Massive Prayer for Rain

There's a mass prayer rally for rain tomorrow (Monday, November 29) at the Kotel (Western Wall) at 3:30 PM. Israel's Chief Rabbis Rabbi Yonah Metzger and Rabbi Shlomo Amar will lead the prayers to be attended by Jews from all parts of Israeli society and all regions of the country. The Chief Rabbis have also declared Monday a day of fasting, as we pray for rain.

Last year was the wettest in five years, and yet it only rained for a few days. Here we are at the end of November, and there's not a cloud in the sky, the weather is so warm there are no coats or sweaters in sight.

I ran into Efrat's weather man, Barry Lynn, today and (like everyone else) asked him, "What's with the rain?" Barry said that there is absolutely no rain in the forecast. I said, "Why doesn't Israel do something to get rain? Seed the clouds." He said, "There are no clouds."

At the Shabbat lunch table, we were talking about the high price of vegetables because of the lack of rain, the milk and butter shortages because cows can't produce much milk in the heat, and the evaporating Kinneret.

My young neighbor EitanZ. announced, "We can make it rain. Yes, we can make it rain." How, I asked. He looked at me matter-of-factly, "By keeping the Torah."

Eitan walked over to my library shelves and pulled out a siddur (prayer book) and he read in the Shma (Deuteronomy 11:13-21): "And it will be that if you continually hearken to My commandments that I command You today, to love Hashem, your G-d, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul - then I will provide rain for your land in its proper time, the early and late rains, that you may gather in your grain, your wine, and your oil...."

I totally agree with Eitan, and I wish the government of Israel would know what eight year olds know today. If only they'd take G-d's sign of a drought as a message that they're doing something wrong. They don't have to listen to me. http://voices-magazine.blogspot.com/2010/11/whither-israel.html . They can just look at the parched dieing earth. We're doing something wrong!

Pray for rain. Pray for righteousness in Israel. Pray for rain.