Yerushalayim, 350 years ago: The Turkish pasha, the representative of the Ottoman Empire, ruled ruthlessly over the residents of the Holy City. It was wintertime, but there was no rain. As the weeks passed, the hearts of the residents filled with worry. It had been many years since the city’s residents had experienced such a dry winter.
The water cisterns had long been emptied; there wasn’t a drop of wetness in them. The ground was dry and cracked. The crops were withering and crumbling, and people’s worry escalated to severe fear for their survival. No water meant no life.
The Jews grasped onto the craft of their ancestors and filled the shuls, pleading and praying to Hashem. But nothing happened. The skies of Yerushalayim remained cerulean blue, with nary a cloud dotting them. It seemed that the gates of Heaven had been closed to them.
When the pasha saw this, he decided that he had to do something before the people turned their anger on him. He called Rav Moshe Galanti, the Rishon Letzion, and threatened: “You Jews claim that you were chosen by your G-d to be the Chosen Nation, and that you are closer to Him than all the other nations. Let us see that in real time. Call all the Jews of the city for a prayer rally for the drought that is threatening to destroy us, and if your prayers will be accepted and the skies open, that will be a sign that you are right. But if rains do not fall within three days of today, I will command that all the Jews be expelled from the city!”
The Jews were gripped by despair when they heard the pasha’s decree. Who of them had the power to bring rains, or to make the winds blow?! The key to rains lies in the Hands of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and there is no living being that can control the Heavenly systems to bring clouds and rain. Were they decreed to be expelled from the city? Where would they go?!
Immediately, Rav Moshe Galanti instructed three fast days, during which they would daven incessantly in the shuls, day and night, men women and children, pleading for compassion that Hashem should open the gates of Heaven and shower them with blessed rains.
After three days of fasting, tefillos and tears, Rav Moshe called the community and asked them to come with him to the holy tziyun of Shimon Hatzaddik, a short walk from Bab al Amud – more familiar to us as Sha’ar Shechem, or the Damascus Gate.
Before they left, Rav Moshe instructed them to return to their homes and don winter clothes, coats and scarves, and to put on shoes that would be suitable for winter weather. That’s how confident he was that Hashem would hear their tefillos, and send salvation in the blink of an eye, as soon as they finished their tefillos at the kever of Shimon Hatzaddik.
At the time, the sun was shining throughout the Holy City, with no sign of rain on the horizon. Yet, with emunah temimah, the residents of the city listened to their Rav, and hurried home to put on their winter clothes. Then they returned to follow him to Kever Shimon Hatzaddik.
The guard at the Damascus Gate did not believe the sight that met his eyes. Hundreds of Jews from the city were walking in a long procession, wearing heavy winter clothes. “Where are you going and why are you dressed like that?” he asked the crowd.
“We are going to the kever of Shimon Hatzaddik,” they replied. “And we are dressed this way because our Rav instructed us to, because we have bitachon that our tefillos will be answered and the rains will begin to fall within a short time.”
The guard heard the Jews’ response, raised his eyes to the skies, and when he saw not a single cloud, he got angry. He strode towards Rav Moshe Galanti, who was walking venerably at the head of the procession, and gave him a slap on the face.
Rav Moshe looked at the wild Arab guard in surprise, but then lowered his eyes in humility and continued walking silently to the kever of Shimon Hatzaddik, his pained community walking behind him.
There was tremendous awe of Heaven in the kever and the courtyard. The sages and rabbanim of Yerushalayim, led by Rav Moshe, entered the cave, prostrated themselves at the ancient gravesite and began to pray. Rav Moshe stood before the amud, and the bnei Yerushalayim who surrounded the gravesite said the chapters of Tehillim along with him, with broken hearts and intense kavanah.
As they stood davening, a strong wind began to blow. The thick olive trees planted at the top of Har Hazeisim began to sway noisily in the wind. A thick layer of heavy clouds rolled over the city of Yerushalayim, and it grew dark. Then, with a thunderous roar, the rain began to pour down onto the ground.
Rivulets of water streamed through the city, purifying the air and ground from the dust, rinsing the streets, satiating the dry ground, and the withered trees with an abundance of water. The empty cisterns began to fill, and the stifling air became clear and fresh.
Rav Moshe Galanti and the members of his community did not even have a chance to turn back towards the city when they saw the figure of the Arab guard from afar. He was running frantically towards Rav Moshe, and when he reached him, he fell on his face and pleaded for forgiveness for having humiliated him in front of so many people. Then he picked Rav Moshe up and carried him on his shoulders all the way back to his home, as the residents of the city gazed at them with surprise and admiration.
The rain did not let up for three days and three nights. The dry ground absorbed huge quantities of water, and the cisterns filled to capacity. The gentile residents of the city clearly saw that HaKadosh Baruch Hu hears the tefillos of His nation, as the passuk says (Devarim 4:7): “Ki mi goy gadol asher lo Elokim kerovim eilav k’Hashem Elokeinu bechol kareinu Eilav.”
A few days later there was a knock at Rav Moshe Galanti’s door. It was the gentile guard who had come secretly, seeking to convert after seeing so clearly that Hashem listens to the pleas of His people and hastens their salvation. When Rav Moshe saw the sincere intentions of the guard, he acceded to his request, and converted him according to halachah. That guard became a resident of Rav Moshe’s home, and served him faithfully for the rest of his life.
Od Yosef Chai, Parashas Beshalach
Yeshuah in the Blink of an Eye
