Tiyul in the Rain
I mentioned before how linked and connected Jews in Israel are to rain.
We are planning a tiyul for next week. Like every outdoor trip anywhere in the world, the plans are weather permitting. The principal in our school, however, seems weary of saying things like, "We'll have the tiyul, weather permitting..." or "... if the weather is nice" because who is to say what weather is nice? I imagine that everyone in Israel who likes to drink, take showers, eat produce, etc. would think that nice weather is timely, plentiful rain!
He chose to use the following expression (I heard him say it at least 10 times in various contexts when planning the tiyul): "If the prayers of travelers are not answered..."
The quote comes from the Gemara (Yoma 53b) about prayers of people that the Kohen Gadol asks not to be accepted: travelers of course want dry conditions in which to travel and they presumably pray for no rain.
(I should add that the Amshinover Rebbe (Rabbi Yosef ben Rabbi Menachem Kalisch, d. 1906) asks: Who are these travelers? If they are tzaddikim, why are they praying for no rain? And if they are evil, why even think that Hashem would answer their prayers? He answers that they are "regular" people who sometimes forget the big picture. Of course they want rain. But they also want to come home dry and safe.)
Our principal - in the a few words about something as insignificant as a school trip - taught the students and faculty how to speak, what to pray for, and how dependent we are on G-d.
No small feat.
We are planning a tiyul for next week. Like every outdoor trip anywhere in the world, the plans are weather permitting. The principal in our school, however, seems weary of saying things like, "We'll have the tiyul, weather permitting..." or "... if the weather is nice" because who is to say what weather is nice? I imagine that everyone in Israel who likes to drink, take showers, eat produce, etc. would think that nice weather is timely, plentiful rain!
He chose to use the following expression (I heard him say it at least 10 times in various contexts when planning the tiyul): "If the prayers of travelers are not answered..."
The quote comes from the Gemara (Yoma 53b) about prayers of people that the Kohen Gadol asks not to be accepted: travelers of course want dry conditions in which to travel and they presumably pray for no rain.
(I should add that the Amshinover Rebbe (Rabbi Yosef ben Rabbi Menachem Kalisch, d. 1906) asks: Who are these travelers? If they are tzaddikim, why are they praying for no rain? And if they are evil, why even think that Hashem would answer their prayers? He answers that they are "regular" people who sometimes forget the big picture. Of course they want rain. But they also want to come home dry and safe.)
Our principal - in the a few words about something as insignificant as a school trip - taught the students and faculty how to speak, what to pray for, and how dependent we are on G-d.
No small feat.
posted by T.Y.I.I. at
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
2 Comments:
It's hard to get across the feeling of that connection to students in the Diaspora, especially in a wet climate.
I always felt guilty when i complained about the rain in Israel, and how it soaked through my jacket or made it take 4 days to dry clothes on the clothesline outside. :-P
Beautiful. The Torah Temimah explains that the saying that if two people sit and there is not Torah between them, it's a moshav leitzim doesn't mean you have to only talk about Torah. But if Torah is primary to you then it will always be worked in - even when making a school announcement!
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