Jewish Theology integrales two rather contradictory concepts, The Power of Gd and the Gift He gave us, Free Will. I don't have time to delve into this complicated relationship now, but today I witnessed some of Gd's Powers.
As I was doing some things in the living area of my house, which faces east, south and west, I noticed that the sky to the west was getting dark. That could mean rain. And then suddenly I saw a strange flash to the east. I began to wonder if that had been lightning, when suddenly I heard a boom, thunder. So retroactively I knew that it had been lightning.
A few seconds later I had already taken out a siddur, Jewish Prayer Book, and said the appropriate blessings:
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We humans like to think that we're clever, but we can't fully control the weather. Here in the Land of Israel, Gd uses the weather as a barometer to show approval or disapproval of our behavior. Some years we have perfect quantities of rain at the best times, accompanied by the right heat and cold facilitate miraculously blessed harvests. There are other years when lack of rain, too much or badly timed rain, along with damaging temperatures turn our Land into a barren wilderness. This doesn't happen by chance.
May we succeed in following Gd's Commandments correctly and deserve the best weather for the fertility of The Land of Israel.
As I was doing some things in the living area of my house, which faces east, south and west, I noticed that the sky to the west was getting dark. That could mean rain. And then suddenly I saw a strange flash to the east. I began to wonder if that had been lightning, when suddenly I heard a boom, thunder. So retroactively I knew that it had been lightning.
A few seconds later I had already taken out a siddur, Jewish Prayer Book, and said the appropriate blessings:
We humans like to think that we're clever, but we can't fully control the weather. Here in the Land of Israel, Gd uses the weather as a barometer to show approval or disapproval of our behavior. Some years we have perfect quantities of rain at the best times, accompanied by the right heat and cold facilitate miraculously blessed harvests. There are other years when lack of rain, too much or badly timed rain, along with damaging temperatures turn our Land into a barren wilderness. This doesn't happen by chance.
May we succeed in following Gd's Commandments correctly and deserve the best weather for the fertility of The Land of Israel.