Shabbat Emor - 17 Iyyar 5767 / May 4/5
The Prime Minister recently announced that the farmers of the Murray-Darling Basin - one of the nation's most important agricultural regions - faced having no water for the coming irrigation year unless heavy rain fell in the next six to eight weeks. He went on to say: "It's very serious, it's unprecedented in my lifetime and I really feel very deeply for the people affected. So we should all, literally and without any irony, pray for rain over the next six to eight weeks."
Firstly I would like to emphasise how lucky we are to have a Prime Minister, who is not only a great supporter of Israel and Jewish causes, but who is also not afraid to profess his belief in G-d and to urge others to similarly do so. While belief in G-d cannot replace political competence, it most certainly enhances it. There will of course be those who will criticise any involvement of religion in the political process. Yet we would do well to bear in mind that, while we all want freedom of religion, and the ability to believe in any way we choose, freedom of religion does not equate with freedom from religion. I therefore applaud the Prime Minister for making his request at this critical time.
No doubt some will smirk and say, "What's G-d got to do with all this? Government policy is what we need." This is of course true. Praying without any attempt at human intervention - to the full extent that this is possible - is callous in the extreme. As Jews we believe that G-d blesses us in everything that we do, not in what we do not do. Still, we must realize the limits of human involvement. As we all too well know, the best laid schemes o' mice and men do not always achieve the results that we hope for.
Maimonides, in his magnum opus, Mishne Torah, writes that if a person does not turn to G-d at his time of need, thinking that what befalls him is just part of the nature of the world and that nothing can be done, he or she invites further suffering upon himself. And the same applies to communities, and indeed entire countries.
All human beings, not just Jews, have an obligation to pray for Divine intervention and to believe that their prayers can be effective.
So what should we as Jews be doing at this time?
Most would be aware that in our daily prayers - in the Amida that we recite thrice daily - we ask for rain in the blessing "Barech Aleinu".
"Bless on our behalf, G-d our G-d, this year and all its kinds of crops for the best, and give due and rain for a blessing on the face of the earth, and satisfy us from your bounty, and bless our year like the best year. Blessed are you G-d, Who blesses the years."
However most would also be aware that the words, dew and rain for a blessing, are only recited during the northern winter when the countries of the Middle East require rain.
In fact, during the Middle Ages there was a major dispute between the great Rabbis of the age, some of whom insisted that what was relevant was rainfall in the place where they currently resided. According to them, the blessing of Barech Aleinu should be guided by local, rather than Middle-Eastern, concerns. However the halacha does not follow this view.
What then did one do if one's country of residence required rain?
There is one blessing in the Amida in which one is permitted to add any personal request that one wishes. This is the blessing Shema Koleinu ("Hear our voice"). After the words, "turn us not away empty-handed", one may make one's personal requests. In the Shulchan Aruch - Code of Jewish Law (Chapter 117) it is clearly stated that one can and should add a prayer for rain for one's own country at this point.
I would therefore strongly suggest that, in keeping with the request of the Prime Minister, we indeed pray that Australia be blessed with rain by adding the words, v'ten tal u'matar l'vracha b'Australia at this juncture of the Amida. I have personally done so and urge you to do the same.
As we are on the eve of Lag B'Omer, the day that is known in the Holy Zohar as the "the great wedding day of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (also know as Rashbi)" I would like to conclude with a story that occurred with the Rashbi.
"One year the world required rain. Rabbi Shimon's students came to him and said, "Rabbi, the world requires rain." Rabbi Shimon began expounding the verse - "hinei ma tov u'ma na'im shevat achim gam yachad" (behold how good and how beautiful it is when brothers sit together") and rain began to fall."
The power of "brothers dwelling together" in peace and harmony has a power that is even greater than prayer. At around Lag B'Omer time, the Lubavitcher Rebbe once wrote to me personally, "The merit of the Rashbi is great" and we subsequently experienced a great personal miracle. We would therefore do well to heed the lesson of this story at this time.
May G-d listen to all our prayers, and those of our fellow Australians, and bless our land that abounds in Nature's gifts of beauty rich and rare.
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