Waiting for Rain: Reflections at the Turning of the Year

Many JOFA readers have had the privilege of hearing Bryna Levy lecture at MaTaN or other venues in Jerusalem. This book is based on lectures that Levy gave at MaTaN exploring the biblical and liturgical readings associated with the Tishri holidays from Rosh Hashanah through Simhat Torah. Levy, one of the leading biblical scholars in Israel today, combines close textual analysis with original insights based on a wide range of sources, traditional and modern. She draws on lesser known figures – such as Rabbi Abraham Sabba, a scholar and preacher who was exiled first from Spain and then from Portugal, who, on reaching Fez in safety, reconstructed from memory some of his earlier writings that had been destroyed. Incorporating many modern biblical scholars, Jewish and non-Jewish, she weaves in sources like the writings on Holocaust survivors of Terence Des Pres. A remarkable chapter deals with the piyyut, Eleh Ezkerah, recited at the end of Musaf on Yom Kippur. In another chapter, writing eloquently that rain is where heaven and earth meet, she underlines that the hope for rain is the hope for life and that the prayer for rain recited on Shemini Atzeret is an appeal for the revival of our souls. Levy’s love of the land of Israel where she has lived for more than 27 years is apparent on every page of her text. In her words, “In Eretz Yisrael every word resounds with a truth of its own.” While this volume, whose deep scholarship is combined with a very accessible style of writing, can serve as a wonderful way of preparing for the holiday period or as a companion to be read during the hagim, it is so rich in textual analysis, exploring such a wide range of biblical characters including Noah, King David, and Ezra, and casting fresh light on countless topics relating to Jewish tradition and contemporary life, that it is not only relevant to the holiday period but throughout the year.