Berakhot 59a (נט.) — the Talmud in English

And it appears as

Kima

a perforated vessel

like a vessel perforated by blows], that is, like an object whose contents have diminished and whose hole was sealed with material from its own body, by striking it with hammer blows until its hollow was filled,

and this one, which goes “

Ash”

after it

after “Kima,” is because

it says to it, “Give me my sons”

the stars that were taken from me and given to you].

For when the Holy One, blessed be He, wished to bring a flood upon the world, He took two stars from “Kima,”

and thereby opened the windows of heaven

and brought a flood upon the world. And when He wished to close it

—to stop the flood—

He took two stars from “Ash”

and closed it,

and used them to seal the deficiency of “Kima.” It follows that “Ash” is the tail of Aries, for it follows “Kima,” which is in the constellation of Aries.

The Gemara asks:

And let Him return them to it

to “Kima”—the two stars that He had taken from it. Why did He need to take them from “Ash”?

The Gemara answers:

A pit cannot be filled with the soil from its own excavation.

One who digs a pit in the ground cannot fill it with the earth removed from that pit, because some of it will always remain lacking and be lost. Therefore, He had to bring stars from another constellation in order to fill the deficiency of “Kima.”

Alternatively, an accuser cannot become a defender.

Since those two stars that were taken from “Kima” brought the Flood, He did not use them to stop it.

The Gemara raises another objection:

And let Him create for it

“Kima”

two other stars,

out of nothing, in order to fill its deficiency.

The Gemara answers: There is no innovation in creation after the six days of Creation, as it is written [Ecclesiastes 1:9]:

“There is nothing new beneath the sun.”

Rav Naḥman said: In the future, the Holy One, blessed be He, will return them to it

to “Ash,” its two stars.

As it is stated: “And Ash consoles its children.”

They interpreted the expression “consoles” also in the sense of “consolation.”

We learned in the Mishna:

And for earthquakes,

and so on, one says: “Blessed is He whose strength and might fill the world.”

The Gemara analyzes this:

What are “earthquakes”?

Rav Ketina said: Guha.

That is an earthquake.

Rav Ketina was traveling along the road. When he reached the entrance to the house of a necromancer,

a necromancer who performs sorcery with the bones of the dead,

the earth groaned

the earth shook.

Rav Ketina said: Who knows, O necromancer, what this earthquake is,

and what causes it?

He cast at him

the necromancer

a voice

he raised his voice at him, and said:

“Ketina, Ketina, how could I not know?”

I certainly know why it occurs, because

when the Holy One, blessed be He, remembers His children,

who are

suffering among the nations of the world,

He

drops two tears into the Great Sea, and His voice is heard from one end of the world to the other. And this is the earthquake.

For as a result, the earth shakes.

Rav Ketina said: The necromancer

the necromancer

is a liar

a falsehood

is he, and his words are lies

and his statements are false. The earth does not shake for that reason, because

if so,

according to his words, why did only one “Guha” occur? Surely

there should have been “Guha, Guha”—

the earth should have shaken twice, corresponding to the two tears.

The Gemara rejects this:

No,

this is not

a

proof, because in truth

it makes “Guha, Guha,”

and the earth does shake twice, as the necromancer said.

And the reason he did not acknowledge this to him,

Rav Ketina did not acknowledge it to the necromancer, was

so that everyone would not err after him

and believe in his sorcery.

And Rav Ketina

on

his own said:

An earthquake occurs because the Holy One, blessed be He,

claps

His

hands

one against the other, and from this sound the earth shakes. We find that He claps His hands,

as it is stated

Ezekiel 21:22]:

“I too will clap My hands together, and I will cause My wrath to rest,

I, the Lord, have spoken.”

Rabbi Natan says:

An earthquake occurs because of

the sigh

with which

the Holy One, blessed be He, sighs

the Holy One, blessed be He.

As it is stated

there 5:13]: “And I will finish My anger,

and I will cause My wrath to rest upon them and I will be consoled.”

As it were, He is like a person filled with anger who is consoled by sighing.

