Rain, Dew, and You

The words deshe and eisev appear as if they are singular (see Rashi.)  There is a famous Midrash in another context that relates that each blade of grass has its own personal malach whispering in its ear to grow.  L’havdil, my wife and I have three small potted plants on our windowsill above our sink, and one small bud began sprouting next to one of the plants.  Unfortunately, the larger plants leaves blocked the little sprout’s sunlight, and until I pruned those leaves, he began to wither away.  Each plant needs its own sunlight, its own water, and perhaps the angel whispering in its ear to grow.

Yaarof kamatar likchi- The Torah can act as rain for a forest.  A storm arrives, and the entire forest is satiated.  It can also act as tal, as dew, affecting the individual.  A study done in the Negev Desert in Israel showed that three dominant species of plants there received almost half their water from the dew.  Simply relying on the occasional storm would not allow these plants to survive.

Ki haadam eitz hasadeh.  We are all trees in the forest, and the Yomim Noraim act as our storms.  It quenches us spiritually and provides us water for the coming year.

But where is our dew?  The dew affects the individual, it falls each day in small doses.  The dew in Judaism is the day in and day out.  Saying brachot.  Attending minyan.  Finding time for learning Torah in our daily schedules.

A forest of different Jews attend the yomim noraim and benefit spiritually from the storm.  But each of us, each blade of grass, must realize that for a year of growth, we must take advantage of the daily dew.