Taanit 5 – Do children take after parents?

Until when should one pray for rain? – Until the end of the rainy season, when rain is still beneficial - that is, until the end of Passover. Some say, until the very end of the month when Passover occurs, that is, Nissan – just as it happened once when "God made rainfall, early and late, in Nissan."

But we learned that the proper time for the early rain is a few months before, in Marcheshvan!? – this event happened only once, in the time of Joel, after the seven-year drought. People asked Joel, should they plant the small amount of seed they had – and die before the crop sprouts? He told them to plant nevertheless. A miracle happened to them, and new wheat grew in just eleven days so that they could bring the Omer sacrifice – and start eating the grain right away. This is what the phrase "Those who sow with tears will reap with joy" means. In fact, as an ox drew the plow going one way and sowing, the grain already began to grow, so it could already eat the new growth on the way back. The ears of grain were then two times longer than the stalk.

Rav Yitzchak was sitting at a meal with Rav Nachman, and Rav Nachman asked him to say something, but Rav Yitchak replied, "One should not talk during a meal, so as not to choke." After the meal, he said, "Jacob never died." Rav Nachman jumped in surprise, "But they embalmed and buried him!" Rav Yitzhak replied, "I am just interpreting the phrase, 'I will redeem Israel and Jacob.' Just as Israel must be alive to be redeemed, so too Jacob."

When they were parting, Rav Nachman asked Rav Yitzchak to bless him. The latter replied, "Imagine someone in a desert who finds a tree with a well. After he is refreshed, he says to the tree, 'How can I bless you? You have everything. May your saplings be like you.' You, too, you have Torah, and riches, and children. Therefore, I wish that they all may be like you."

Art: Reapers Resting in a Wheat Field by John Singer Sargent