Talmud for Taanit 44:19

ת"ר (ויקרא כו, ד) ונתתי גשמיכם בעתם לא שכורה ולא צמאה אלא בינונית שכל זמן שהגשמים מרובין מטשטשין את הארץ ואינה מוציאה פירות דבר אחר

that there shal be more than sufficiency.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Mal. III, 10.');">¹²</span> What is the meaning of, 'More than sufficiency'? - Rami son of R'Yud interpreted: Until your lips grow weary with saying, Sufficient. Rami son of R'Yud said: In the Diaspora the alarm is sounded on account of this.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Because of an excess of rain.');">¹³</span> It has been taught likewise: In a year of excessive rain the Men of the Mishmar send [a message] to the Men of the Ma'amad:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The phrase, Men of the Mishmar' here does not refer to priests but to a division of lay Israelites whose representatives in Jerusalem known as the Men of the Ma'amad (v. Glos.) stood by during the sacrificial ceremonies reciting prayers (v. Malter, a.l. and infra ');">¹⁴</span> Think of your brethren in the Diaspora that their houses may not become their graves.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Diaspora in the first instance denotes Babylon. Babylon being a low lying country would be swamped by an excess of rain.');">¹⁵</span> R'Eliezer was asked, How excessive must the rainfall be to warrant prayer for it to cease? He replied: When a man standing on Keren Ofel<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The name of a high rock on the brook of Kidron E. of Jerusalem. Cf. Tosef. Ta'an. III, I. [The water to reach the Ofel would have to rise five hundred feet. V. Buchler, op. cit. p. 197.]');">¹⁶</span> is able to dabble his feet in water. But has it not been taught 'his hands'? - I mean, his feet [at the same time] as his hands.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [MS.M. omits, 'I mean', the reference being to the Baraitha. I.e., the Baraitha, in stating 'hands' means that the water had risen so high that one can sit on the Keren Ofel and wash his hands whilst his feet dabble in the water.]');">¹⁷</span> Rabah bar B'Hana related: Once as I was standing on Keren Ofel I saw [below] an Arab with a spear in his hand riding on a camel and to me he looked as small as a flax-worm. The Rabbis have taught: And I will give you rains in their season.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lev. XXVI, 4.');">¹⁸</span> [This means that the soil shall be] neither soaked nor parched, but moderately rained upon. For whenever the rain is excessive it scours away the soil so that it yields no fruit.

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