Here comes the rain again

 
The rains have finally come to Israel and our neighbours, and what rains, pouring down with such intensity that many areas received half the month's average rainfall in just a few days, accompanied by stunning lightning shows.

After several months of the dry season folks have almost forgotten what rain is. People, and especially kids, go out to delight in the first downpour and drink in that delicious scent of the first autumn rainstorm, the forgotten novelty of droplets falling from the sky, fresh rain water on hair and skin. It feels so exotic to pull out the rainboots and raincoats packed away at the top of the wardrobe in May. Who truly imagined then that we would all still be mired in this covid crisis when the rains returned. Still, the cycle of the rains is also comforting, other routines may have been thrown into disarray, but here we are in the Hebrew month of Heshvan and here is the rain and with it the first new green shoots and the delicate autumn crocuses in pastel hues, the promise of renewal and hope for the arid earth. The first rainstorm of the season is so special it even has its own name in Hebrew, going all the way back to biblical times, the Yoreh, some say from the word moreh, teaching or showing, because the Yoreh is the sign to get ready in earnest for winter, to fix the roof, strengthen the barn and prepare the fields. In a region where we don't have major rivers rain is very important to our culture, ancient Hebrew has many terms for the different types of rain: geshem, matar, revivim and more. If the rains are late the custom is to institute emergency prayers and communal fasts until it finally rains. How intense can a good rainy season be? For comparison, Tel Aviv and London receive about the same annual rainfall, just in Tel Aviv all that rain is compressed in to just a few short months.