As Jews returned from the final Rosh HaShanna prayers, an unprecedented downpour hammered northern Israel overnight Wednesday into Thursday, shattering a nearly century-old rainfall record for September.
The Israel Meteorological Service reported that 143 millimeters (5.6 inches) of rain fell at Moshav Regba, near Nahariya, setting a new national 24-hour rainfall record for September. The previous mark of 95.7 millimeters (3.76 inches), set in Gush Etzion in 1932, was easily surpassed. Most of the precipitation fell in just two hours, a rare weather event the service described as “extremely abnormal” for the early autumn month.
Other stations across the Nahariya area recorded extraordinary totals as well: 135 millimeters (5.3 inches) at Kibbutz Evron and 132 millimeters (5.19 inches) at Moshav Shavei Zion. The deluge overwhelmed drainage systems, causing the Ga’aton stream in Nahariya to flood its banks and prompting Haifa authorities to close local beaches after runoff polluted coastal waters.
Elsewhere in the north, Acre received 87 millimeters (3.4 inches) of rain, Kibbutz Afek 65 millimeters (2.55 inches), and the Gilboa and Galilee regions also saw significant downpours. In contrast, central Israel recorded just one to four millimeters, while Jerusalem saw only a trace amount and the south remained dry. Temperatures were forecast to drop below seasonal norms in the aftermath of the storm.
The unusual rainfall highlights Israel’s vulnerability to sudden weather extremes. The country’s climate is typically arid to semi-arid, with long, dry summers and a short rainy season that generally begins in late October or November and tapers off by early spring. September is normally one of the driest months of the year, making the intensity of this week’s storm highly unusual.
While heavy rains are eagerly awaited each winter to replenish Israel’s limited water resources, sudden downpours outside the regular rainy season can cause flooding and infrastructure damage, particularly in low-lying cities such as Nahariya.
Israel is an arid country, with about 70 percent of the average rain falling between November and March. June through August are often rainless. This is reflected in the daily prayers in which the prayer for rain is inserted at the end of the autumnal holiday of Sukkoth and continues until the spring holiday of Passover. This has its roots in the agricultural basis of the religion, and unseasonal rain can damage crops.
The Bible describes the weather in Israel as a result of the Jews’ relationship with 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. You shall gather in your new grain and wine and oil Deuteronomy 11:13-14
Connected to rainfall, Judaism has important roots in agriculture, with many religious customs reflect its importance. Jews begin praying for rain at the end of Sukkot and stop asking when Passover arrives, switching to a request for dew. Those who work in the fields know that rain out of season can be destructive, causing grain to rot rather than dry in the sun. Similarly, even in season, too much rain can be bad.
The Hebrew month of Elul preceding the High Holidays is described in Chassidic teachings as a time when “the King goes out to the field to meet with His people, greeting them with kindness and tenderness, displaying a joyous face to all.” We, in turn, “open our hearts to God.”
Divine providence is so much a part of rainfall that an angel named Af-Bri is assigned the task of bringing rain. He is mentioned in the piyyut (poem) said during the Sukkot prayer for rain written by Eleazar Kallir over 1,000 years ago but was first mentioned in the book of Job (37:10-14):
“From the breath of God He gives forth ice and the breadth of waters in a flood. Af-Bri burdens the cloud; he scatters His rain cloud. And he turns around in circuits by His guidance for their work; whatever He commands them upon the face of the habitable world. Whether for the rod, whether for His land, or for kindness that He cause it to come. Hearken to this, Job; stand still and ponder the wonders of God.”
In the structure of Jewish prayer, rain is mentioned twice daily. In the eighth blessing of the amidah, the Standing Prayer also known as the Shmoneh Esrei, a prayer of bounty is changed to fit the season, asking for rain in the winter and fruitful blessings on the land in the summer.
In the second prayer, we praise God for bringing the rain. The blessing itself extols God’s aspect of judgement, as expressed in his name, Elo-him, which refers to God’s natural expression in the world through nature, first exemplified in the story of creation in Genesis. In the Talmud, a central text in Rabbinical Judaism, it is written, “The day when rain falls is as great as the day on which heaven and earth were created” (Taanit 8b).
It should be noted that this section of prayer also praises God for his ability to resurrect the dead. Rain, in its season, is truly a manifestation of this idea as we watch dry hills and fields, covered with yellow grass, suddenly burst into bloom after the rains begin to fall and breathe life back into nature.
This concept of rain preceding the Messiah is explicitly stated in the Pri Chayim (fruit of life), the teachings of Rabbi Isaac Luria, the preeminent 16th century Kabbalist known by the acronym ‘Ari’ (lion), as recorded by his student Rabbi Chayim Vital in Tsfat (Safed) in which it is written that גֶּשֶׁם (rain) is an acronym for ‘גְּאֻלָּה שְׁלֵמָה מְהֵרָה’ (‘complete redemption quickly’).
