By Rabbi Gil Student

I. Stormy Times

By the time Sukkos began this year, a major nor’easter storm was already affecting the East Coast. Forecasters had been warning for several days that a slow-moving coastal storm would bring heavy rain, strong winds and coastal flooding from the Mid-Atlantic into New England. The storm continued through Yom Tov into Chol Hamoed, bringing repeated periods of rain and wind across the region. That raises a question about how to view that rain. The Sages describe rain on Sukkos as a siman kelalah, a sign of curse. Does that description apply to a nor’easter that meteorologists had tracked and predicted before Yom Tov and that was already underway as Sukkos began? Or does a storm with that kind of lead-up fall into a different category?

The Mishnah (Sukkah 28b) compares rain on Sukkos to a servant who comes to pour a cup for his master and has the pitcher thrown back in his face. The Gemara (ibid., 29a) explains the image as though the master were saying, “I do not want your service,” i.e., when it rains on Sukkos, Hashem tells us that He does not want our mitzvah of sukkah. In a different Gemara, Rabbi Yehoshua describes rain during Sukkos as a siman kelalah (Ta’anis 2a). Does this mean that every rainstorm on Sukkos carries this meaning? Later authorities offer several approaches.

II. The First Night

Rav Yom Tov ben Avraham Ishbili (Ritva; 14th cen., Spain) cites Rabbeinu Ephraim (12th cen., France) as limiting the siman kelalah to the first night of Sukkos. After the first night, according to this approach, rain is neither a curse nor a blessing. Ritva himself disagrees because he believes that the broader wording of the discussion in Ta’anis refers to any time during the festival (Ritva, Ta’anis 2b, s.v. Amar Rabbi Yehoshua).

Rav Menachem Ha-Meiri (Meiri; 14th cen., France) records a similar view in the name of some Geonim. This approach finds special significance in the first night because eating in the sukkah then constitutes an absolute obligation. During the rest of Sukkos, the obligation to eat in the sukkah generally arises when one chooses to eat a meal of the kind that requires a sukkah (Meiri, Ta’anis 2a). Rambam (12th cen., Egypt), in his commentary on the Mishnah (Ta’anis 1:1), likewise speaks of rain “at the beginning of Sukkos” as a negative sign. His formulation points toward a more limited period at the opening of the festival rather than every instance of rain throughout all seven days.

III. Sudden Rain

Rav Ya’akov Ettlinger (19th cen., Germany) quotes Chemdas Ha-Yamim, a controversial early eighteenth-century kabbalistic work, as recording a tradition that the Mishnah’s comparison applies when the weather had been dry beforehand and clouds suddenly gathered as the festival began. Rain that had already begun before Yom Tov and continued into Sukkos is described instead as “gishmei ratzon, berachah u-nedavah, rains of favor, blessing and bounty” (Bikkurei Ya’akov 639:39).

Sudden rain beginning with the arrival of Sukkos closely resembles the Mishnah’s image of a master immediately rejecting the servant’s attempted service. Rain that belongs to an existing weather pattern has a different character and can retain its ordinary positive meaning as beneficial rain. Perhaps the emphasis lies in the sudden and unexpected nature of the rain. If so, it has implications for this year. The nor’easter was forecasted several days before Sukkos, giving people time to prepare for the storm. According to the view quoted by Rav Ettlinger, this seems to resemble rain that had already developed before the festival and then continued into Sukkos, which is a blessing and not a curse. Rav Ettlinger also discusses the first night from another angle. Rema (16th cen., Poland) rules that one should eat an olive’s volume of challah in the sukkah on the first night even when rain falls (gloss to Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chaim 639:5). Rav Ettlinger suggests that, according to this view, first-night rain can become a sign of blessing because the person receives an opportunity to fulfill the mitzvah under difficult conditions and earn greater reward. The negative significance of rain then emerges more strongly when the rain actually exempts a person from the mitzvah.

IV. Curse Despite the Mitzvah

Rav Ya’akov Reischer (18th cen., Germany) argues that the Mishnah in Ta’anis is clear that rain on Sukkos is always a sign of curse. However, he points out that someone who fails to perform a mitzvah out of duress receives reward for the mitzvah as long as he intended to fulfill it. He briefly considers distinguishing between rain that starts after a person has already begun the mitzvah and rain that was already falling beforehand, but he rejects that distinction. The Mishnah speaks generally of rain during Sukkos as a sign of curse, including circumstances in which the rain precedes the actual performance of the mitzvah (Shevus Ya’akov, vol. 2, no. 10).

Rav Reischer separates the meaning of the rain from the religious standing of the individual. The rain is a negative sign because Heaven has interrupted the mitzvah and, in the imagery of the Mishnah, rejected the service at that moment. Yet the person who wished to perform the mitzvah and was prevented by an unavoidable circumstance is treated as though he had performed it. Even during rain that is a curse, you can still fulfill the mitzvah through your intent.

V. A Curse or a Blessing?

According to Rabbeinu Ephraim and the Geonim, the central issue is the first night of Sukkos. Rain then carries the strongest negative significance because it interferes with the absolute obligation to eat in the sukkah. Rambam similarly speaks of rain at the beginning of the festival as the negative sign. On these views, the timing within Sukkos matters more than whether meteorologists saw the storm coming in advance. For those who were prevented from eating in the sukkah on the first night, the rain appears to be a negative sign according to these views.

Rav Ettlinger quotes a view that rain that begins suddenly as Sukkos arrives resembles the servant whose master rejects his service. Rain that was already developing before Yom Tov and then continues into the festival can instead be regarded as a sign of blessing. This year’s nor’easter fits that description particularly well because the storm was tracked for days and was already affecting the region as Sukkos began. Rav Ettlinger also raises the possibility that first-night rain can itself be a blessing when the obligation to eat in the sukkah remains in force and the difficulty increases the reward for the mitzvah. Rav Reischer understands the Mishnah in Ta’anis to mean that rain on Sukkos is a sign of curse regardless of when the rain began. The fact that the storm was forecasted in advance does not change that status. At the same time, the person who sincerely intended to fulfill the mitzvah and was prevented by rain receives credit for the mitzvah. The rain can therefore be a negative sign while the individual still receives the reward of faithful intention. So was this year’s nor’easter a curse? For Rabbeinu Ephraim, the Geonim and Rambam, the timing within Sukkos matters most: rain at the start of the festival, especially the first night, is the negative sign, whatever the forecast. Ritva applies it to rain at any point during Sukkos. Rav Ettlinger’s quoted view gives strong reason to call this year’s storm a blessing, since it was already developing before Yom Tov. For Rav Reischer, it remains a negative sign, though anyone prevented from sitting in the sukkah keeps the reward of the mitzvah. The answer depends on which factor receives emphasis: when the rain began, when during Sukkos it fell, or whether it prevented the mitzvah.