Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Israel’s Chief Rabbis Telling Public to Pray for Rain During Dry Winter

Israel’s chief rabbis called on the public to say special prayers due to the lack of rain.

Chief Rabbis Yitzhak Yosef and David Lau also called for a mass prayer at the Western Wall on Thursday . The rabbis ruled that the incredibly dry winter in Israel matches the definition under Jewish law of a drought.

They called on the public to add prayers for rain to the regular prayers and to recite specific psalms. The prayers and psalms were distributed to rabbis throughout the country.

In parts of Israel, the winter has been the driest in 55 to 70 years, according to the Israel Meteorological Service, the Times of Israel reported. Some weather stations throughout the country have recorded no precipitation at all; others have reported levels well below average.

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly. 

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at editorial@forward.com, subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.

Exit mobile version