Last week, our front page included an article about the
urgent need for rain and asking that the community pray for
rain. The article described one rov who had, with great
mesiras nefesh, convinced the farmers on his
settlement in the center of Israel to observe shmitta
kehilchoso.
The rov said that in the fields of the shmitta
observers on his settlement the seeds planted prior to
the shmitta year (in accordance with halachic
guidelines) had begun to sprout, while the fields of the non-
shmitta observers who hadn't planted prior to
shmitta, but were waiting (as is the usual practice)
for the rainy season to begin so that they could plant, were
still brown. Both types of farmers, the rov explained, were
praying for rain.
In addition to the distress of the country's shmitta
observing farmers over the lack of rains, the issue of
kiddush sheim Shomayim was clearly at stake. The
early rains which fell right after Succos were indeed rains
of blessing for the shmitta observing farmers,
causing the seeds they had sown before the start of the year
to bloom and grow. However in order for the blessing to
continue, additional rains were needed within a few days.
Otherwise all of the efforts of the farmers would be lost,
and the crops, which had begun to sprout, might be damaged
irrevocably , cholila, causing a heavy loss of all
the resources invested.
Our readers are surely wondering what happened, especially
in light of the fact that prayer rallies were held all over
the country last Monday (erev rosh chodesh Kislev--Yom
Kippur Koton) in light of the situation all over Eretz
Yisroel.
The rov of the yishuv went around to gedolei
Yisroel, telling them of the delicate position of the
shmitta observing farmers on his yishuv and
asking them to beseech the Borei Olom to shower rain
both for the farmers and for the kiddush sheim
Shomayim involved. On the day of prayer as well, the
members of the abovementioned settlement gathered in its
synagogue and prayed both for the welfare of the
klal, and for the urgently needed rains. Last
Wednesday (2 Kislev), a light rain fell, mainly in the south
and hardly at all in the country's center where that
settlement is located. The fields remained dry.
On the next day, Thursday, the weatherman reported that the
rain was over and that from the afternoon, the temperatures
would gradually rise. (Rain is always accompanied by lower
temperatures in Israel.) The skies cleared and it seemed as
if the terrible forecast was coming true.
But then, on Thursday evening, Shomayim opened, and
strong rains fell on the fields for many hours. On Friday
morning, the farmers of that settlement could finally smile
and lift their voices in gratitude to the Borei Olom
for the rains of brocho which saved their crops which
had been sowed in conformance with the restrictions of
shmitta.
