Israelis flooded beaches and national parks on Saturday as a historic November heat wave scorched the country, setting temperature records that stood for more than eight decades. Tel Aviv baked under 34.5°C (94°F), while Jerusalem—a city that sits at 800 meters elevation and rarely experiences extreme heat—reached an astonishing 32.3°C (90°F), the highest November temperature since 1942, before the State of Israel even existed.
The Israel Meteorological Service reported that Friday marked the single hottest late November day in Israel’s 77-year history as a nation. The heat wave persisted through the weekend, with temperatures across the country running 10°C (18°F) above seasonal averages. Coastal areas and the Shfela—the low-lying southern-central region—faced the most intense conditions, with multiple locations exceeding 34°C (93°F).
What does extreme weather reveal about the natural order established in creation?
The Sages teach that the regularity of seasons serves as testimony to the covenant between God and creation. After the flood, God declared: “So long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22). This verse establishes the divine promise of seasonal continuity—a rhythm embedded into the fabric of creation itself. When that rhythm breaks, when November feels like summer and winter arrives late, it awakens awareness of how dependent we are on the Creator’s ordering of nature.
The temperature readings paint a picture of a land defying its calendar. Herzliya registered 34.3°C (93°F). Eilat, the southern resort city, hit 37.2°C (98°F). Haifa reached 32.8°C (91°F), while communities along the Sea of Galilee faced highs between 32-35°C (91-95°F). Even the Dead Sea, already one of the hottest places on earth, recorded 34.2°C (93°F).
Historical climate data shows that November temperatures in Israel normally range from 20-28°C (68-82°F) during the day, with nighttime lows dropping to 10-18°C (50-64°F). Last November 2024, by contrast, was colder and drier than average. The current heat wave represents a dramatic departure from both recent patterns and long-term historical norms. The previous Jerusalem November record, set in 1942 under the British Mandate, had stood unbroken for 83 years.
Taking advantage of the unseasonable warmth, 70,000 Israelis visited national parks and reserves on Saturday, the National Parks Service reported. Thousands more descended on Tel Aviv’s beaches for what felt like a late-season gift from summer. Yet the heat wave marked a stark contrast to the winter storm that hammered the country just one week earlier, a meteorological whiplash that left many Israelis bewildered.
The extremes in weather carry deeper meaning. The Bible repeatedly uses natural phenomena—drought, abundance, storm, and calm—as instruments of divine communication. When the expected patterns shift, when the seasons themselves seem confused, it demands attention. The mishna in Tractate Ta’anit details how the community responds when rains fail to arrive at their appointed time, establishing fasts and prayers precisely because seasonal disruption was understood as a matter requiring spiritual response.
Meteorologists forecast that the heat will moderate but continue through Monday, with autumn temperatures and winds not expected to return until Tuesday. The timing carries irony—this is precisely when Israel should be settling into the rainy season, when farmers traditionally watch the skies for the yoreh, the early rains that soften the earth for planting. Instead, beachgoers are swimming in Mediterranean waters still warm from an extended summer.
Israel has experienced other record-breaking heat in recent years. The hottest day in the nation’s history came in July 2022, when Eilat reached 48.9°C (120°F) and Jerusalem hit 42.8°C (109°F). But those were summer records, expected extremes. November heat breaks different boundaries—it disrupts the covenant of seasons promised since the flood.
The land remembers its rhythms. For millennia, generations have watched the same seasonal cycles: the geshem (rains) of winter, the aviv (spring) blossoms, the kayitz (summer) heat, and the stav (autumn) harvests. When those cycles waver, when records fall that stood since before the State, it underscores the delicate balance upon which everything depends. Israel now looks toward Tuesday, when forecasters promise the return of proper autumn weather—a restoration, however temporary, of the appointed times.
According to Jewish tradition, Elohim is the name of God, designating His aspect revealed through nature. It is also the name of God, describing his aspect of judgment. The Bible frequently describes divine retribution coming through extreme natural conditions. In Deuteronomy, Israel is warned that God’s displeasure at their sins could be expressed in extreme heat waves.
“And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.” Deuteronomy 28:23
In Malachi, heat waves are clearly described as a part of the process of geulah (redemption), a punishment for those who oppose God.
“Then shall ye again discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not. For behold the day cometh it burneth as a furnace; and all the proud and all that work wickedness shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall set them ablaze saith Hashem of hosts that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Malachi 3:18-19
The Bible also describes the sun as having healing properties. After self-circumcising, Abraham was sitting in front of his tent recuperating. Hashem appeared to him by the terebinths of Mamre; he was sitting at the entrance of the tent as the day grew hot. Genesis 18:1
Heat waves are hinted at in Isaiah as part of a Messiah-age healing process:
“And the light of the moon shall become like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall become sevenfold, like the light of the seven days, when Hashem binds up His people’s wounds and heals the injuries it has suffered.” Isaiah 30:26
Conversely, the Talmud in Nedarim 8b describes a form of global warming as a punishment, literally hell on earth. Reish Lakish states: “In the future (in messianic times) there will be no Gehennom. Rather, God will remove the sun from its sheath; the righteous will be cured by it, and the wicked will be judged by it.”
Biblical sources may provide a better understanding of its roots and resolution. In the Bible, weather is not perceived as a random or mechanical process operating, but as a significant channel through which God relates to man and guides his actions. This was made clear in the time of Noah and emphasized by the plagues in Egypt.
People of faith point to a different cause of heat storms. The last time the Jewish people returned from exile and neglected to build the Temple, the punishment was a terrible drought, according to the prophet Haggai:
Ye looked for much and lo it came to little; and when ye brought it home I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of My house that lieth waste while ye run every man for his own house. Therefore over you the heaven hath kept back so that there is no dew and the earth hath kept back her produce. And I called for a drought upon the land and upon the mountains. (Haggai 1:10-11)