Geshem

I didn’t realize until I actually lived in Israel, where there is one day of Yom Tov (Festival days with Shabbat-like restrictions) instead of two, that Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah were actually the same holiday. My whole life, I had always assumed that they could not possibly overlap.

After all, Shemini Atzeret, which appeared to me be the ‘‘day-after hangover’’ from the festivities of Sukkot, could not have anything to do with the raucous dancing and celebration of Simchat Torah!

Shemini Atzeret is somber — it is a day in which we recite Yizkor. Simchat Torah is joyous — the starting over of the Torah.

But to me, there is one prayer that binds the two together. Geshem (Rain), which we say during the Musaf Amidah of Shemini Atzeret, is a poem that the cantor would sing, based on the special nusakh (musical theme) that goes with this particular Amidah. Geshem is the introduction of the special insertion of praying for rain that comes at this time of year. It comes in parallel to Tal (Dew) which is inserted during Pesach.

Geshem begs God to remember the deeds of our ancestors, for when they released water, for when their blood flowed like water, so that God will release the waters of Heaven to us.

A sample of this poem:

Remember Aaron, the High Priest, who, on Yom Kippur, washed himself five times with water,
He prayed and was sprinkled with purifying water,
He kept apart from a people who were as unstable as water.
For Aaron’s sake do not hold back water.

Remember the Twelve Tribes whom
You brought through the divided waters;
For whom You sweetened bitter water;
Their descendants’ blood was spilled like water.

Turn to us, God, who are surrounded by troubles like water.
For the Jewish people’s sake, do not hold back water.
You are Adonai, our God
Who causes the wind to blow and the rain to fall.

Simchat Torah, for its part, is the celebration of the waters of Torah. Torah is compared to water numerous times, memorably by Rebbe Akiva, who explained to his contemporary Pappas why he was willing to risk and death at the hands of the Romans for teaching Torah.

He said, “Akiva! Are you not scared of the government?”

Rebbe Akiva replied, “I will give you a parable. To what can our situation be compared? To a fox walking on the bank of a river, who saw fish in the water darting from place to place. He asked the fish, “Why are you fleeing?” The fish replied, “Because of the nets that people use to catch us.”

So the fox said, “Would you like to come up on the dry land? You and I will live together, just as your fathers lived with mine.” Asked the fish, “Are you the one that they call the clever animal? You are not clever, but a fool! If we are afraid here, where we live, how much more so would we be in a place where we die!”

Geshem, in a sense, is a prayer to unleash not just the rain that grows the physical food that sustains us, but the Torah that grows us spiritually. Given that the Torah starts over again, what is the guarantee that it will excite us for another year? That we will study it with joy and love?

In this way, we see the plea inherent with Simchat Torah, and the joy inherent within Shemini Atzeret — that the rain that we seek comes from a thirst for spiritual sustenance.