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    Praying for rain – Ask the Rabbi

    Q. Why say prayers for rain when it is Nature that decides such things?

    rainA. We know from experience that there are certain times of the year when it rains, but when there is a drought everyone and everything suffers.

    The prayers we say are to ask of God that the regular state of things should prevail and that we get “the rain of the land in its season”. According to the rabbis, the best time for rain is Friday night, when people are at home celebrating Shabbat.

    This symbolism is that we have both needs and wants when it comes to rain – we need it for ourselves and the world, but we do not want it to come in a way that it causes problems. Two prayers that come at the end of some siddurim – one prayer to be said when there is too little rain and one to be said when there is too much.

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