And the Sages say:

An earthquake occurs because the Holy One, blessed be He,

kicks the firmament, as it is stated

Jeremiah 25:30]:

“He will roar aloud like those who tread grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.”

For He treads upon and kicks the firmament.

Rav Aḥa bar Yaakov said:

An earthquake occurs because the Holy One, blessed be He,

presses His feet beneath the Throne of Glory,

and the earth shakes, since it is His footstool.

As it is stated

Isaiah 66:1]:

“So said the Lord: The heavens are My throne, and the earth is My footstool.”

We learned in the Mishna:

And for thunder.

The Gemara analyzes this:

What is “thunder”?

Shmuel said: Clouds rolling on the wheel.

The clouds roll and rub against one another, and as a result a sound is heard,

as it is stated

Psalms 77:19]:

“The sound of Your thunder is in the wheel; lightning illuminated the world, it trembled

and the earth shook.”

And the Sages say:

What is thunder?

Clouds that pour water into one another,

from one cloud to another,

as it is stated

Jeremiah 10:13]:

“At the sound of His giving a multitude of water in the heavens.”

Thus, the pouring and giving of water in the heavens produces the sound of thunder.

Rav Aḥa bar Yaakov said:

What is thunder? It is caused by

a powerful flash

of fire

that flashes in the cloud and breaks the pieces of hail

in the clouds, and the sound of thunder is heard.

Rav Ashi said:

What is thunder?

Clouds with perforations

that are somewhat hollow,

and the wind comes and blows through their mouths, and it resembles

the sound of the wind

like wind

that blows

through the mouth of a barrel

the mouth of a barrel. And this is the sound of thunder.

The Gemara concludes:

And it is reasonable to follow Rav Aḥa bar Yaakov,

who said that thunder is caused by lightning breaking the hail in the clouds, for we see

that

first

there is a flash of lightning,

and immediately afterward

the clouds thunder

they thunder,

and rain comes

because the clouds break apart.

We learned in the Mishna:

And for winds.

The Gemara analyzes this:

What are “winds”

for which one recites, “Blessed is He whose strength and might fill the world”?

Abaye said: A storm wind.

[A gale-force wind.]

And Abaye said: It is transmitted by tradition that a storm wind does not occur at night,

but only during the day.

The Gemara wonders:

But we see that

even at night

there is a storm wind.

The Gemara explains:

That

storm that appears at night is considered a daytime storm, since

it began during the day.

And Abaye said: It is transmitted by tradition that a storm wind does not last two hours.

It lasts less than two hours,

fulfilling what is stated

Nahum 1:9]:

“Affliction shall not rise up a second time.”

An hour is called a “time,” so the meaning of the verse is that the storm does not rise for two hours.

The Gemara wonders:

But we see that it lasts,

for the storm sometimes continues for more than two hours.

The Gemara explains: The storm does not continue for two consecutive hours; rather,

it is interrupted between

one period and

another.

We learned in the Mishna:

And for lightning, one says: “Blessed is He whose strength and might fill the world.”

The Gemara analyzes this:

What is lightning?

Rava said: A flash.

Flashes of fire, from the expression “flashing.”

And Rava said: “A solitary flash

that flashed only once,

and ‘white lightning’

whose color is white,

and ‘green lightning,’ and clouds that rise

ascending

in the western corner

of the firmament

and come from the southern corner, and two clouds that rise, one facing the other

and strike one another,

all of them are harmful

and are not signs over which one recites a blessing.

The Gemara explains:

What practical difference does it make?

To pray,

that none of these should cause harm.

And this applies

—that they are harmful—only when they come in this manner

at night. But

if they come

in the morning, they have no substance.

They cause no harm.

Rabbi Shmuel bar Yitzḥak said: These morning clouds have no substance,

and they contain no blessing.

As it is written

Hosea 6:4]: “

What shall I do with you, Ephraim? What shall I do with you, Judah?

Your kindness is like a morning cloud,

and like the dew that vanishes early.” For all your kindness and righteousness amount to nothing. Since they are compared to a morning cloud, it follows that it too amounts to nothing.

