A prominent mystic rabbi noted that contrary to predictions that the current rain season would continue to be un-blessedly dry, Israel is being inundated with rain. This rain, the rabbi noted, is purifying Israel, spiritually and physically, cleaning away the coronavirus.

Rabbi Batzri: Rain Cleaning “Poisonous Vapors” and Spiritual Snake

Rabbi Yitzchak Batzri, a prominent mystic rabbi, explained that the recent rains, notable in their quantity and strength and for coming after a dry beginning to the current winter rainy season, were sent to heal Israel, physically and spiritually. The rabbi noted that a full month’s worth of rain fell in one night ten days ago.

“Rain purifies the air and cleans it from spiritual and physical impurities. There are poisonous qualities that arise from the depths of the earth and from impure sources. These impure vapors congeal into what we refer to in mystical terms as the snake that kills.”

The rabbi noted that physical difficulties, like the Coronavirus pandemic, are frequently signs of spiritual defects, as was displayed by the plague of snakes that attacked the Children of Israel after the Exodus from Egypt. The rabbi noted that even though the attack by the snakes was remedied by a physical ‘cure’ (i.e. the brass snake), spiritual repentance was also required. 

Rain Before Redemption; Resurrection of the Dead

“These impurities circulate in the world and in conjunction with the disease that is in the world conspire to kill people,’ Rabbi Batzri said. “After the rain, which we know as an aspect of the resurrection of the dead, leaves the air clean and pure.”

This concept of rain preceding the Messiah is explicitly stated in the Pri Chayim (fruit of life), the teachings of Rabbi Isaac Luria, the preeminent 16th century Kabbalist known by the acronym ‘Ari’ (lion), as recorded by his student Rabbi Chayim Vital in Tsfat (Safed) in which it is written that גֶּשֶׁם (rain) is an acronym for ‘גְּאֻלָּה שְׁלֵמָה מְהֵרָה’ (‘complete redemption quickly’).

“Rain not only gives sustenance but it purifies and it is through this purification that the world continues,” Rabbi Batzri said. “This purification is necessary before the final redemption, which is why we thank God for rain in the section of prayer that describes the resurrection of the dead.”

In the shemona esrei (eighteen blessings) that comprise the three-times daily prayers, special sections are added in the appropriate seasons to ask for rain to sustain Israel. In the summer, when rain generally does not fall and can in fact be harmful to agriculture, the prayer is modified to ask God for dew. During the holiday of Sukkot, the prayer for rain is inserted until the following spring into the second blessing which praises God for his gevura (strength, judgment) and for his promise to resurrect the dead. Gevura is the aspect of God displayed through nature.  

Rain as a Sign of God’s Kindness

“Rain is not global; it is local,” Rabbi Batzri went on to explain. “After many years of drought, Israel was blessed with a strong season of rain before the Corona and even now, with rain even falling out of season. This was a blessed kindness that Hashem showed to Israel and the Jewish people.” 

Rabbi Batzri referred to a verse in Psalms:

You released a bountiful rain, O Hashem; when Your own land languished, You sustained it. Your tribe dwells there; O Hashem, in Your goodness You provide for the needy. Psalms 68:10-11

“God is treating us with kindness and goodness,” Rabbi Batzri said. “Rain brings health and healing. Many experts and scientists predicted that this year would be a year of drought and, in fact, there was no rain last month. This month washed away any of the impurities and, God willing will bring spiritual and physical healing to the Jewish people.”