Taanit 10a — the Talmud in English

The Gemara explains:

That one—

that verse does not speak at all about the descent of rain, but

in its creation

[its creation]

of the world

it speaks.

For at first the entire world was flooded with water, and the Holy One, blessed be He, gathered it into one place, like one who puts water into a leather flask.

And this is “He gathered like a mound the waters of the sea”: He gathered them as one puts water into a leather flask. “He placed them in treasuries of the depths”: He placed them in treasuries [as it says later in the verse: “There He set its sand as its boundary and a treasury for the sea”].

The Sages taught: The Land of Israel was created first

, and the entire world was created last,

after the Land of Israel.

As it is stated

in the Book of Proverbs, in the verses speaking about the creation of the world:

"Before He made the land and the open places."

Land—that is, the Land of Israel .

Open places—that is, outside the Land of Israel .

The Land of Israel—

the Holy One, blessed be He, waters it Himself.

And

as for

the entire world—

He waters it

through an agent .

As it is stated: “Who gives rain upon the face of the land, and sends water upon the face of the open places.”

That is, upon the face of the Land of Israel—“who gives rain”: the Holy One, blessed be He, gives it Himself. But upon the face of the open places, that is, upon the lands of the rest of the world—“sends water”: through an agent.

The Land of Israel drinks rainwater, and the entire world

drinks

from the residue.

That is, from what remains in the clouds after the Land of Israel has drunk.

As it is stated: “Who gives rain upon the face of the land, etc.”

The Land of Israel drinks first,

for there the rain descends first.

And the entire world—

last .

As it is stated: “Who gives rain upon the face of the land, etc.”

A parable to a person who curdles cheese

[who makes cheese]. How does he do it?

He takes the food and leaves the waste

[he takes the cheese from the vessel in which he placed the milk to curdle, and leaves the waste there—the whey]. So too here, the Land of Israel takes the principal rain. And the rest of the rain, the waste, descends upon the rest of the world.

The master said

[above we brought the words of Rabbi Eliezer]: the waters of the ocean

are sweetened in the clouds.

The Gemara asks:

From where does he have it

[from where does Rabbi Eliezer derive this matter—that the world drinks from the waters of the ocean, and those waters rise and are sweetened in the clouds]?

The Gemara explains:

For Rabbi Yitzhak bar Yosef said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: It is written

in the Book of Psalms:

"Darkness of water, thick clouds of the skies," and it is written

in a similar verse in the Book of Samuel:

"A mass of water, thick clouds of the skies."

Thus we have two verses that speak about the descent of rain, except that in one verse we find the expression “darkness,” while in the other verse we find the expression “mass.”

Take

[remove] the letter

kaf

from the word “darkness” mentioned in the first verse,

and cast

[insert and combine it]

with the resh

[with the letter resh] of the word “mass” mentioned in the second verse,

and read it

[read in it, in that combined word]:

"Fit to be sweetened."

That is, the waters of the ocean, which are initially salty, are sweetened and made fit in the clouds.

The Gemara asks:

And Rabbi Joshua,

who holds that the world drinks from the upper waters,

with these verses

[the verses mentioned above, “Darkness of water, etc.” and “A mass of water, etc.”]

what does he expound from them

[what does he expound from them]? For according to his view, the waters are not sweetened in the clouds!

And the Gemara explains:

He holds like this

[he holds according to the following].

For when Rav Dimi came, he said: They say in the West

[when Rav Dimi came from the Land of Israel to Babylonia, he said that this is what they say in the Land of Israel]:

When the cloud is light

[when the cloud is thin and bright]—

its waters are few

[its waters are little and scant].

And when

the cloud is dark

[the cloud is dark and dense]—

its waters are abundant

[its waters are plentiful].

And this is “darkness of water”: when the clouds are dark, their waters are abundant. It follows that when the clouds are thin and bright, their waters are few. And “mass” is an expression of straining.

The Gemara asks:

According to whom,

according to whose view,

does this teaching that was taught

[does the following beraita follow]:

The upper waters

are not resting upon anything, but are gathered and standing like a pool, and

by the utterance

of the Holy One, blessed be He,

they are suspended

[that is, the waters remain suspended and standing and do not descend and fall upon the earth, because of the utterance of the Holy One, blessed be He, who told them to remain so].

And their fruits

of those waters are

rainwater .

That is, the upper waters are not diminished at all when rain descends, and the rain is like the fruits of a tree, which do not diminish anything from the tree.

And from where do we learn this matter?

As it is stated: “From the fruit of Your deeds the earth will be satisfied.”

That is, the rain is the fruit of the deeds of the Holy One, blessed be He, and from it the earth is satisfied. From the fact that the rain is called “fruit,” it follows that it does not diminish the upper waters at all.

