Siman 221

In the Mishnah of HaRo'eh we learned: "Over rain and over good tidings one says: 'Blessed is He who is good and does good.'" And it is not explained when the blessing for rain occurs, for if every time rain falls one blesses, there is no end to the matter and there is no reason for this, and the words of the Tur are also not explicit. This is the wording of our teacher, the Beit Yosef, in section 1: "If they were in distress due to the withholding of rain and rain fell, they bless over them etc.," and the Levush wrote similarly. And I wonder, for in the laws of a fast for rain this blessing is not explained at all, but only the saying of Hallel as is explained in Ta'anit and in the Rambam and below in siman 575. And it must be said that there it refers to a great withholding of rain, and here even a slight withholding, and it requires further study.

However, from the words of the Rambam in chapter 10, law 5, I learned another intention in this, and this is the wording of the Rambam: "If heavy rains fell, if he has a field etc." Thus far his words. And according to this, this is the explanation: that if the rainfall is average as in all years—one does not need a blessing, but when the rains are abundant, and for them in Eretz Yisrael an abundance of rain does not ruin the produce as in our countries, and in Eretz Yisrael the more that falls the more blessing there is, and therefore one needs a blessing. And according to this, it works out well why we do not recite this blessing, and our teacher, the Rema, wrote, and this is his wording: "And that which we are not accustomed to the blessing of the rains in this time, is because these countries are frequent in rains and they are not withheld so much" Thus far his words. And this is a great difficulty, for behold, there are several years where we have a withholding of rains. But according to our words it works out well, for since the blessing is over an abundance of rain and for us an abundance of rain is a great curse, and there is more dearness of price in an abundance of rain than in a withholding of rain, and how would this blessing be relevant to us.

And from when does one recite the blessing over the rains, that is to say, what is called an abundance: from when the water increases upon the earth and bubbles from the rain rise upon the surface of the water, and the bubbles go one toward another. And what does he bless: if he has a field he blesses 'shehecheyanu', and if it belonged to him and to others he blesses 'hatov vehametiv' as will be explained in the next siman, for regarding every benefit that is his alone—the blessing is 'shehecheyanu', and for everything where the benefit reaches himself and another as well—the blessing is 'hatov vehametiv', that is to say, good for himself and doing good for others. And even though when the field is his alone there are indeed other fields, and why should he not bless 'hatov vehametiv', for the reason is because we require that that very same benefit which reaches him should also have a portion for others in it.

And if he has no field at all, a specific blessing is not relevant to him; however, he must give thanks to Hashem, may He be blessed, for the matter affects everyone. And thus he shall say: "We give thanks to You, Hashem our God, for every single drop that You have brought down for us," and he says from the text of Nishmat: "And if our mouths were full of song like the sea..." until "they shall thank and bless Your name, our King," and concludes: "Blessed are You, Hashem, God of many thanks and praises." Thus it is in the Rambam, but in the Tur and Shulchan Aruch "and praises" is not mentioned, but rather "many thanks and the God of thanks," see there. And know that the Rosh ruled that even when he has a field only for himself, he nevertheless blesses "ha-tov ve-ha-metiv" because of other fields, as I have written; but our teacher, the Beit Yosef, did not bring his opinion at all.

Our teacher, the Rema, wrote in section 2: "And there are those who say that one who hears that rains have fallen recites the blessing 'ha-tov ve-ha-metiv'." Thus far his words. That is to say, when he has a field alone, for according to the Rambam he recites 'shehecheyanu', this is when seeing, because here he sees only his own benefit. But when hearing, he recites 'ha-tov ve-ha-metiv' even according to the Rambam, for in hearing he has many partners in the benefit (so it appears to me, and the difficulty of the Magen Avraham, subsection 2, is resolved; and examine this carefully). And in Egypt, one who sees the Nile that has risen recites 'shehecheyanu' (ibid. in the name of Radbaz) for this is like a new fruit.