ABSTRACT
The distinctive feature of the old liturgy for the present Festival is the prayer for rain. On the Great Hosana, as the seventh day is called, passionate petitions for rain impart a peculiar fervour to the Service, and they are followed by supplications of a like tenor on the eighth day of the Feast. In the East, then, rain is a blessing; for the Israelite of old it was the very symbol of blessing. Rain—it is the most familiar of natural phenomena; but, on that very account, we miss much of its wondrousness. The rain that stops that pleasant jaunt in the country upon which we had been counting brings well-being to a multitude. Good lies hidden behind all the troubles and disappointments of life. The rain that stops that pleasant jaunt in the country upon which we had been counting brings well-being to a multitude.