According to whom

[according to whose view does this beraita follow]—

The Gemara says: the beraita is explained

according to the

view of

Rabbi Joshua,

who holds that the world drinks from the upper waters.

The Gemara asks:

And Rabbi Eliezer,

how will he explain the verse “From the fruit of Your deeds the earth will be satisfied”?

And the Gemara explains: Rabbi Eliezer will say that

that one,

that verse—

concerning the work of the hands of the Holy One, blessed be He—

is what is written

[it speaks]. And thus the verse is explained: From the fruit of the work of Your hands, the earth will be satisfied. That is, You created the water so that the earth would be satisfied by it.

Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said: The entire world—

it drinks from the residue of the Garden of Eden.

As it is stated: “And a river issues from Eden, etc.”

[the end of the verse: “to water the garden”]

A tanna taught:

just as

from the residue

[the residue means what remains stuck to the sides of the vessel after its contents have been poured out] of a vessel from which one waters a field whose measure is

a beit kor —

it waters

[it can water] land measuring

a tarkav,

half a se'a , which is one-sixtieth of a beit kor [for a kor contains thirty se'ah.] Thus we have that from the residue it is possible to water one-sixtieth of what could have been watered by everything that had been in the vessel—

so too the entire world, which is one-sixtieth of the Garden of Eden, is satisfied by the residue of the clouds that water the garden.

The Sages taught: The land of Egypt is

[it is] an area of

four hundred parsa

by four hundred parsa.

And it

is a

one-sixtieth part of the

land of

Cush.

That is, the land of Cush is sixty times larger than the land of Egypt.

And

the land of

Cush—

a

one-sixtieth part of the world.

For the entire world is sixty times larger in size than the land of Cush.

And the world—

one-sixtieth of the Garden

is.

And the Garden—

one-sixtieth of Eden.

And Eden—

one-sixtieth of Gehinnom.

It follows

that

the entire world—

is like the lid of a pot in relation to Gehinnom

[vis-à-vis Gehinnom]. That is, the relationship between the world and Gehinnom in terms of size resembles the relationship between a pot lid and the pot. Just as the pot is much larger than the lid , so Gehinnom is much larger than the entire world.

And some say: Gehinnom has no measure

at all.

And some say: Eden has no measure .

Rabbi Oshaya said: What is the meaning of the verse

[what is the explanation of the verse] said concerning Babylonia:

"Dwelling upon many waters, abundant in treasures"?

What caused Babylonia’s storehouses to be full of grain—

you must say: because

it

dwells upon many waters.

For because Babylonia is deeper than all the lands, much rainwater descends there and waters its fields.

Rav said: Wealthy is Babylonia

[Babylonia is rich],

for it harvests without rain

[grain is harvested there without rain], because it does not need rain.

Abaye said: We hold

[we maintain] that this is why Babylonia harvests without rain: it is a place

of inundation

[a place of depth and stagnant water], that is, its soil is wet and moist,

and not dry

[and it is not a place of dryness].

Mishna:

Until now, we discussed the time when the mention of rain begins, by reciting “Who causes the wind to blow and the rain to fall.” The Mishna now discusses when one begins requesting rain, by reciting “Grant dew and rain.”

On the third of the

month of

Marheshvan—

they begin requesting rain,

although in truth the appropriate time for rain to fall is from Shemini Atzeret .

Rabban Gamliel says: On the seventh of that month,

of Marheshvan, which is

fifteen days after the Festival [the Festival of Sukkot], they begin requesting rain.

The reason is

so that the last

of the pilgrims

of Israel would reach

his

home in the region of

the Euphrates River,

which is the edge of the Land of Israel , before the rain falls. Since the people of Israel remain in Jerusalem throughout the Festival and set out on their return journey when it ends, and the journey to the Euphrates takes no more than fifteen days , they therefore begin requesting rain only on the seventh of Marheshvan.

Gemara:

Rabbi Elazar said: The halakha is in accordance with Rabban Gamliel,

that they request rain on the seventh of Marheshvan .

It was taught in a beraita, Hanania says: And in the Diaspora

they do not request rain until

the sixtieth

day of the season [

until the sixtieth day of the season of Tishrei ]. The reason is that the place is low-lying and does not need as much rain, because its water comes from other, higher places.

Rav Huna bar Hiyya said in the name of Shmuel: The halakha

is in accordance with Hanania .

The Gemara objects:

Is that so?

Is this really the case?

But they asked Shmuel

[the following question]:

When do we begin mentioning

[when do we begin mentioning and reciting in the prayer]

“Grant dew and rain”?

