תפילת הודיה לגשם | Thanksgiving Prayer for Rainfall in Lands Where It is Needed, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

Contributor(s):

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

Shared on:

21 February 2019 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories:

Drought & Wildfire, the Wet Season (Fall & Winter)

Tags:

global climate change, Prayers for Precipitation, גשם geshem, eco-conscious, thanksgiving, Rain, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., global warming, מודים Modim

In the area of the land of Israel, rain is precious and snow is rare. Incoming rain and snow are thus a sign of blessing rather than curse. This is why we pray for rain during the winter (the rainy season in a Mediterranean climate) and recite the Prayer of Rain every Shmini Atzeret at the most solemn moment of the festival. The Talmud records some notes (Berakhot 59b) on a blessing specifically recited during a rainfall, to give thanks for it. This thanksgiving prayer is not a common part of any traditions today, which means we pray for rain but don’t give thanks when it comes. This deserves to be fixed.

This text uses the discussion in Berakhot 59b as a starting point to create thanksgiving blessings for rain in a land where it is needed, as well as snow in a place where it is rare. Though many Jews these days live in areas where rain is common and year-round and snow is a regular part of winter, not all do – and large Jewish communities like those in Israel, southern California or Australia might pray for rain just as much as our ancestors did.

This text is meant to be be used as a personal blessing upon stepping outside and experiencing the weather. In Berakhot 59b Rabbi Abbahu says we recite the blessing for rain “when the groom goes out to meet the bride” – generally interpreted as when the raindrops hit puddles on the ground. But we could also interpret it as going outside to meet the weather and deeply sense its power and its beauty.

Note: “The Cause” is used to translate the Divine Name YHVH, based on the philosophical idea of God as the Prime Mover and on the interpretation of the Name as a causative form of the copula – “causes to be.”

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Source (Hebrew)

Translation (English)

הַנֹּתֵ֣ן מָ֭טָר עַל־פְּנֵי־אָ֑רֶץ
וְשֹׁ֥לֵֽחַ מַ֗֝יִם עַל־פְּנֵ֥י חוּצֽוֹת׃ (איוב ה:י)
מוֹדִים אֲנַחְנוּ לָךְ עַל כׇּל־טִפָּה וְטִפָּה שֶׁהוֹרַדְתָּ לָנוּ׃ (תלמוד בבלי, ברכות נט ב על פי רב יהודה)
טוֹב־אַתָּה וּמֵטִיב (תהלים קיט:סח).
מְקוֹר מַיִם־חַיִּים אָתָּה (ירמיהו יז:יג).
וְכֵן לְךָ לְבָדְךָ נוֹדֶה
וּלְפָנֶיךָ נִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה׃
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יהוה
רֹב הַהוֹדָאוֹת
וְהָאֵל הַהוֹדָאוֹת׃ (תלמוד בבלי, ברכות נט ב על פי רב פפא)

O Giver of Rain upon the face of the earth,
and Sender of Water upon the face of the open spaces, (Job 5:10)
we give thanks to You for each drip, drop that You send down to us. (Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 59b, Rav Yehuda)
Good are You, and do good; (Psalms 119:68)
a Source of Living Water are You. (Jeremiah 17:13)
And thus to You alone we give thanks,
and we bow before You.
Blessed are you, Cause,
Abundant in thanksgivings
and the God of thanksgivings. (Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 59b, Rav Pappa)

. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike . 4.0 . International .

“תפילת הודיה לגשם | Thanksgiving Prayer for Rainfall in Lands Where It is Needed, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

From a family of musicians, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer believes that creative art is one of the most powerful ways to get in touch with the divine. He composes music and poetry in Hebrew and English. (He also translates and transcribes Hebrew and Aramaic texts, adding niqqud and t'amim as needed.) Isaac runs a Jewish music transcription service, which will transcribe and set any Jewish music in any language, recorded or written. Contact his service on Facebook or via his music blog.

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17