There are extraordinary amounts of rain pouring down in Eretz Yisrael, completely out of character for this time of year.

(Although right now, it's looking pretty sunny all of the sudden.)

And there have been destruction and tragedies as a result, may all those who've suffered be comforted among all the mourners of Yisrael.

But the rain also has a message.

Rain can both bring life and take life, as we've sadly seen.

And in Perek Shirah, the rain sings the following song from Tehillim/Psalms 68:10--

Regarding this verse, Radak comments that because the preceding verse mentions "dripping heavens" as an allusion to tribulations, this verse needs to emphasize that now, the rain pouring down is the opposite of the oppressively "dripping heavens" -- this is rain of manifold munificence, and it's pouring down upon Yisrael.

The word translated as "Your heritage" or "Your inheritance" (nachalatcha) alludes to the Jewish people, who are the inheritance of Hashem.

He explains the rest of the verse as:

"Fortify it" -- fortify Your inheritance. You shall fortify Yisrael, the Jewish people.

Even if the enemy has already gotten a few victories under his belt and you're totally exhausted, don't give up. God will fortify you so that you won't give up on what's most important.

Both Rashi and Malbim also describe this verse as comforting and encouraging.

Am Yisrael is in a desert where it doesn't rain, according to its innate nature. Yet when the people are weary and thirsty, Hashem not only sends them rain, but sends them an abundance of rain, "rains of generosity and blessing," says Rashi. "Like cool water on a depleted soul," says Malbim.

Literally, this verse refers to Am Yisrael during its time in the desert before the first Shavuot, before the Torah was given on Har Sinai.

But the metaphors are clear (especially if you read the entire Psalm).

The giving of the Torah slaked the soul's thirst and fortified the Jewish Nation.
________
Crazy rain is gushing over Eretz Yisrael right now, rain that isn't supposed to pour down in such amounts at this time of year. And this rain has brought tragedies, may Hashem protect us all.

But this rain also has a message for us.

When we are exhausted and thirsty, surrounded by hostile nations and in a hostile environment, God will send darkness and rain tribulations down on our haters while providing us with generous amounts of refreshing blessing, fortification, and renewed strength.

Hold fast to Yerushalayim (and all that it implies) and never give up.

May we always experience rain as an obvious blessing and never as a tribulation or tragedy.
__________
Related links:
Song of the Rain
Also, there has been an unusual amount of thunder and lightning in Eretz Yisrael.
Song of Lightning

Of course Elul and Av did not switch places.

But at first, it felt like they did.

Av is always a hard month for me and a time when I really struggle to overcome the inner lion roaring to get out.
(Please see How to Deal with the Mazal of Crabby Tammuz and Savage Av for more about Av's "inner lion.")

But mostly, this Av saw me making some progress without the usual lows. I was thrilled because I thought that if Av was going so well, spiritually speaking, then Elul would be amazing.

Only Rosh Chodesh Elul arrived, and I went numb. It wasn’t depression exactly, but just "blah." I even did a few things in the spiritual realm that called for tremendous time, effort, and a certain amount of self-sacrifice. One of them I’d never done before.

I felt good for two minutes after I’d completed these efforts, then things went right back to blah.

I tried all sorts of things, including writing down 20 things for which I was grateful and Pitum Haketoret among other spiritual efforts, acupressure, the proper vitamins...and still no release.

Then I started thinking things that I knew were false and anti-Torah, like maybe this is Heavenly rejection, maybe Hashem doesn’t like me anymore, chas v’shalom.
And yes, I knew this couldn’t possibly be true, yet I fretted about it anyway.

(I realized later that because I've failed this particular challenge before, Hashem was probably throwing it my way again in a last-ditch attempt for me to tackle it before Rosh Hashanah.)

Heartbreakingly, it also seemed that toddlers injured in Av were succumbing to their injuries in Elul.

I felt a lot of din maybe?

Then I started seeing a lot of spiders, including a very big one. In Perek Shira, the spider (smamit) says, “HalleluHu b'tziltzalei shema. HalleluHu b'tziltzilei teruah - Praise Him with resounding cymbals. Praise Him with trumpet blasts” (Tehillim 150:5).

