“Rain and dew for a blessing”
Letter from the Editor

How Israelite rain is different from all other rain (specifically Egyptian)
and why it is important to know the difference
Jeffrey Tigay


“I will grant your rains in their season”
Biblical promises and calamities


Hollow clouds, busy winds, and a thirsty universe
What brings the rains? A Talmudic perspective
Abraham Cohen


May the rainfall be a lesson
(and the story of Elijah)
Introduction by Prof. Eliezer Schweid

The story of Honi the Circle Drawer
How the miracle worker brought the rain
The Talmud


Under the rain all men are equal
"Shout with joy, all the earth" — sayings by the rabbis
The Midrash


A letter upon the garden, in purple and blue
Celebration of autumn by the greatest of medieval poets
Solomon ibn Gabirol


"Happy is the eye that saw all this"
A 15th-century poetic invocation of rain
Moses Gabbai


Male and female waters
Waters and sexual life; OR The dangers of levity on Sukkot
Raphael Patai


"He who makes the wind blow and brings down the rain/dew"
Praying for rain
Julius Greenstone


Into the Ark — a modern poem
An endless rain is just beginning
Wislawa Szymborska


Concrete rain or much ado about nothing?
Hebrew rootword lesson: G-SH-M
Dr. Joseph Lowin