תענית 2 — Soncino English Talmud

¹MISHNAH. WHEN DO WE [BEGIN TO] MAKE MENTION OF THE POWER OF RAIN? R. ELIEZER SAYS: ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE FEAST. R. JOSHUA SAYS: ON THE LAST DAY OF THE FEAST. R. JOSHUA SAID TO HIM: SEEING THAT RAIN ON THE FEAST IS A SIGN OF [GOD'S] ANGER WHY MAKE MENTION OF IT? THEREUPON R. ELIEZER SAID TO HIM: I ALSO DID NOT SAY TO PRAY BUT TO MAKE MENTION [IN THE WORD] ‘HE CAUSETH THE WIND TO BLOW AND THE RAIN TO FALL’ -IN ITS DUE SEASON. HE [R. JOSHUA] REPLIED TO HIM: IF THAT IS SO ONE SHOULD AT ALL TIMES MAKE MENTION OF IT. WE PRAY FOR RAIN ONLY CLOSE TO THE RAINY SEASON. R. JUDAH SAYS: THE LAST TO STEP BEFORE THE ARK ON THE LAST DAY OF THE FEAST MAKES MENTION, THE FIRST DOES NOT; ON THE FIRST DAY OF PASSOVER THE FIRST MAKES MENTION, THE LAST DOES NOT. GEMARA. What has the Tanna [in mind] when he teaches WHEN etc.? -The Tanna refers to [a Mishnah] elsewhere which teaches: We make mention of the Power of Rain in the [benediction of] the Revival of the Dead, and we pray for [rain] in the Benediction of the Years and [we insert] the Habdulah in [the benediction] ‘Thou favourest man with knowledge’. [With that passage in mind] the Tanna now teaches: When do we [begin] to make mention of the Power of Rain? Would it not have been more appropriate to teach it there, why did he leave it until now? — [Say] rather, because the Tanna had just completed [learning the Tractate] Rosh Hashanah where we have learnt: And on the Feast [the world] is judged through water. And, [as there] he taught: ‘And on the Feast [the world] is judged through water,’ therefore there he teaches: When do we [begin] to make mention of the Power of Rain. But let him teach: When do we [begin] to make mention of Rain: why, the Power of Rain?-R. Johanan said: Because Rain comes down by the Power [of God], as it is said, Who doeth great things und unsearchable, marvellous things without number. And it is [further] written, Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields. Where [in these verses is this idea] implied? — Rabbah b. Shila replied: It is derived from the analogous use of the word heker in verses treating of Creation. Here it is written, ‘Who doeth great things and unsearchable’. And there it is written, ‘Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, The Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? His discernment is past searching out. And [of Creation] it is [also] written, Who by Thy strength settest fast the mountains, Who art girded about with might. Whence do we know that mention of Rain is to be made in the Prayer? - It has been taught: To love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart. What is Service of Heart? You must needs say, Prayer. And the verse following reads, That I will give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain. R. Johanan said: Three keys the Holy One blessed be He has retained in His own hands and not entrusted to the hand of any messenger, namely, the Key of Rain, the Key of Childbirth, and the Key of the Revival of the Dead. The Key of Rain, for It is written, The Lord will open unto thee His good treasure, the heaven to give the rain of thy land in its season, The Key of Childbirth, for it is written, And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened^ᵃ^ᵇ^ᶜ^ᵈ^ᵉ^ᶠ^ᵍ^ʰ^ⁱ^ʲ^ᵏ^ˡ^ᵐ^ⁿ^ᵒ^ᵖ^ᵠ^ʳ^ˢ^ᵗ

^ᵃnote:The term ‘power of Rain’ is applied to the phrase ‘He causeth the wind to blow and the rain to fall’ inserted in the second benediction of the prayer known as ‘the Eighteen Benedictions’ — The Tefillah (v. Glos.) On the expression POWER OF RAIN v. infra.
^ᵇnote:The Feast, djv, the name by which the festival of Tabernacles is referred to in Mishnah and Talmud. Cf. I Kings VIII, 2, 65; Neh. VIII, 14, 15.
^ᶜnote:Lit., curse , v. Suk. 28b.
