Tefillah Tips - Hallelukah Ki Tov – 7

Hallelukah Ki Tov – 7

Hamechaseh Shamayim Beavim Hamaychin Laaratz Mattar Hamatzmiach Harim Chatzir – He who covers the heavens with clouds, He who prepares rain for the earth, He who causes grass to sprout on the tops of the mountains.

There are two important lessons to be learned from this verse: 1) the intricacies involved in the miracles of nature and 2) how quickly G- d can and does bring change upon His world.

The divine oversight of rainfall is really incredible – that the sun heats up vapors that become clouds and then becomes rain that falls to just the spots that G-d wants is amazing. Can you imagine needing to transport water to all the necessary locations on earth if there was no rainfall – the thought is overwhelming!

Additionally, Rav Miller zt”l writes that even when we need to manually direct water to the fields, we generally do not transport water to the mountaintops. Only Hashem directs the rain to the mountains with the same ease as the rain falls to the valleys, the orchards, and the fields.

It is truly incredible how quickly a sky can turn from light to dark. When dark clouds fill up the sky the rain is soon to follow. There is a message to be understood here: just as G-d switches the sky and the weather in an instant so too our lives and our world can be changed in a heartbeat. One-minute life may be calm and fulfilling, the next minute frightening challenges can arise. One-minute life presents tragedies and calamity; the next moment can be filled with comfort and fulfillment. The clouds are always moving.

May we appreciate the goodness bestowed upon is by G-d. May all our clouds bring forth good tidings and joy.

Shabbat Shalom Rabbi Ephraim Epstein