Taanit 5a (ה.) — the Talmud in English

Rava said: Once he has begun

to mention rain on the eighth day, which is in doubt as to whether it is the seventh,

he no longer stops

mentioning it; rather, he mentions it in all the prayers from that point onward.

And similarly Rav Sheshet said: Once he has begun

mentioning rain,

he no longer stops.

And Rav too retracted his position

[he went back on what he had initially said, that he stops mentioning it in the afternoon prayer].

And from where do we know that he retracted his position?

For Rav Ḥananel said in the name of Rav:

This is how a person must conduct himself with regard to mentioning rain:

He counts

continuously

twenty-one days

from the first day of Rosh Hashanah,

just as one counts eighteen days from Rosh Hashanah until the day of

Yom Kippur ,

counting those ten days from the first day of Rosh Hashanah , and then Yom Kippur arrives.

And

from that point onward—that is, from the twenty-second day, which is the end of Sukkot—

he begins

to mention it.

And once he has begun

mentioning it,

he no longer stops .

Thus we learn that Rav retracted his position, and he too holds that once one has begun, he no longer stops.

And the halakha

[the halakhic ruling in this matter] is:

Once he has begun

mentioning it,

he no longer stops.

Mishna:

Until when

—until what time of year—

do we request rain

by saying, “And grant dew and rain for a blessing”?

Rabbi Yehuda says: Until

the festival of

Passover has passed.

Rabbi Meir says: Until

the month of

Nisan has ended and passed.

As it is stated

in the book of Joel: “And the children of Zion, rejoice and be glad in the Lord your God, etc.,

and He will bring down rain for you, the early rain

and the late rain in the first month.”

“The first” means the month of Nisan, which is the first of the months . Thus, the entire month is an appropriate time for rain .

Gemara:

Our Mishna cited the verse, “And He will bring down rain for you, the early rain and the late rain in the first month,” which implies that the early rain falls in the month of Nisan.

He was astonished, and

Rav Naḥman said to Rabbi Yitzḥak:

Is the time for the

early rain, in

the month of

Nisan?

But the time for the

early rain is in Marḥeshvan!

For it was taught in a beraita: The early rain,

which is the first rain of the rainy season, falls

in

the month of

Marḥeshvan.

And the late rain,

which is the final rain, falls

in

the month of

Nisan!

He said to him,

Rabbi Yitzḥak to Rav Naḥman:

This is what Rabbi Yoḥanan said:

In truth, the regular time for the early rain is in Marḥeshvan. However,

in the days of Joel son of Pethuel, this verse was fulfilled

that was cited in the Mishna. At that time, in an unusual manner, both the early rain and the late rain fell in the month of Nisan.

For it is written concerning him

in Joel, who prophesied this concerning Israel: “Hear this, elders, and give ear, all inhabitants of the land, etc.,

what the cutting locust left, the swarming locust consumed, etc.”

That is, there would be an extremely severe plague of locusts and a great famine lasting seven years.

And indeed, that is what happened. A severe plague of locusts came, and there was a famine for seven years.

In

that year,

the seventh year of the famine,

the month of

Adar

ended, and

still

no

rain

had fallen at all.

The first rainfall came to them

[this is what the beginning of the rains is called ]

on the first of Nisan .

The prophet

Joel

said to

the

people

of

Israel: Go out

to the fields,

and sow

the grain kernels that still remained in your possession, so that they would produce grain through the rain that was now falling.

They were astonished, and

the people of Israel said to him:

Israel:

One who has

only

a kav

of wheat, or kavs of barley

, should he eat it

now and satisfy his hunger,

and live

for the time being,

or

perhaps

should he sow it

[that kav of wheat or barley], and meanwhile, until the grain grows, he will have nothing to eat

and die?

Would it not be preferable to eat the grain kernels now?!

He said to them:

Indeed, logic dictates this, as you say. But

nevertheless, go out and sow

what you have in your possession.

Israel obeyed his voice, and went out and sowed what they had.

A miracle occurred for them

, and there was revealed to them

grain kernels,

that which

the mice had stored

in the walls

[in holes in the walls of the houses],

and what was in the ant holes

[what the ants had stored in their holes].

And what they

went out and sowed

from the grain in their possession was done on the

second, third, and fourth

days of the month of Nisan.

And the second rainfall came to them

[the second rainfall]

on

the

fifth of Nisan.

The grain grew in such a short time that they were already able to harvest it on the sixteenth of Nisan, and

they offered

the

Omer on the sixteenth of Nisan

from the new grain.

And during the period in which they waited for the new grain to grow, they ate from the grain that had been revealed to them in the walls and in the ant holes .

It follows that grain that normally grows

in the course of

a

six months,

from Tishrei until Nisan

, grew

that year

in eleven days.

From the fifth of Nisan until the sixteenth of that month .

It follows that the Omer that was offered

normally

from grain that had

grown over

six months was offered

that year

from grain that had grown in eleven days.

And concerning that generation it says

in the book of Psalms:

“Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy; he who goes forth and weeps, bearing the measure of seed, etc.”

That is, the members of that generation, who sowed in tears—for they sowed the last grain kernels they had available to eat—in the end harvested their grain in joy.