• According to the Metzudah Tehillim, Rav Shimshon Rafael Hirsch explains this verse as "a call to whole groups for attentive participation."
• Metzudat David says tziltzalim (cymbals) produce a sound that travels far.
• Malbim says that teruah (trumpeting) represents fear of punishment (yirat onesh), but this fear will be mixed with joy.

(I believe that some interpret smamit as a small lizard and I saw a couple of geckos along with the spiders. Either way, I got the message: With humility and joy, Praise Hashem LOUD AND CLEAR!)

So all these "singing" spiders and geckos encouraged me to start calling out thanks and praise to Hashem (as per the Sages commentaries on that verse) with myself, with my family members, and on this blog.
(Now you know why you got a big dose of pro-monotheism posts!)

Finally, I decided to say a prayer before randomly opening Volume 1 of Words of Faith by Rav Levi Yitzchak Bender.

It was all about not speaking falsely (even positively) or with any exaggeration of the deceased. I haven’t been speaking about dead people at all recently as far as I could tell, so I did the procedure again with the Volume 2.

Bingo!

It was all about the key to getting past “dry” hitbodedut:
Talk to Hashem like He's your Good, True Friend.

I realized that when I was trying to talk to Hashem, I was being too self-conscious about it. I was being too formulaic and not "real" enough.

I ended up not having any alone-time that day, so I resolved to give it a try the next day.

I also tried to remember that Rav Berland spoke about this, that sometimes you’re not given a good feeling about your spiritual stuff for two reasons:

1. Having too much blessing too fast really makes people incredibly stuck on themselves. I’ve seen it happen and it’s a very real concern.
2. Sometimes, Hashem just wants us to serve Him from a place of constriction. It’s a way of serving Hashem l’Shem Shamayim. You don’t have all the enthusiasm and flavor and spiritual uplift. You’re only doing it because Hashem said so.

It feels all wrong, but really, constriction is Hashem’s way of earning you and the rest of Am Yisrael a lot of extra merit. In other words, it’s actually a really good thing, even though it feels bad.

So that made me feel a little better.
 
But I was still out of sorts until I finally had the private time to speak to Hashem. I still got distracted, but I tried to follow the "Good, True Friend" advice by closing my eyes and settling my mind into the idea that right now, I'm talking to Someone who really cares about me, is totally Trustworthy, and Kind, Gentle, and Warm. And eventually it went pretty well and I felt better.

Now Elul is going better. I’m in basically good spirits even as those year-end “This is your last chance to get it right!” nisayonot are rolling in.

So I hope I’ll keep feeling the spiritual flavor of Elul. But if I don’t, I plan to do my best to keep pushing myself along spiritually and trying to feel good about serving Hashem from a place of constriction.
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How to Serve Hashem from a Place of Constriction by Rav Berland

If you've read Perek Shira (Chapter of Song), then you probably recognize the following verse from Yeshayah (Isaiah) 42:13 as the Song of Lion:

"The Lion says: 'God will go forth as a mighty man, like a man of wars will He arouse zealousness, He will shout, he will even scream; He will overcome his enemies.' "

Metzudat Tzion (Rav David Altschuler, Galicia, published in 1753 by his son, these commentaries were written while locked in a tower; like a dictionary this commentary explains the words in the text)
יָעִיר - hitorerut, an arousal/awakening
יָרִיעַ - teruah, a loud sound
יַצְרִיחַ - a matter of shouting in a great voice (as mentioned in Tzefania 1: "mar tzoreach")

Metzudat David (Same as above; this commentary explains the meaning of the text)
יֵצֵא - He will go out for the salvation of Yisrael
יָעִיר קִנְאָה - He will arouse zeal of the zealousness of His Nation
יִתְגַּבָּר - He will overpower his enemies

Radak (Rav David Kimchi, 1160-1235, southern France)
"God will go out as a mighty man" for the salvation of Yisrael like the mighty one who goes out to war without fear.
"He will arouse zealousness" of Yisrael, whom they [the nations] oppressed in Exile for years.
"He will shout, He will even scream" -- All this is a form of metaphor representing those victorious in war, that they make noise and scream to overpower that which opposes them.
יַצְרִיחַ - it's like "he will make a loud noise/יָרִיעַ" and it says "He will even scream" because hatzricha (bellowing) is even louder than teruah (shouting) and will overpower His enemies.