^ᵈnote:I.e., to insert in the ninth benediction the words, ‘Give dew and rain for a blessing upon the face of the earth’.
^ᵉnote:V. n. 1.
^ᶠnote:To step before the Ark (tebah), a technical term denoting the recitation of the tefillah or the Amidah by the reader. V. R.H., Sonc. ed. p. 160, n. 9.
^ᵍnote:What is the Tanna's authority that the power of rain has to be mentioned at all?
^ʰnote:The second benediction.
^ⁱnote:The ninth benediction.
^ʲnote:Additional prayer inserted in the fourth benediction in the evening service at the termination of Sabbath and festivals.
^ᵏnote:Ber. 33a.
^ˡnote:The order of the tractates of the Mishnah mentioned here is the same as given by the Gaon Sherira of Pumbeditha (968 C.E.) in the letter addressed by him to the community of Kairwan. (V. Neubauer Med. Jew. Chronicles, p. 13). The same sequence is given by Maimonides in the Introduction to his Commentary on the Mishnah.
^ᵐnote:Job V, 9-10. The Gemara cites IX, 10, but the commentators substitute for it V, 9 which makes the sequence of ideas clearer.
^ⁿnote:V. supra n. 5.
^ᵒnote:Isa. XL, 28.
^ᵖnote:Ps. LXV, 7. Rabbah b. Shilah infers from the analogous use of the word rej, in Job (where it speaks of rain) and Isaiah (where it refers to Creation) that just as God displayed ‘Power’ at Creation so too ‘Power is a concomitant of rain. Hence the expression, POWER OF RAIN.
^ᵠnote:The Tefillah.
^ʳnote:Deut. XI, 13.
^ˢnote:Ibid. v. 14.
^ᵗnote:Deut. XXVIII, 12.

²to her, and opened her womb. The Key of the Revival of the Dead, for it is written, And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves. In Palestine they said: Also the Key of Sustenance, for it is said, Thou openest thy hand etc. Why does not R. Johanan include also this [key]? — Because in his view sustenance is [included in] Rain. R. ELIEZER SAYS: ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE FEAST etc. The question was asked, Whence did R. Eliezer derive this? Did he learn it from Lulab or from the Libation of Water? If he learnt it from Lulab, then just as the obligation of the use of the Lulab comes into force on the [first] day of Tabernacles, so too should we begin to make mention of rain on that day. Or perhaps he learnt it from Libation. [If so, then] just as Water Libation may be [carried out] on the evening [preceding the first day] — (for a Master [interpreting the verse], And the meal-offering thereof and their drink-offerings, said, Even by night)-so too should one begin to make mention of rain on that evening! — Come and hear: R. Abbahu said: R. Eliezer deduced it from Lulab only. Some there are who say: R. Abbahu had a tradition. Whilst others say: He based it on a Baraitha. Which is the Baraitha? — It has been taught: ‘When do we [begin to] make mention of Rain? R. Eliezer says: From the time of the taking up of the Lulab; R. Joshua says, From the time when the Lulab is discarded. Said R. Eliezer: Seeing that these Four Species are intended only to make intercession for water, therefore as these cannot [grow] without water so the world [too] cannot exist without water. R. Joshua said to him: Is not rain on the Feast a sure sign of [God's] anger? R. Eliezer replied: I too did not say to pray but to make mention. And just as one makes mention of the Revival of the Dead all the year round although it will take place only in its proper time, so too should mention be made of the Power of Rain all the year round although it comes only in its due season. Therefore if one desires to make mention all the year round he may do so. Rabbi says: I hold the view that when one ceases to pray [for rain] one should also no longer make mention of it. R. Judah b. Bathyra says: On the second day of the Feast one [begins] to make mention. R. Akiba says: On the sixth day of the Feast. R. Judah says in the name of R. Joshua: The last to step before the Ark on the last day of the Feast makes mention, the first does not; on the first day of Passover the first makes mention, the last does not. Did not then R. Eliezer reply well to R. Joshua?- R. Joshua can answer you: It is quite in order to make mention of the Revival of the Dead [all the year round], since any day may be its time, but is rain seasonable at all times? Have we not learnt: Should Nisan terminate and then rain fall it is a sign of [God's] anger, for it is said, Is it not wheat harvest to-day etc.? ‘R. Judah b. Bathyra says: on the second day of the Feast one [begins] to make mention’. What is R. Judah b. Bathyra's reason? — It has been taught: R. Judah b. Bathyra says, Of the second day of the Feast, Scripture Says, we-niskehem, [‘and their drink-offerings’] and of the sixth day, u-nesakeah [‘and its drink-offerings’] and of the seventh day, kemishpatam [according to their rule]. Note [the letters] Mem, Yod, Mem which form the word mayim [‘water’]. Here you have the biblical allusion to the Libation of Water. And what makes him [R. Judah b. Bathyra] fix it on the second day? — Because [the first of the allusions to the Water Libation] is found in connection [with the order for] the second day. Hence why we should [begin] to make mention on the second day. R. Akiba says: On the sixth day of the Feast one [begins] to make mention, for of the sixth day Scripture says, And its drink-offerings. Scripture thus speaks of two libations, the Libation of Water and the Libation of Wine. Perhaps both Libations must be of wine? — He [R. Akiba] is of the same opinion as R. Judah b. Bathyra who said, There is an allusion to water.20^ᵘ^ᵛ^ʷ^ˣ^ʸ^ᶻ^ᵃᵃ^ᵃᵇ^ᵃᶜ^ᵃᵈ^ᵃᵉ^ᵃᶠ^ᵃᵍ^ᵃʰ^ᵃⁱ^ᵃʲ^ᵃᵏ^ᵃˡ^ᵃᵐ^ᵃⁿ

^ᵘnote:Gen. XXX, 22. R. Joshua stresses the connection between j,pn key (lit., opener’) and the verb j,p to open, in the verses cited.
^ᵛnote:Ezek. XXXVII, 13.
^ʷnote:Ps. CXLV, 16.
^ˣnote:Since it comes through rain.
^ʸnote:The Palm-branch. Term applied to the Four Plants used in the service on Tabernacles. Cf. Lev. XXIII, 40.
^ᶻnote:[The vessel for the Water Libation was filled the preceding evening, v. Suk. 51 b. Aliter: The drink-offerings of wine brought in conjunction with animal sacrifices could be offered on the evening following the animal sacrifice, v. p. 4, n.1.]
^ᵃᵃnote:Num. XXIX, 18.
^ᵃᵇnote:[On this first interpretation of Rashi this verse is irrelevant and is to be omitted, v. Rashi. On the second interpretation the argument will run as follows: Should R. Eliezer deduce his opinion from the Water Libation, the mention of rain would have to be mentioned in the evening, seeing that the evening is a time at which drink-offerings (of wine) may be offered. Once, however, it is granted that the mention of rain starts on the evening, it will have to be the preceding, so as to be on the same day as the Water Libation (the night always being counted with the following day). V. Tosaf, s.v. thgcht. On this interpretation the text should read as ‘Libation (not ‘Water Libation’) may be on the evening’, v. Me'iri a.I. where also other interpretations of this difficult passage are given.]
^ᵃᶜnote:On the seventh day of the Feast.
^ᵃᵈnote:V. Suk. 37b.
^ᵃᵉnote:In the second benediction.
^ᵃᶠnote:On the first day of Passover.
^ᵃᵍnote:I Sam. XII, 17.
^ᵃʰnote:Num. XXIX, 18.
^ᵃⁱnote:Ibid. 31.
^ᵃʲnote:Ibid. 33.
^ᵃᵏnote:The n of ovhfxb, the h of vhfxb, and the n of oypanf taken, together spell the word, ohn water.
^ᵃˡnote:The plural form implies (at least) two drink-offerings. [It is taken to refer to the festival, in contradistinction to the phrase, ‘their drink-offering’ mentioned in the sixth day where ‘their’ has reference to the sacrifices.]
^ᵃᵐnote:On the Festival of Tabernacles.
^ᵃⁿnote:I.e., he accepts the allusion supplied by the letters Mem, Yod, Mem.