When The Skies Are Closed

Leann Shamash
Mar 14, 2022
6 min read

Updated: Jul 28

#photography #leannshamashphotography #wordshavewings #masechettaanit

#taanit #fasts #griffinmuseumofphotography #atelier35 #dafyomi #talkingtalmud #hadran

#womenlearningtalmud #parshateikev #eikev #whentheskiesclose #rain #drought #globalwarming #prayforrain #gentlerain #pouringrain #drizzle #dew #springrain #passover #sheminiatzeret

Hi Everyone,

This week's post is based on a post from March, 2022 which was called Fasts: A Photography Project. I worked on this photography project in 2021 and hadn't spent time with it in years, but this week when I read in Parshat Eikev about Gd shutting the skies, because of disobedience,

וְחָרָ֨ה אַף־יְהֹוָ֜ה בָּכֶ֗ם וְעָצַ֤ר אֶת־הַשָּׁמַ֙יִם֙ וְלֹֽא־יִהְיֶ֣ה מָטָ֔ר וְהָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה לֹ֥א תִתֵּ֖ן אֶת־יְבוּלָ֑הּ וַאֲבַדְתֶּ֣ם מְהֵרָ֗ה מֵעַל֙ הָאָ֣רֶץ הַטֹּבָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖ה נֹתֵ֥ן לָכֶֽם׃

For GOD’s anger will flare up against you, shutting up the skies so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its produce; and you will soon perish from the good land that GOD is assigning to you. Deuteronomy 11:17

I remembered studying the Talmudic tractate called Ta'anit , or Fasts, which describes what happens in a community when the rains do not fall in season; when they are significantly delayed.

My intention in this photography project was to bring attention to the study of a page a day of Talmud, called Daf Yomi. I was also interested in integrating Hebrew and English texts into the photos I took so to give context to snippets of visual meaning to the words. During that timeI limited myself to one per page, so what you are seeing are just flashes of the rich content of this 31 page volume. I am only the barest of beginners in Talmud study and this collection only reflects my attempt to put into images what I was learning every day during this 7 year study of Jewish law and Agada. I loved circling back to the project this week, where it adds meaning to Parshat Eikev.

This is what you might find in Ta'anit. The rabbis comment on agriculture ste in the land of Israel and specify a number of different types of rain based on the calendar where There is a prescribed date to begin to pray for rain and a day designated as the day to begin to pray for dew instead.

The rabbis comment on what happens if the rains do not begin in the weeks following the commencement of praying for rain and we learn about fasting to begin the process of repentence. The rabbis discuss who would be the best candidates to fast on behalf of the community and what their qualifications must be. We learn about the evolution of these fasts over time, are simpler where they become g more and more intense and impacted upon the entire community, culminating in perhaps the most dramatic of the episodes when the Aron Kodesh, where the torah is stored, is brought out into the public square and ashes are placed on it.

What is the order of fast days? They remove the ark. The Gemara asks: And is this ritual performed even on the first set of fasts? And the Gemara raises a contradiction from a baraita: On the first and second sets of three fasts, everyone enters the synagogue and they pray in the manner that they pray throughout the entire year. The baraita continues: And on the final seven fasts they remove the ark to the main city square and place ashes upon the ark, and on the head of the Nasi, and on the head of the deputy Nasi, and each and every member of the community takes ashes and places them upon his head. Rabbi Natan says: They would bring specifically burnt ashes. This baraita indicates that the full ritual is performed only on the final set of fasts. Rav Pappa said in explanation: When we taught the mishna as well, it was taught only with regard to the final set of seven fasts, not the earlier series of fasts.

Ta'anit 15B

Clearly, a delay of rain at the proper time is not viewed as a meteorological event, but an event where people need to repent and change their ways. It takes nothing more than to look at the second paragraph of the Sh'ma to clarify this:

And it will be, if you will diligently obey My commandments which I enjoin upon you this day, to love the L-rd your G‑d and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, I will give rain for your land at the proper time, the early rain and the late rain, and you will gather in your grain, your wine and your oil. And I will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be sated. Take care lest your heart be lured away, and you turn astray and worship alien gods and bow down to them. For then the L-rd's wrath will flare up against you, and He will close the heavens so that there will be no rain and the earth will not yield its produce, and you will swiftly perish from the good land which the L-rd gives you. Therefore, place these words of Mine upon your heart and upon your soul, and bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for a reminder between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, to speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road, when you lie down and when you rise. And you shall inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates - so that your days and the days of your children may be prolonged on the land which the L-rd swore to your fathers to give to them for as long as the heavens are above the earth.

The ideas expressed in this ancient volume are as fresh now as when they were written and this project on Ta'anit, brings to mind the anxiety drought brings to those who depend on the rain for all sustenance. The text weaves through types of rain, going on to focus on how to bring the rains back through an organized process of repentance. In the project you will see snippets of the restrictions required, such as what one might wear on one's feet and how one would do laundry during a period of fasting and Teshuva.

On page 11a, the text emphasizes that a person does not leave his community behind during a drought, perhaps one of the strongest messages in the volume regarding the individual and collective responsibility.

I've included about half of the photos on this page along with a few notes to give you context. You'll find the remainder on my photography website. where the masechet goes from rules regarding fasting to the occasion of Tisha B'Av, the day of Jewish mourning.

What I love about this Masechet though, is the ending of the volume where after all the anxiety we find a happy ending! On page 31a you will see a photo of white dresses and a description of Tu B' Av (beginning tonight, Tuesday July 26th on the Gregorian calendar) where the young women of Jerusalem would go out into the vineyards and there they would meet their matches. This is only days after the fast of Tisha B'Av and teaches that there are both sorrows and joys in our lives.

Finally, the last photo, that of a seashell, promises that we will return to the study of this masechet because learning is paramount and each time we learn we only scratch the surface.

Wishing you soothing and nourishing rain in its season and have a lovely Tu B' Av!!!

Shabbat Shalom,

Leann