The Gemara asks:

What

is the explanation of the verse:

“He who goes forth and weeps, bearing the measure, etc.,

he shall surely come in joy, bearing his sheaves”? For it was already stated earlier: “Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy”!

Rabbi Yehuda said:

This verse speaks of the

ox

that was in that generation.

When it plowed

the furrow, it

went forth weeping

because of its hunger.

And

the grain grew so quickly that already

upon its return

[when the ox returned over the same furrow that it had previously plowed] ,

it ate

the

ḥaziz

[straw ]

from the furrow

that it had sown as it went along. It began growing immediately when the seed fell .

And this is “he shall surely come in joy.”

When the ox returns, it returns in joy.

The Gemara continues and asks:

What is the meaning of “bearing his sheaves”?

If this means that they now had sheaves of grain to eat, was it not already stated, “They shall reap in joy”?

Rav Ḥisda said, and some say that it was taught in a beraita:

There was another great miracle at that time. The length of the ear of grain [the part of the wheat containing the kernels] was twice the length of the stalk supporting the ear. The length of the

stalk was a

span ,

and the length of the

ear was

two spans

[twice the length of a span]. This was unlike ordinary grain, whose stalk is three or four times the length of the ear .

Since the Gemara cited the question that Rav Naḥman asked Rabbi Yitzḥak, which is relevant to our subject, it cites other questions that Rav Naḥman asked Rabbi Yitzḥak, even though they do not concern the falling of rain.

Rav Naḥman said to Rabbi Yitzḥak: What is the meaning of that which is written

in the book of Kings, in the days of Jehoram son of Ahab, when the prophet Elisha said:

“For the Lord has called for a famine, and it has already come upon the land

for seven years”?

During those seven years—

what did they eat

[what did they eat during those seven years of famine]? For it is impossible to survive seven years without eating at all!

He said to him: This is how

[so]

Rabbi Yoḥanan said:

In the

first

year

of

the famine years

, they ate what

they still had

in the houses.

In the

second

year, when nothing remained for them in the houses

, they ate what

remained

in the fields.

In the

third

year, when nothing remained in the fields, they ate

the meat of kosher animals.

In the

fourth

year, when no kosher animals remained for them, they were forced to eat

the meat of non-kosher animals.

In the

fifth

year, when not even a non-kosher animal remained for them

, they ate

the meat of creeping creatures and crawling things .

In the

sixth

year, when nothing remained for them to eat, part of the people

ate the flesh of their sons and daughters .

In the

seventh year,

they ate

the flesh of their arms

because of their great hunger,

to fulfill that which is stated: “Each man shall eat the flesh of his own arm.”

And Rav Naḥman said to Rabbi Yitzḥak: What is the meaning of that which is written [

what is the explanation of the verse] in the book of Hosea, in which the Holy One, blessed be He, said:

“The Holy One is in your midst, and I will not enter the city”?

Simply, “the Holy One is in your midst” means that you yourselves are holy, and that your deeds are good and upright. If so, this is difficult: Is it

because the Holy One is in your midst,

because you improve your deeds,

, that I will not enter the city [

that the Holy One, blessed be He, will not enter the city]?

He said to him,

Rabbi Yitzḥak: The meaning of this verse is not as you understood it, according to its simple sense. Rather,

this [

is how]

Rabbi Yoḥanan said

in explaining this verse:

The Holy One, blessed be He, said: “I will not enter the Jerusalem above

until I enter the Jerusalem below.”

And this is the meaning of the verse: Until “the Holy One is in your midst,” in the Jerusalem below, “I will not enter the city,” the Jerusalem above.

The Gemara asks: “And is there”

[

is it possible that there is]

a Jerusalem above?

The Gemara answers:

Yes

[

indeed].

As it is written: “Jerusalem, built like a city joined to it.” This means that the city of Jerusalem is destined to be built like the city to which it is joined: it resembles it and is similar to it—in other words, its counterpart and likeness. Thus, we learn that another Jerusalem exists. And where is it, if not above?!

And Rav Naḥman said to Rabbi Yitzḥak: What is the meaning of that which is written

[what is the explanation of the verse]:

“At one thing they will burn and become foolish: the discipline of vanities is wood”?

He said to him: This

[

is how]

Rabbi Yoḥanan said

in explaining this verse: “One transgression”—

there is one transgression

, which burns

the

wicked in Gehinnom.

This is the meaning of “At one thing they will burn”: Through one transgression, the wicked will burn in Gehinnom.

What is it?

[Which transgression is this?]

Idolatry.

This matter is derived through a gezerah shavah:

It is written here

[here, in the verse we cited]:

“The discipline of vanities is wood.”

And it is written there

[and it is written elsewhere, concerning idolatry]:

“They are vanity, the work of deceivers.”

And through the gezerah shavah of “vanity” and “vanities,” we learn that our verse, too, is referring to idolatry.

And Rav Naḥman said to Rabbi Yitzḥak: What is the meaning of that which is written,

where the Holy One, blessed be He, said: “The heavens shall be astonished at this, etc.,

for My people have committed two evils”?

Does this mean that there were only

two

[were there really only two evils that they committed against Israel]?

Twenty-four

transgressions are mentioned in the passage of “Will you judge” [

were they waived for them

[were they let off from them and not judged for them]?

He said to him,

Rabbi Yitzḥak:

This is what Rabbi Yoḥanan said: