Siman - Taanis Daf 3

• בטל וברוחות לא חייבו חכמים להזכיר

It was taught in a Baraisa: בטל וברוחות לא חייבו חכמים להזכיר – With regard to dew and wind, the Chochomim did not require one to mention them by reciting: He makes the dew fall and the wind blow. ואם בא להזכיר מזכיר – But if one wants to mention them, he may do so. The Gemara asks why one is not chayav to mention them, and Rebbe Chanina said: לפי שאין נעצרין – because they are never withheld. Rashi explains that without them, the world would not be able to exist. The Gemara brings a source that dew is never withheld, from when Eliyahu told Achav that Hashem would not bring dew or rain for a number of years. Hashem told Eliyahu, after three years passed, to appear before Achav, "ואתנה מטר על פני האדמה" – and I will send rain upon the land. Hashem said that rain would begin again to fall but He did not mention dew to him, משום דלא מיעצר – because dew is never withheld. Rashi explains that is not withheld even during a drought. The Gemara asks why then did Eliyahu make an oath to Achav that dew would not fall if it is never withheld, and it answers, אפילו טל דברכה נמי לא אתי – even the dew that it is berachah, in that it helps crops grow, will not fall.

•  The source that the world cannot exist without winds

The Gemara asks for the source that winds are never withheld, and Rebbe Yehoshua ben Levi said: The passuk states: "כי כארבע רוחות השמים פרשתי אתכם נאם ה'" – For I have spread you abroad like the four winds of the Heaven, says Hashem. What is Hashem saying to them? If you say that He is saying to Klal Yisroel that I have scattered you to the four corners of the earth, He should have said, “to the four corners of the earth.” Why did He say, "כארבע" – like the four corners of the earth? Rather, this is what Hashem is saying: כשם שאי אפשר לעולם בלא רוחות כך אי אפשר לעולם בלא ישראל – Just as the world cannot exist without winds, so too it cannot exist without Yisroel. We see from here that the world cannot exist without winds.

•  Other natural phenomena that are beneficial like rain

Rav Yehudah said: זיקא דבתר מיטרא כמיטרא – Wind that blows after a rainfall is as beneficial to the earth as the rain itself. עיבא דבתר מיטרא כמיטרא – Clouds that appear after rain are as beneficial as rain. שימשא דבתר מיטרא כתרי מטרי – Sunshine that appears after rain is as beneficial as two rainfalls. The Gemara asks that if all of these are beneficial, what does Rav Yehudah come to exclude, and it answers, למעוטי גילהי דליליא ושמשא דביני קרחי – he is excluding flashes of light that typically happen in the evening, and sun that appears between the clouds, that appear in patches. These are detrimental after a rainfall. Rava said: מעלי תלגא לטורי כחמשה מטרי לארעא – Snow is as beneficial to the mountains as five rainfalls are to the ground, based on the passuk that states: "כי לשלג יאמר הוא ארץ וגשם מטר וגשם מטרות עוזו" – For He says to the snow, Fall on the earth; likewise, to the small rain, and to the great rains of His strength. There are five mentions of rain in this passuk, which implies that snow is the equivalent of five rainfalls.