Shemini Atzeret: The Power of Rain

The article below is adapted from a chapter on Shemini Atzeret in Rabbi Riskin’s recently published book, Judaism: A Love Story – A Theological, Ethical and Zionistic Perspective , published by Koren and available here Shemini Atzeret: The Power of Rain Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Riskin is the Founder and Rosh HaYeshiva of Ohr Torah Stone Immediately following Sukkot, we celebrate the one-day (two days outside of Israel) festival of Shemini Atzeret, the “Eighth Day of Assembly,” which is tied to Sukkot (the “Eighth Day”), but is also seen as a festival unto itself in that we no longer live in the sukka, nor do we take the Four Species. The novel idea of this festival is that this is the first time during the fall season that we are praying for rain in each of our Amida prayers. ¹ [1] We praise God as “He who causes the winds to blow and the rain to fall,” which we introduce with beautiful cantorial poetry, tuneful verses describing the power of rain to give life and sustenance to everyone. Our prayer for rain carries with it a similar message to our sacrificing the seventy bullocks in the Temple on behalf of all the nations of the world: rain is a universal need; we are praying for everyone. Rain and water have an additional symbolism within the prophetic books of the Bible. In chapter 36 of Ezekiel (vv. 24–28), the prophet images water as the catalyst for cleansing the exiled Jewish people, and bringing them back to their land: For I will take you from among the nations and gather you from all the countries, and I will bring you to your land. And I will sprinkle pure water upon you, and you will be pure; from all your impurities and from all your abominations will I cleanse you…that you will walk in My statutes and you will keep My ordinances and do them. Then will you dwell in the land that I gave your fathers, and you will be a people to Me, and I will be to you as a God. Rain, as we have just explained, is a universal symbol of God’s loving-kindness for all of humanity. From this perspective, the prayer for rain of Shemini Atzeret becomes not only a prayer for Israel, but for all humanity. Simchat Torah: The Rejoicing of Our Torah, a Torah for the World Shemini Atzeret is also celebrated with an additional theme, the “Festival of the Rejoicing of the Torah,” Simchat Torah. (In the Diaspora, Simchat Torah is celebrated on the second day of Shemini Atzeret; in Israel, where only a single day of Shemini Atzeret is celebrated, Simchat Torah is observed on Shemini Atzeret itself.) Simchat Torah is a day of dancing and singing in the synagogue with the Torah scrolls, a day given over to the celebration of Torah, the climax of the autumn festivals, the climax of the Jewish year. We imitate with the Torah scrolls the same seven circuits in the synagogue that we did with the Four Species on Sukkot; Torah is our ultimate nutritional source, the nutrition of the soul, and the very purpose of our nation. But how did Shemini Atzeret become Simchat Torah? Originally, there were two customs regarding the weekly Torah reading: In the Land of Israel, the full Pentateuch was completed over a period of three years (some groups had the custom of three and a half years) – the triennial cycle. In Babylonia, the whole Torah was read over the period of one year – the annual cycle – at the conclusion of which they would celebrate the culmination of the Torah readings. This meant that throughout the countries of exile, those Jews who came from Babylonia would have one Torah-reading cycle, and those Jews who came from Israel would have another – a rather confusing situation which did not allow for a universal celebration at the conclusion of the Torah-reading cycle. After the end of the geonic period (c. 1038 CE), it was decided that Jews everywhere follow the annual cycle – completing the Torah in one year and concluding it on Shemini Atzeret, the beginning of the new year. Many scholars believe that the wide observance of Simchat Torah on Shemini Atzeret began then. [2] And so, from a calendrical perspective, Shemini Atzeret became Simchat Torah, as well as a rare expression of a universally accepted decision on behalf of Jewish unity. But there is even a much deeper thematic connection between Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. The Talmud in Bava Kama 82a compares the Torah to water, explaining that, just as one cannot live for three days without water, so one cannot live for three days without Torah, quoting the verse from Exodus 15:22, “And they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water”. Therefore, we read the Torah in the synagogue on Shabbat, Monday, and Thursday, so that there is never a three-day interval without Torah. And so, our prayer for water – for rain – on Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah bears an additional nuance: just as physical life cannot go on without water, so spiritual life cannot go on without Torah. As we say in the blessing before Shema in our daily evening prayers: “For it [Torah] is our life and the length of our days”. Throughout our four-thousand-year history, there is no question that the Jewish people could not have lived as a separate and unique nation had it not been for the Torah, which kept them alive as a unique people. Whenever we rejected Torah observance, we assimilated into the nations round about, such as the once-proud Jewish community of Alexandria, Egypt, which, after the death of the great Alexandrine Jewish philosopher Philo (c. 50 CE), declined rapidly through assimilation. The assimilation rates in the United States today are frighteningly high, especially in those sectors of the Jewish population that are unaffiliated and, sadly, untouched by Torah. But we believe that Torah is life giving and life sustaining not only for the Jewish nation. As we have seen within the liturgy of Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur, as well as in the rituals of Sukkot, we believe that Torah is necessary for the world. Without the Abrahamic message of compassionate righteousness and moral justice, without Isaiah’s vision of a world without weapons of war, there will be no world, especially in our era of nuclear capabilities. Fascinatingly enough, there was a custom on Simchat Torah during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in both European and Oriental Jewish communities to take the Torah scrolls outside of the synagogue and dance with them on the streets, bringing the Torah out into the world. And even more to the point, these congregations would invite members of the gentile community to join our celebrations in honor of the Torah, [3] a Torah not just for the Jews, but a Torah for the world. In reference to our statement about the nuclear age in which we live, one might well say that the most important message of Torah, the deepest message of the words of the prophet Isaiah, proudly adorning Dag Hammarskjold Plaza at the United Nations, can, perhaps, be summarized in a simplistic manner as “Make love, not war”. In the words of Rabbi Akiva: “‘You shall love your friend like you love yourself’ (Lev. 19:18), this is the great principle of Torah” (Midrash Torat Kohanim 12). And so, the rabbis have instituted as the climax of the three universal festivals of Tishrei – Rosh HaShana, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot – the festival of Simchat Torah, a festival, as we have now seen, dedicated to the all-embracing concept of Torah for the world. Chag Sameach [1] We did not pray for rain on the Sukkot festival itself, although it would have been logical to do so from a seasonal point of view, because rain would prevent us from living in the sukka, the central commandment of that festival. [2] Avraham Yaari, The History of the Festival of Simchat Torah (Jerusalem: Mosad Harav Kook, 1964), 15–16. [3] Ibid., 255–56