Ibn Ezra (Rav Avraham ibn Ezra, 1089-1167, Muslim Spain)
"God will go out as a mighty man" -- Indicates the secret decrees that go out from Hashem's Mouth
"zealousness" -- for the Babylonian worshipers of Bal
"He will shout" -- a kind of teruah

Malbim (the words in parentheses also appear in the Malbim's text in parentheses)
Gibur/Mighty Man: The power of a gibur is in his loins as he goes out to war himself like it says "God will go out as a mighty man"
Ish Milchamot/Man of Wars: And a man of wars is not a gibur; he is only learned in the strategies of war. And a man of wars is one who has examined many wars and is expert in the administration of wars. And he is not a warrior himself; he only arouses zeal from knowing the tactics that hasten men of valor and arouse zeal in their hearts.

(And the metaphor is: Just as the gibur himself fights, likewise God will appear with miraculous leadership and the overriding of the planetary/star system Himself by His Own Might. And just as the ish milchamot organizes the men of valor according to his will, likewise will God organize nature and the planetary/star system to concede to His Orchestrations against His enemy.)

יָרִיעַ - It used a metaphor of a man of war's cry of victory that strengthens his battalion.

אַף יַצְרִיחַ - He will orchestrate things so that His enemies will scream out in a broken cry that will terrify them with tactics so that in this way, their heart will weaken. And by means of this tactic, He will overpower His enemies.

Malbim (1809-1879) clearly says that Hashem will override (שידוד) the entire system (מערכה) of orbits and constellations in order to bring His enemies to their knees.

Over the past years, we've been hearing lots of predictions, but we don't know what exactly will occur, nor when or how it will occur.

And the Malbim seems to imply that astronomical predictions simply won't be, well, predictable because Hashem will override anything He chooses in order to achieve His desired result.

We can make observations regarding objects and their trajectories, but it is all subject to change depending on what Hashem plans to do with it.

If you're on His Side (or at least sincerely trying to be on His Side, even if you mess up at times), then His enemies are your enemies and you have nothing to fear, Jew or non-Jew.

Where does it say that? Previously, in verse 12 (included in the Song of the Bear), the Malbim explains:
" 'and in the islands they'll relate His Praises' -- to recognize the Unity of Hashem and His Spirituality (Ruchaniut), that He overrides the planetary/star system."

Malbim may be referring either to:

• two different times (the initial terror and the later recognition)

OR

• two different categories of people (His enemies who will scream in terror and His non-enemies for whom the miraculous override fills them with recognition of His Unity and Ruchaniut)

 
Or both.

May we all do true teshuvah from love & not from trials or disgraceful events.

Over the past week in Eretz Yisrael, powerful winds have been gusting all day and all night, with no respite.

Our haters have taken advantage of this to set fires that rage out of control in the dry and blustery weather.

Our Sages tell us to look into Torah wisdom for guidance.

Perek Shira contains the song of the wind (Yeshayahu 43:6):

This verse appears amid a sea of comforting verses in Chapter 43.

The commentators all interpret it to mean an active gathering of the Jews exiled outside of Eretz Yisrael. One explains that "teiman" is a particularly strong wind from the South, necessary to "blow" the exiles into their Homeland.

Another explains that some exiles are actively restrained from leaving their country of exile, while for others, the topography (mountains, etc.) stand as an obstacle. These reasons are why the verse also declares: "Do not restrain!" - Let them go free!

Radak says that it mentions daughters and sons separately to indicate that the ingathering of women and children will be "conducted slowly" - i.e. gently, in consideration of their greater difficulty when traveling?

Anyway, the wind is a comforting sign, a reassurance of Hashem's Promise to gather everyone Home.

Yet could it also be a call to action? A call to come Home?

But the winds are blustering in Eretz Yisrael.

So what's the message to we who are already here?

Another way to "come Home" is to do teshuvah.

And it seems to me that the powerful winds combined with the out-of-control fires are a call to do just that.

P.S. A segulah to protect against one's house from fire is to read Birkat Hamazon from a bentscher/birkon (as opposed to reciting it by heart).
Presumably, you can also read it with the intention of protecting all of your brothers' and sisters' houses from burning.
(I can't remember the source for this - sorry!)