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Orchard of Delights
your field for your cattle and you will eat and you will
be satisfied. Beware for yourselves, lest your heart be
seduced and you turn astray and serve other gods and
prostrate yourselves to them. Then the wrath of God will
blaze against you; He will restrain the heaven so there
will be no rain, and the ground will not yield its produce;
and you will be swiftly banished from the goodly land
that God gives you. You shall place these words of Mine
upon your heart and upon your soul; you shall bind them
for a sign upon your arm and let them be an ornament
between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children
to discuss them, while you sit in your home, while you
walk on the way, when you lay down and when you rise
up. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your
house and upon your gates. In order to prolong your days
and the days of your children upon the land that God has
sworn to your forefathers to give them, like the days of
the heaven over the earth. (Deuteronomy 11:13-21)
In both passages, the implication is the same: rainfall is not a random
event but a blessing that comes directly from God. The section in the
Shema even adds a further caveat – not only does God control the
fall of rain, but our continued stay in the Promised Land depends on
whether we fulfill His mitzvot. Rain thus becomes God’s instrument
of blessing or curse.
Given this connection between rainfall and our actions, the Sages
instituted a series of communal fast days to be performed if rain did
not begin to fall by a certain date in the rainy season. If the rain still
failed to fall, the fasts and public prayers became more frequent and
intense. The tractate of Ta’anit deals extensively with this subject.
There is an important Rashi on the following verse describing
the creation of the world that provides a precedent for assuming
that rainfall is the result of human prayer: “And no plant of the
field was yet on the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprouted,
for God, God, had not sent rain upon the earth and there was no
man to work the soil” (Genesis 2:5) Rashi explains that rain had not
yet fallen because there was no one to work the earth. He continues
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18 Va’etchanan
states: “And he did not continue (lo yasaf) to have relations with
her” (Genesis 38:26). Although the literal meaning of the words “lo
yasaf” in context is “did not continue,” Rashi introduces another
explanation for these words that was suggested in the Talmud: “did
not cease.” This interpretation provides a diametrically opposed
reading: Judah did not cease having relations with her even after he
found out. This same Hebrew phrase “lo yasaf” is used to describe
God’s voice on Mount Sinai (Deuteronomy 5:19), and there too, as
mentioned above, the Torah remains ambiguous about whether the
voice or sounds coming from Sinai ever ceased.
When reflecting upon this matter we observe that in both cases,
the Torah is referring to a onetime event and its ongoing ripple effect.
While some of the Talmudic Sages may have received a tradition
that Judah actually continued to have relations with his daughter-
in-law, the two interpretations of the phrase could be harmonized:
both traditions may actually agree that he did not continue having
relations with her and that the effect of their liaison never in fact
ceased, as their descendants will ultimately give birth to Mashiach.
Each tradition simply emphasizes half of the message. Similarly, the
Giving of the Torah was a onetime event but its effect is constant
and enduring.
This process teaches us an important lesson. Sometimes our lives
seem to be a string of individual, isolated events that have no real
lasting consequences or influence beyond the moment. Oftentimes we
have no clue how to fit the puzzle pieces of our lives together or how
these pieces will effect us in the future. Every so often though, we
suddenly become aware of the auspiciousness of a certain decision, a
special moment, or a transitional life event and we cherish it, reliving
it or gaining strength from it for years to come. On the other hand,
sometimes decisions we make and events that befall us cast their
shadows over us for the rest of our lives. Although these events are
time bound and can never be repeated, their significance can last
a lifetime or even longer, casting their shadows far into the future.
Learning to live one’s life aware of the importance of each and every
moment and the potential that lies hidden within each and every act
gives us the opportunity to reach out and touch eternity.
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