At a time when energy supplies are increasingly strained, the droughts we are experiencing in Europe, the USA and elsewhere are particularly troublesome. If there is not relief from drought, we are going to see greater challenges in 2023.
This recent article in Newsweek highlights the seriousness of droughts the world is experiencing.
In addition to the loss of hydropower, there are water supply battles between the needs of different interests such as agriculture versus households and different geographies (states, countries, etc.) that depend on the same river.
Right after Rosh Hoshana and Yom Kippur is the Jewish Holiday of Sukkot which Jews just celebrated in October. Those are immediately followed by a less well-known holiday called Shemini Atzeret ("Eighth Day of Assembly") when we rejoice in/with the Torah (Simchas Torah). This celebrates and marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle. Shemini Atzeret also marks the start of the rainy season in Israel. There is a lot going on in the Jewish month of Tishrei!
Before Israel became the world's leader in desalination and invented drip irrigation, agricultural life and life itself depended heavily on the weather. Even the tiny bit of dew falling in the morning was crucial to a successful harvest.
Israel's prayer for rain, the tefilat geshem, refers to events involving water in the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, and the Twelve Tribes. Here it is:
Our God and God of our ancestors:
Remember Abraham who flowed to You like water.
You blessed him like a tree planted by streams of water.
You rescued him from fire and water.
He passed Your test by planting good deeds by every source of water.
For Abraham’s sake, do not keep back water.
Remember Isaac, whose birth was foretold when Abraham offered the angels a little water.
You asked his father to spill his blood like water.
In modern times there is an enormous disconnect between mankind and God. People still follow traditions to some extent, but we have fallen away from worshipping or the belief that our lives and things like the weather are in God's hands.
If you believe in God, do you think God is more interested in traditions or worship? Is it more important that we hallow God and praise him or that we celebrate our personal identity?
The concept of God being in control of anything seems removed from modernity. The idea of praying for rain is perceived as primitive. The world is making God irrelevant.
What if there is a God? What are his ways? If there is a God then he is the God of our ancestors; therefore we know his ways!
"For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. “I am the LORD, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already destroyed."
Malachi 3:6
