OCTOBER 6 • 2022 | 45

I

n the glorious song with which 
Moses addresses the congregation, 
he invites the people to think of the 
Torah — their covenant with God — as 
if it were like the rain that waters the 
ground so that it brings 
forth its produce:
“ Let My teaching drop 

 as rain, 
 My words descend like 
 dew, 
 Like showers on new 
 grass, 
 Like abundant rain on 

 tender plants.”

 
 
Deut. 32:2
God’s word is like rain in a dry land. 
It brings life. It makes things grow. 
There is much we can do of our own 
accord: We can plow the earth and 
plant the seeds. But in the end, our 
success depends on something beyond 
our control. If no rain falls, there will 
be no harvest, whatever preparations 
we make. 
So it is with Israel. It must never be 
tempted into the hubris of saying: “My 
power and the strength of my hands 
have produced this wealth for me.” 
Deut. 8:17

The Sages, however, sensed 
something more in the analogy. 
This is how Sifrei (a compendium 
of commentaries on Numbers and 
Deuteronomy dating back to the 
Mishnaic period) puts it: “Let My 
teaching drop as rain: Just as the rain is 
one thing, yet it falls on trees, enabling 
each to produce tasty fruit according to 
the kind of tree it is — the vine in its 
way, the olive tree in its way, and the 
date palm in its way — so the Torah 
is one, yet its words yield Scripture, 
Mishnah, laws and lore. Like showers 
on new grass: Just as showers fall upon 
plants and make them grow, some 
green, some red, some black, some 
white, so the words of Torah produce 
teachers, worthy individuals, Sages, the 
righteous and the pious.” 
There is only one Torah, yet it has 
multiple effects. It gives rise to different 
kinds of teaching, different sorts of 
virtue. Torah is sometimes seen by its 
critics as overly prescriptive, as if it 
sought to make everyone the same. The 
Midrash argues otherwise. The Torah is 
compared to rain precisely to emphasize 
that its most important effect is to make 
each of us grow into what we could 

become. We are not all the same, nor 
does Torah seek uniformity. 
 As a famous Mishnah puts it: “When 
a human being makes many coins from 
the same mint, they are all the same. 
God makes everyone in the same image 
— His image — yet none is the same as 
another.” Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5
This emphasis on difference is 
a recurring theme in Judaism. For 
example, when Moses asks God to 
appoint his successor, he uses an 
unusual phrase: “May the Lord, God 
of the spirits of all humankind, appoint 
a man over the community” (Num. 
27:16). 
On this, Rashi comments: “Why is 
this expression (‘God of the spirits of 
all humankind’) used? [Moses] said to 
Him: Lord of the universe, You know 
each person’s character, and that no 
two people are alike. Therefore, appoint 
a leader for them who will bear with 
each person according to his or her 
disposition.”
One of the fundamental requirements 
of a leader in Judaism is that he or she 
is able to respect the differences between 
human beings. 

 ‘Let My 
Teaching 
 Drop as Rain’ 

SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH

Rabbi Lord 
Jonathan 
Sacks 

continued on page 46

