The Winds Will Blow and The Rains Will Fall

(12) God further said, “This is the sign that I set for the covenant between Me and you, and every living creature with you, for all ages to come. (13) I have set My bow in the clouds, and it shall serve as a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. (14) When I bring clouds over the earth, and the bow appears in the clouds, (15) I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living creature among all flesh, so that the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. (16) When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures, all flesh that is on earth. (17) That,” God said to Noah, “shall be the sign of the covenant that I have established between Me and all flesh that is on earth.”

(15) Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to Me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. (16) And you lift up your rod and hold out your arm over the sea and split it, so that the Israelites may march into the sea on dry ground. (17) And I will stiffen the hearts of the Egyptians so that they go in after them; and I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his warriors, his chariots and his horsemen. (18) Let the Egyptians know that I am LORD, when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.” (19) The angel of God, who had been going ahead of the Israelite army, now moved and followed behind them; and the pillar of cloud shifted from in front of them and took up a place behind them, (20) and it came between the army of the Egyptians and the army of Israel. Thus there was the cloud with the darkness, and it cast a spell upon the night, so that the one could not come near the other all through the night. (21) Then Moses held out his arm over the sea and the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind all that night, and turned the sea into dry ground. The waters were split, (22) and the Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. (23) The Egyptians came in pursuit after them into the sea, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and horsemen. (24) At the morning watch, the LORD looked down upon the Egyptian army from a pillar of fire and cloud, and threw the Egyptian army into panic. (25) He locked the wheels of their chariots so that they moved forward with difficulty. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the LORD is fighting for them against Egypt.” (26) Then the LORD said to Moses, “Hold out your arm over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians and upon their chariots and upon their horsemen.” (27) Moses held out his arm over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal state, and the Egyptians fled at its approach. But the LORD hurled the Egyptians into the sea. (28) The waters turned back and covered the chariots and the horsemen—Pharaoh’s entire army that followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. (29) But the Israelites had marched through the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.

At their time: Wednesday nights and Shabbat nights [when the rain would not disrupt people's routines] As we found in the days of Shimon b' Shetach, when rain would fall on Wednesday nights and Shabbat nights, until the wheat was the size of kidneys, and the barley like olive pits, and the lentils like golden denarii [currency], and they made a model of these to demonstrate to later generations how much [damage] a sin causes, as it says (Isaiah 5:25) 'Your iniquities have disrupted these things, and your sins have prevented good from you'. And so we found in the days of Herod, when they were busy building the Temple, and rain would fall at night, and the next day, the wind would blow, and the clouds would disperse, and the sun would shine, and the nation would go out to their work, and they would know they were engaged in sacred handiwork. Our Rabbis taught: Once most of [the month of] Adar had passed and no rain had fallen. They sent to Choni the Circle-Maker, "Pray and the rain will fall." He prayed, and it didn't rain. He compassed a circle and stood in the middle of it in the way that Habakuk the prophet did, as it says (Habakuk 2:1) "I will stand upon my watch, And set me upon the tower etc." He said before Him "Master of the Universe, your children turn their faces towards me, for I am like a householder before you. I swear by your great name that I will not move from here until you have mercy on your children!" The rain began to drip. His students said to him "Rabbi, we look to you so we don't die! It seems to us that the rain is only falling to release you from your oath." He said "I did not ask for this, but for rain to irrigate the cisterns, the fields, and the caves!" It fell in torrents such that every drop could fill the mouth of a barrel, and the sages measured that no drop was less than a log. His students said to him "Rabbi, we look to you so we don't die! It seems to us that the rain is only falling to destroy the world." He said before Him "I did not ask for this, but for rains of grace, blessing, and abundance." It fell as he decreed until the whole nation went up to the Temple Mount on account of the rains. They said to him "Rabbi, just as you prayed for it to fall, pray for it to go away." He said to them, "I have a tradition that we don't pray about excess goodness. Nevertheless, bring me a thanksgiving bull." They brought him a thanksgiving bull. He placed both his hands on it and said before Him "Master of the Universe, your people Israel that you brought out of Egypt can not handle either excess goodness or excess hardship. When you are angry at them they can't withstand it and when your goodness flows upon them they can't withstand it. May it be your will that the rain should stop and there should be respite in the world." Immediately the wind blew, the clouds dispersed, and the sun shone. And the people came out to the field and collected truffles and mushrooms.