מפתח של גשמים דכתיב (דברים כח, יב) יפתח ה' לך את אוצרו הטוב את השמים לתת מטר ארצך בעתו מפתח של חיה מנין דכתיב ויזכור אלהים את רחל וישמע
Here it is written, 'Who doeth great things and unsearchable'. And there it is written, 'Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, The Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? His discernment is past searching out.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Isa. XL, 28. rej');"><sup>15</sup></span> And [of Creation] it is [also] written, Who by Thy strength settest fast the mountains, Who art girded about with might.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ps. LXV, 7. Rabbah b. Shilah infers from the analogous use of the word , in Job (where it speaks of rain) and Isaiah (where it refers to Creation) that just as God displayed 'Power' at Creation so too 'Power is a concomitant of rain. Hence the expression, POWER OF RAIN.');"><sup>16</sup></span> Whence do we know that mention of Rain is to be made in the Prayer?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The Tefillah.');"><sup>17</sup></span> - It has been taught: To love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Deut. XI, 13.');"><sup>18</sup></span> What is Service of Heart? You must needs say, Prayer. And the verse following reads, That I will give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. v. 14.');"><sup>19</sup></span> R'Johanan said: Three keys the Holy One blessed be He has retained in His own hands and not entrusted to the hand of any messenger, namely, the Key of Rain, the Key of Childbirth, and the Key of the Revival of the Dead. The Key of Rain, for It is written, The Lord will open unto thee His good treasure, the heaven to give the rain of thy land in its season,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Deut. XXVIII, 12.');"><sup>20</sup></span> The Key of Childbirth, for it is written, And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened
Teshuvot HaRosh
The second practice is that they customarily stop invoking and petitioning for rain on the first day of Passover, whereas it is well known that in Germany the sustenance of the produce is primarily from the rains that fall between Passover and Shavuot. The Mishna (Ta’anit 2a), which states that we stop [invoking rain] in the first day of Passover, was taught to the people of Eretz Yisrael, as I have demonstrated, and for them, the barley harvest was on Passover, and the wheat as well was already standing and only needed to dry out and ripen by Shavu’ot. Thus, rain was an omen of curse for them. But in Germany, where the produce cannot survive without the rain between Passover and Shavuot, [rain] portends blessing for them. So why should we not invoke and petition for rain until Shavuot? The laws of repeating [the Amida] for reciting “morid ha-geshem” [=the invocation of rain] will apply to them after Shavuot, just as it applies to residents of Eretz Yisrael from Passover on; as I have demonstrated, each land invokes and petitions for rain according to its needs. For just as Eretz Yisrael and Babylon have different practices for invoking and petitioning for rain, each according to its needs, so too other lands. For what is the difference? Further proof can be adduced from this (Ta’anit 14b): “The people of Nineveh asked of Rabbi [Yehuda the Prince]: Are those like us, who require rain even in the summer season, considered as individuals, who recite [the petition for rain] in “Shome’a Tefila,” or as a public, who recite it in “Birkat Ha-shanim”? He sent to them: You are like individuals, and [recite it] in “Shome’a Tefila.” They challenged [from a beraita]: “R. Yehuda said: When does this [cycle of fast days] apply? When the years are as ordained and Israel is settled on its soil. But nowadays, all depends on the year, and the locale, and the season.” You are challenging Rabbi based on a beraita? Rabbi is a tanna and disagrees!” Thus, we see that Rabbi only disagrees regarding the residents of a single city. However, regarding the land of Germany, which is very broad, Rabbi would agree that that they continue petitioning as long as they need rain, and since they petition out of need, they certainly invoke, for invoking also serves the petition. As R. Yohanan state: “As long as one petitions, one invokes.”
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