Water is Life

(1) Bless the LORD, O my soul; O LORD, my God, You are very great; You are clothed in glory and majesty, (2) wrapped in a robe of light; You spread the heavens like a tent cloth. (3) He sets the rafters of His lofts in the waters, makes the clouds His chariot, moves on the wings of the wind. (4) He makes the winds His messengers, fiery flames His servants. (5) He established the earth on its foundations, so that it shall never totter. (6) You made the deep cover it as a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. (7) They fled at Your blast, rushed away at the sound of Your thunder, (8) —mountains rising, valleys sinking— to the place You established for them. (9) You set bounds they must not pass so that they never again cover the earth. (10) You make springs gush forth in torrents; they make their way between the hills, (11) giving drink to all the wild beasts; the wild asses slake their thirst. (12) The birds of the sky dwell beside them and sing among the foliage. (13) You water the mountains from Your lofts; the earth is sated from the fruit of Your work. (14) You make the grass grow for the cattle, and herbage for man’s labor that he may get food out of the earth— (15) wine that cheers the hearts of men oil that makes the face shine, and bread that sustains man’s life. (16) The trees of the LORD drink their fill, the cedars of Lebanon, His own planting, (17) where birds make their nests; the stork has her home in the junipers. (18) The high mountains are for wild goats; the crags are a refuge for rock-badgers. (19) He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows when to set. (20) You bring on darkness and it is night, when all the beasts of the forests stir. (21) The lions roar for prey, seeking their food from God. (22) When the sun rises, they come home and couch in their dens. (23) Man then goes out to his work, to his labor until the evening. (24) How many are the things You have made, O LORD; You have made them all with wisdom; the earth is full of Your creations. (25) There is the sea, vast and wide, with its creatures beyond number, living things, small and great. (26) There go the ships, and Leviathan that You formed to sport with. (27) All of them look to You to give them their food when it is due. (28) Give it to them, they gather it up; open Your hand, they are well satisfied; (29) hide Your face, they are terrified; take away their breath, they perish and turn again into dust; (30) send back Your breath, they are created, and You renew the face of the earth. (31) May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in His works! (32) He looks at the earth and it trembles; He touches the mountains and they smoke. (33) I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; all my life I will chant hymns to my God. (34) May my prayer be pleasing to Him; I will rejoice in the LORD. (35) May sinners disappear from the earth, and the wicked be no more. Bless the LORD, O my soul. Hallelujah.

(1) The flute [was played sometimes on] five [days], and [sometimes on] six. This was the flute of the place of [water] drawing, which does overrides neither Shabbat nor holidays. They [the Sages] said: Anyone who has never seen the rejoicing at the place of [water] drawing, has never seen rejoicing in all his days.

The Gemara notes: And that is not so, as Rav Ḥisda said: I wash my hands with handfuls of water and they gave me in reward handfuls of prosperity.

(3) "Because ha-Shem Elohim had not sent rain upon the earth." (Br. 2:5) The full Name [of God] for a full world; as for creation, as for the fall of rain. R. Shimon b. Yohai said: Three things are equal in importance, viz., land, people, and rain. R. Levi b. Hiyya said: And these three each consist of three letters, to teach that without land there would be no rain and without rain the land could not endure; while without either people could not exist.

(4) Said Rabbi Hosh'aiah: Virile​ rain is potent, as it is equivalent to the act of creation. What is its proof? "Who performs great deeds which cannot be fathomed, wondrous things without number" and "Who gives rain to the earth, and sends water over the outdoors."

Rabbi Aha learns it from this [verse]: "Ha-Shem made the earth with might, established the world with wisdom." "When ha-Shem's voice is sounding, there is a rumbling of water in the skies." 'Sound' can only mean rain, as in "Where deep calls to deep in the sound of Your pipes."

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(6) Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba said: It is greater than the resurrection, for the resurrection is for humans and this one is for humans and beasts....

When does all humanity rejoice together? When the rains descend. What is the proof? "The flocks become clothed with karim"; what follows? "Shout unto God, all the earth" (Ps. 66:1): not priests, Levites, or Israelites is written here but, 'All the earth,'

R. Joshua b. Levi said: When rain falls [i.e. in spring], cattle long to rut. What is the proof? "The flocks become clothed with karim etc."? It is a euphemism for: 'Its males [dikraiyah] became heated.'

Rabbi Abbahu said: From when does one recite a blessing over rain? From when the groom goes out to meet the bride, that is, when there are puddles of water on the ground such that the water below, represented as the bride in this metaphor, is splashed from above by the raindrops, represented as the groom.

The Gemara asks: What blessing does one recite over rain? Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: We thank you, O Lord our God, for each and every drop that You have made fall for us. And Rabbi Yoḥanan concludes the blessing as follows: If our mouth were as full of song as the sea, and our tongue with singing like the multitude of its waves, etc. And one continues with the formula of the nishmat prayer recited on Shabbat morning, until: May Your mercy not forsake us, O Lord our God, and You have not forsaken us. Blessed are You, O Lord, to Whom abundant thanksgivings are offered.

Rabbi Yochanan said on behalf of Rabbi Bana'ah: What is the meaning of the verse, "Happy are those that sow beside all waters, that send forth the feet of the ox and the ass?" (Isaiah 32:20)

[It means this:] Happy is Israel when they occupy themselves with Torah and acts of loving-kindness. Their inclination (toward self-needs) is mastered by them, not they by their inclination--for it is said, "Happy are you that sow beside all waters."

For what is meant by 'sowing' must be “doing acts of loving kindness” as it is said, "Sow to yourselves in justice, reap according to loving-kindness" (Hosea 10:12) and what is meant by 'water' is “Torah”, as it is said, “Ho, all that are thirsty come to the water.” (Isaiah 55:1)

(19) Just as the face of water [reflects] a face, so does the heart of a human [reflect] a person.