Skipping through Rain Puddles

The poet Mary Oliver writes,

Last night
the rain
spoke to me
slowly, saying,
what joy
to come falling
out of the brisk cloud,
to be happy again”
in a new way
on the earth!”

There is joy to be found in the rains.  They nourish the earth.  They bring blessings to its inhabitants. I often console wedding couples who are lamenting moving the huppah indoors from their dreamed about outdoor location with the words, “Rain is good mazel.” 

The Torah connects rain and its waters to our deeds.  God states, “I will grant your rains in their season, so that the earth shall yield its produce and the trees of the field their fruit.” (Leviticus 26)

And I am thinking more and more about the rains.  It never seems to drizzle anymore.  There are only downpours and their resulting floods.  It’s more challenging to see such joy and blessings when it rains an inch in one hour!  Of course, one can always embrace the deluge and skip through the puddles but most of the time I find myself thinking, “This is way too much mazel!”

Rain is a fickle thing.  Too much water is a curse.  Too little is a catastrophe.  The rabbis understand this tension.  They argue about the meaning of the Torah’s phrase “in their season.”  They write, “This means that the earth will be neither drunk nor thirsty; rather, a moderate amount of rain will fall. For as long as the rains are abundant, they muddy the soil of the land, and it does not give out its produce.”  (Taanit 23a) The Torah’s promise is about the perfect amount of rain.

Then again, maybe it’s not about what the land needs but instead what is best for us.  The rabbis suggest, “in their season” means it rains on Friday nights.  On Shabbat evening everyone is in their homes and so the Torah’s promise means the rains do not interfere with people’s schedules.

The difference between blessing and curse revolves around our understanding of “in their season.”  It is not about whether or not it rains, but instead its timing.  Rain is a blessing if it happens in the right amount and at the right time. 

Maybe blessings are all about timing.  Seeing something as blessing is a matter of perspective. And perspective is more about a moment in time rather than the facts.  Some people see their illness as a curse.  Other people view the discovery of this same illness as a blessing.  “Thank God, my doctor found this when she did!” they say.

It’s all about the timing.  It’s all about perspective.

It’s all about the season.

And so maybe it’s time to get back to skipping through the puddles.