Prayers for Rain that Began on Oct 7 Being Answered as Precursor to Resurrection of the Dead
By ADAM ELIYAHU BERKOWITZ
If then, you obey the commandments that I enjoin upon you this day, loving Hashem your God and serving Him with all your heart and soul, I will grant the rain for your land in season, the early rain and the late. Deuteronomy 11:13
As Israel experiences several weeks of heavy rain, the Sea of Galilee’s water level rose some 15 centimeters during the last 36 hours due to said rainy weather, which is expected to continue for several days. One prominent rabbi noted that Israel began praying for rain on October 7, the holiday of Shemini Atzeret, as Hamas terrorist began their massacre.
According to the Water Authority, the lake’s water level now stands at 210.65 meters below sea level, or 1.85 meters below its full capacity.
The forecast also prompted authorities to close off hiking trails in the Negev and near the Dead Sea for fear of flooding. The popular Darga, Mashash, Teko and Og riverbeds will be closed until Saturday evening.
Flash floods in the Negev are especially dangerous because the dry, compacted desert soil is less absorbent, leading to unusually sudden and powerful flooding.
The risk is further compounded by forecasts of snow on Mt. Hermon in the Golan Heights. Melting snow raises the water level of the Golan’s streams. Ordinarily, snow on Mount Hermon, the highest point in Israel, attracts skiers, but the ski center has been closed to visitors since Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre.
Flooding is also expected in Israel’s coastal plain and Tel Aviv metropolitan area.
The rainy and cold weather is set to ease up on Monday. Indeed, the winter rains that are essential to Israel’s survival are falling in blessed quantities. Rain intensity in the Mount Canaan region near Safed hit a 73-year record in November. In the same period, the Haifa district city of Harish experienced the highest recorded rain intensity since 2009. According to statistical calculations, rains this intense are only supposed to happen every 100 years. Even in the coastal plain, there were solid rains and rain intensity, although no records were broken.
This is a dramatic improvement over past years. On April 4, 2016, the lake level was 3.29 meters (11 feet) lower than today. The level measured at that time was 212.41 meters (697 feet) below sea level or 3.61 meters (12 feet) below the upper red line. Israel suffered from a five-year drought, and 2018 was one of the driest in the last 100 years. March 2018 was the lake’s lowest point in water income since 1927.
Rain in Israel is a reflection of the relationship between the Jews and God.
If then, you obey the commandments that I enjoin upon you this day, loving Hashem your God and serving Him with all your heart and soul, I will grant the rain for your land in season, the early rain and the late. Deuteronomy 11:13
Jews begin praying for rain at the end of Sukkot, during Shemini Atzeret, by adding a verse to the second blessing of the Amidah called “gevurot geshamim,” meaning “the power of rain”. The verse—“mashiv ha’ruach u’morid hagashem”—offers praise to God for the blessing of rain.
On October 7th 2023, precisely the hour when Jews in Israel began praying for rain, Hamas terrorists poured across the border, murdering every Jew they encountered.
Rabbi Yosef Berger, a descendant of King David and former member of the Sanhedrin, emphasized that beginning that day, Jews were united in crying out to God.
“When Jews are united in prayer, it is like Mount Sinai,” Rabbi Berger said. “This is how Jews were meant to pray; as a united and unified nation.”
“Since we have been praying so powerfully, as a united nation since Shemini Atzeret, these prayers are being answered, in every detail,” Rabbi Berger said. “Of course, the prayers for success in wiping out Amalek and Hamas are being answered and will be answered to a more powerful degree. But also, the prayers for rain that began on that awful day are also being answered.”
“And so many Israelis are strengthening in their connection to God,” Rabbi berger added. “When Jews are unified, no evil can touch us and no enemy can defeat us. Even more when we proclaim the unity of God by saying “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One!”
Rain in Israel is connected to the Messiah. In the section of prayer praising God for his ability to bring rain, God is also praised for his ability to resurrect the dead as rain is seen as resurrecting the land.
“Rain represents resurrection in the time of the Messiah,” Rabbi Berger said. “God was sending rain as chesed (loving kindness) and comfort to those in Israel who suffered a loss.”
Heavy rains are a sign the Final Redemption is imminent. Midrash Bereishit Rabbah states that in the end of days, God will break the covenant he made with the nations of the world after Noah left the ark. Flooding will appear to destroy parts of the world like never before seen since the floods in the days of Noah. At the same time, rains will appear as a comfort for the people of Israel.
The Midrash notes that the covenant God made with Noah was “for the generations of the world” (Genesis 9:12). The Midrash states that this will end when the Messiah arrives to bring the final redemption.
“And the final flood will begin on the same day that the flood of Noah ended; the 17th of Sivan,” the website added.