at cloud-seeding and other artificial ways to make it rain, remember that Someone is waiting for our prayers. That is the Jewish response to lack of rain. by Rabbi Yisrael Rutman We welcome your questions and comments. Our address: fox@moreshet.co.il 
|