Rav Pappa said to Abaye: People say

that if it happens that

when you open your door

when you open your door in the morning, rain falls,

rain,

if you are

a donkey driver

one who transports donkeys,

fold

fold up

your sack

beneath you,

and go to sleep

and do not ride your donkey to go and bring grain. For rain that falls in the morning is beneficial for grain, and when grain becomes plentiful, wheat becomes cheaper, so you will earn only a small amount from it.

This implies that morning rain is beneficial, which contradicts Rabbi Shmuel bar Yitzḥak, who said, “They have no substance.”

The Gemara answers:

This is not difficult.

For

this

case, in which they are a sign of blessing, is when

the sky becomes covered

with

thick clouds, whereas

[heavy clouds], whereas

that

case in which “they have no substance” is when

the sky becomes covered

with

thin clouds

of little density.

Rav Alexandri said in the name of Rabbi Joshua ben Levi: Thunder was created

only in order to straighten

the

crookedness in the heart.

For no other benefit of thunder is known, apart from the fact that it terrifies hearts and leads them to repent.

And Rav Alexandri said in the name of Rabbi Joshua ben Levi: One who sees a rainbow in a cloud must fall on his face.

Because it displays the glory of God.

As it is stated in the account of the Divine Chariot

Ezekiel 1:28]:

“Like the appearance of the rainbow that is in the cloud

on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness around it; this was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of God,”

and when I saw it, I fell upon my face,

and I heard the voice of One speaking.”

They would curse in the West,

the one who does so.

Because it appears as though he is bowing to the rainbow.

But he certainly recites a blessing

upon seeing a rainbow.

And what blessing does he recite? —

“Blessed is He Who remembers the covenant.”

The rainbow is a sign of the covenant that God made with Noah, that He would not again bring a flood upon the world.

It was taught in a baraita: Rabbi Yishmael, son of Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Beroka, says: “

Blessed is

He Who is faithful to His covenant and fulfills His word.”

Rav Pappa said: Therefore, let us say both.

And he should say as follows:

“Blessed is He Who remembers the covenant and is faithful

to His covenant and fulfills His word.”

With this wording, he includes both opinions stated with regard to this blessing.

We learned in the Mishna:

“Over mountains and hills,

and over seas, rivers, and deserts, one says: ‘Blessed is He Who performs the act of Creation.’”

The Gemara raises an objection:

“Is it so that all these that we have mentioned until now

in the Mishna, such as lightning and the like, whose blessing is ‘Whose power and might fill the world,’

are they not acts of Creation? And it is written

[Psalms 135:7]:

‘He made lightning for the rain,’

so why does their blessing differ from that recited over mountains and hills?

Abaye said: Combine

all those mentioned in the Mishna

and teach

them as a single clause, because in all of them one recites both of these blessings together.

Rava said: There,

with regard to lightning and the like,

he recites

one of

two

and may recite either

“Blessed is He Whose power fills the world,”

because they are heard and seen from afar,

or

either

“Who performs the act of Creation.”

But

here,

with regard to mountains and hills, he recites only

“Who performs the act of Creation,”

because

“Who performs the act of Creation” applies

to them, but

“Whose power fills the world” does not apply

to them, since they are seen only in their own place and not throughout the entire world.

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: One who sees the firmament in its purity

when it is clear of clouds

says: “Blessed is He Who performs the act of Creation.”

This is because that is how the firmament appeared at the time of its creation, and only afterward was it covered with clouds.

And

when

is the firmament found in its purity?

Abaye said: When rain has come all night,

and in the morning a north wind comes

[a northerly wind] and disperses the clouds,

and reveals the heavens to them.

And

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi and Abaye disagree with the statement

that Rafram bar Pappa said in the name of Rav Ḥisda, as Rafram bar Pappa said in the name of Rav Ḥisda: From the day the Temple was destroyed, the firmament has not been seen in its purity, as it is stated

[Isaiah 50:3]:

“I clothe the heavens with blackness, and

I make sackcloth their covering.”