Rabbi Nachman of Horodenka arrived in Eretz Yisrael in 1764, during a difficult year of drought. The Turkish ruler of the city of Tiverya (Tiberias), who was always scheming against the Jewish residents, issued an appalling declaration. If rain did not fall within three days of his decree, he would expel every last Jew from his city.
R' Nachman did not panic. He assured those close to him that, in G-d's goodness, they were going to have the opportunity to sanctify His Name. According to the account written in Tabor Ha'aretz by the Chief Rabbi of Tiberias, R' Moshe Klieres, R' Nachman ordered his fellow Jews to go to the cave where R' Chiya and his sons were buried and to pray there for rain.
He went with them. Though the day was sunny and dry, he advised them to bring along rain gear. The left the city and made their way to the cave, protective clothing slung over their arms and some with umbrellas in their hands. A government official caught a glimpse of them at the city gates, and laughed heartily at the raincoats the Jews carried. Spitting in their faces, he declared that if they returned to the city without rain having fallen, he would grind the Rabbi beneath his heels. The Jews, led by R' Nachman, did not answer him, but continued quietly to the cave of R' Chiya and his sons. There, they poured out their hearts in prayer.
G-d heard them. Dark clouds filled the sky, and then a heavy rain began to fall -- so heavy that, had the men not carried rain gear, they would not have been able to return to town at all that day. Upon their return to Tiberias, the government official was waiting for them at the city gates. He placed R' Nachman on his shoulders and carried him into the heart of the city, where the people were overcome with joy at the blessed rains that were falling at last.
G-d's great Name was sanctified, with Jews and non-Jews together proclaiming, "Who is like You among the gods, and who is like Your people, Israel?" This episode raised the Jews' esteem greatly in the eyes of the populace, and when, some twelve years later, a large influx of Jews arrived in Tiberias under the leadership of R' Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk, author of Pri Ha'aretz, and R' Avraham of Kalisk, they were received with the greatest respect and welcomed with open arms.
Source: Adapted and supplemented by Yrachmiel Tilles from "Stories My Grandfather Told Me" by Zev Greenwald] Reprinted from the Parshat Pekudei 5785 email of KabbalaOnline.org, a project of Ascent of Safed in Israel.
