## Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Festivals, Prayer for Rain

###### Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Festivals, Prayer for Rain 1
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**English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2017:**
PRAYER FOR RAIN
“On the festival [of Sukkot] the rainfall of the world is judged” (Mishna, *Rosh HaShana* 1:2). Israel is peculiarly dependent on rain, as Moses told the Israelites: “The land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. It is a land the LORD your God cares for; the eyes of the LORD your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end” (Deut. 11:11–12). Sukkot is the festival closest to the start of the rainy season. In theory, the prayer for rain should be said at the beginning of Sukkot, but since rainfall would interfere with the command to eat in the sukka, it was deferred to Shemini Atzeret. The liturgical poem that precedes the prayer was, like that for dew, composed by Elazar Kalir. The initial letter of each line spells out an alphabetical acrostic, and each line ends with the word “water.” The six verses enumerate events related to water in six lives: those of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the leaders of the Israelites in the wilderness, Moses and Aaron; and the people of Israel as a whole.


###### Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Festivals, Prayer for Rain 6
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**English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2017:**
אַף־בְּרִי *Af-bri is the name**of the angel of rain*: Job 37:11 reads: “Even when it is clear [*af-bri*], He gives the dense clouds their load, and the clouds spread His mist abroad.” Rashi interprets the phrase *Af-bri* as “the angel of rain,” a personification of the two aspects of rain. At times it is fierce, like anger (*af*); at others it is gentle, healing (*bri*) the earth’s thirst.


###### Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Festivals, Prayer for Rain 12
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**English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2017:**
גְּנַנְתּוֹ, הִצַּלְתּוֹ מֵאֵשׁ וּמִמַּֽיִם *You shielded him and rescued him from fire and water:* According to rabbinic tradition, Abraham was cast into a fiery furnace by Nimrod and was saved by God. Satan created a river to block Abraham’s way on his journey to the binding of Isaac. Abraham walked undaunted into the water; when it came up to his neck, God rebuked Satan and the river vanished.


###### Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Festivals, Prayer for Rain 13
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**English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2017:**
זְכוֹר הַנּוֹלַד *Remember [Isaac] whose birth was foretold* when the three angels visited Abraham, and he urged them to stay, rest, eat and drink water. חָפַר *When he dug:* Isaac reopened the wells Abraham had dug, which had been stopped up by the Philistines (Gen. 26:18).


###### Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Festivals, Prayer for Rain 14
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**English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2017:**
וְגָל אֶֽבֶן מִפִּי בְאֵר מַֽיִם *He rolled away the stone from the well of water*: When Jacob arrived at Haran and saw Rachel coming to water the sheep, Jacob removed the stone covering the well (Gen. 29:10). שַׂר בָּלוּל מֵאֵשׁ וּמִמַּֽיִם *An angel composed of fire and water:* the Talmud Yerushalmi (*Rosh HaShana* 2:4) describes the angel with whom Jacob wrestled as “half water, half fire.”


###### Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Festivals, Prayer for Rain 15
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**English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2017:**
נָֽמוּ דָּלֹה דָלָה *They**said: “He drew**water for us”:* the daughters of Jethro said this about Moses (Ex. 2:19). 
עַל הַסֶּֽלַע הָךְ *He struck the rock:* the reference is to Exodus 17:6, shortly after the crossing of the Reed Sea (and not to the later episode, Numbers, chapter 20, when God instructed Moses to speak to the rock).


###### Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Festivals, Prayer for Rain 16
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**English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2017:**
טוֹבֵל חָמֵשׁ טְבִילוֹת בַּמַּֽיִם *Who immersed five times in water:* as part of the rites of Yom Kippur.