Praying for Rain

Rain has been hard to come by this year in Israel. We have gone through a few days here and there with incredible downpours, but, all in all, it's still not enough. Therefore, we started adding the special tefilla for rain in our tefillot. News stories discuss the short- and long-term effects of the lack of rain. It's hard to escape the message.

As a teacher, I think about the impact that this story has on my students and how powerful this message is to generations of people living here in Israel: even as young children, they are inculcated with the idea that we need Hashem in a very real and practical way. Our lives are effected because there is no rain; not all produce is available; farmers are losing jobs; our tefillot change; etc. We are all literally dependent on Him.

This idea is certainly taught in Orthodox schools throughout the world; in Israel it is lived.