And

he said to them

[Shmuel said to them]: The time is

from when the members of the household of Tavot, the bird hunter, bring wood into the storehouse

[from when the members of Tavot’s household bring wood into storage for the rainy season . This is a sign that the time for rain has arrived, since Tavot’s household knows that from then onward they will no longer be able to cut wood in the forest, and therefore they hurry to bring wood into storage]. This shows that they begin reciting “Grant dew and rain” at a different time!

The Gemara responds: What is the difficulty?

Perhaps both

are one measure

[perhaps these two times—the sixtieth day of the season and the time when the wood is brought into storage—are the same time].

A question was raised in the house of study

[the following question was raised]: We cited Hanania’s statement that in the Diaspora rain is not requested until the sixtieth day of the season. It must be determined whether

the sixtieth day

itself is

like

the days

before the sixtieth

and “Grant dew and rain” is not recited on it,

or

perhaps it is

like

the days

after the sixtieth

and “Grant dew and rain” is recited on it?

Come and hear: Rav said: The sixtieth day

itself

is like the day after sixty

and “Grant dew and rain” is recited on it.

And Shmuel said: The sixtieth day—

is like the days before the sixtieth

and “Grant dew and rain” is not recited on it.

Rav Nahman bar Yitzhak said: And your sign is this:

keep this sign in mind, so that you will not confuse the two opinions: who said that the sixtieth day is like the days before sixty, and who said that it is like the days after sixty:

Those above need water

[those who live in the mountains need more water, because the rain flows down the slopes].

Those below do not need water

[those who live in the valleys do not need much rain, because all the water that descends from the mountains collects in the valleys].

Therefore, Rav, who lived in the Land of Israel, which is higher than all other lands and needs much rain, said that the sixtieth day is like the day after sixty, so that rain would be requested as early as possible .

Shmuel, however, who lived in Babylonia, which is a valley and does not need much rain, said that the sixtieth day is like the days before the sixtieth, and rain is not requested on it .

Rav Pappa said: The practical halakha

[the halakha in practice is]:

the sixtieth day—

is like the day after sixty ,

;

Mishna:

A. If the days appropriate for rain have begun [that is, from the third of Marheshvan or from the seventh of that month, as we learned in the previous Mishna], and

the

day

seventeen of the

month of

Marheshvan has already arrived -

and

still

no rain has fallen, the

[they begin]

individuals

[Torah scholars distinguished by their deeds]

begin observing three fasts,

to arouse mercy so that rain will fall . [The Gemara below will explain on which days they fast.]

These fasts are not severe. Therefore,

they may eat and drink after nightfall

[that is, once evening has fallen on the day before the fast and the night of the fast has begun, they are still permitted to eat and drink. They begin fasting only at the start of the day] .

And

likewise, on those days of fasting, they are

permitted to engage in

work,

and in washing, and in anointing

[applying something oily to the body],

and in wearing sandals

of leather,

and in marital relations.

b.

When the beginning of the month of Kislev arrived

, and

still

rain had not fallen, the court decrees three fasts upon

all

the community.

These days of fasting as well, which the court decreed upon the entire community, are not stringent. Therefore,

they eat and drink once it grows dark, and are permitted to engage in work, and in washing, and in anointing, and in wearing sandals, and in marital relations.

Gemara:

Man

[who are] those

"individuals"?

Rav Huna said: The Sages

[Torah scholars].

And Rav Huna said: Individuals fast three fasts,

on

Monday, Thursday, and Monday.

And the Gemara wonders:

what does this teach us

[what did Rav Huna make known to us by saying that they fast on Monday, Thursday, and Monday]?

After all,

we learned

[this matter in the Mishna below]:

one does not initially decree a fast upon the community on

a

Thursday

[one does not begin the days of fasting on Thursday]—in order

not to drive up the prices.

That is, if they begin fasting on Thursday, they will need to purchase two large meals on the evening following the fast: one for the conclusion of the fast, and one for Shabbat. And because of this the sellers will think that famine has come to the world, and they will come to drive up the prices.

Rather,

this is the order

of the first three fasts:

they begin fasting on

Monday, and

fast again on

Thursday, and

return and fast on

Monday

of the following week!

And the Gemara answers: Rav Huna needed to state his words, because

one might say

[perhaps you will say]: what we learned, that they fast specifically on Monday, Thursday, and Monday,

applies only

[that is, specifically] to a fast on which the entire

community

fasts, since then there is concern about driving up the prices.

But

with regard to the fast of an

individual,

when the individuals fast before the community’s fast—

not,

Rav Huna teaches us

[he made known to us]

that

even for an individual, the order of the fasts is Monday, Thursday, and Monday.

It was taught likewise

[we likewise find in a beraita]:

when the individuals began to fast, they fast on Monday, Thursday, and Monday.

We learn from this that the individuals, too, do not begin to fast on Thursday.