Sorry this DT is a long one, i found it & wanted to share it!
I will try my best IY”H to fill up the DT thread as much as I can when it needs extra DT’s on Succos! A Gutten Moed to everyone!
**Jax’s D’VAR TORAH: Succos**
On Succos, on the eve of the rainy season, we sit in an open booth and demonstrate our trust in Hashem to protect and provide for us.
In the 1600s, there was a serious drought in Yerushayim. One by one the winter months came and went, yet the skies remained as clear and pure blue as on a pleasant summer day. The earth was dry and cracked in the unyielding gardens and fields, and the water level of the cisterns was dropping at an alarming rate.
More days passed. Already the winter season was drawing to an end, but still, no rain. Even the elders of the city couldn’t recall such a rainless year as this.
Jews, Moslems and Christians alike became increasingly worried. The dread specter of famine now loomed in addition to the immediate problem of water shortage. The cisterns had almost completely dried up. It was so close to springtime and the end of the rain season that many Israelis were already girding themselves for a difficult, perhaps life threatening, period of famine and water shortage.
All the worries generated a stream of rumors, and the rumors in turn led to increased tension between the different ethnic groups in the holy city. The Arabs started to blame the Jews for the lack of rain.
The instigation against the Jews eventually reached the palace of the pasha, the governor, of the Yerushalayim district of the Ottoman empire. Soon thereafter, the pasha summoned the famed Rav,
R’ Moshe Galante, who had moved from Tsfas to Yerushalayim in 1655, to appear before him. The pasha said, “I know that it is solely because of you Jews that G-d has not let it rain in Yerushalayim. You people like to glorify yourselves that you are his chosen people; you call Him ‘Father’ and refer to yourselves as ‘His children.’ Therefore you are totally to blame.
“So I am warning you. If it doesn’t rain by the end of three days, it will be clear that it is all the fault of the Jews; I shall expel every single one of you from Jerusalem.”
As soon as Rabbi Galante left the palace, he called an emergency meeting in the main Shul, emphasizing that all the Jewish residents of Yerushayayim should attend.
Everybody came. Their faces reflected their worry over the situation. The whole population knew that Rabbi Galante had been summoned to the governor. Rabbi Galante declared a three-day fast, with the time to be spent in Tefillah and pleading before the Al-mighty, in the hope of abolishing the evil decree.
A spirit of gloom descended upon the Jews of Yerushalayim. With broken hearts and flowing tears they crowded together in the shuls to recite Tehilim and pray for mercy from Above.
One day passed, and a second. On the third day the skies were as blue and cloudless as ever. Dread descended into their hearts. The sun marched inexorably across the sky, and now stood in the western sector of the sky. The final hours of the afternoon were slowly dwindling.
Rabbi Galante announced that everyone should proceed together outside the city walls to the Kever of Shimon HaTzaddik, and there to pray one last time for rain. He also made another demand that startled all that were present. What he had said was that everyone should put on their galoshes or boots, wear raincoats, and have umbrellas in hand! Why? Lest they get drenched in the expected downpour!
Everyone complied faithfully. They left the city dressed in their boots and raincoats, and carrying umbrellas. When the police officer in charge of the area saw this strange parade, he burst into laughter. But then, when he heard they were doing this only because their rabbi had ordered them and promised them a heavy rainstorm, he became furious. He caught up to the rabbi, slapped him severely in the face, and screamed: “The people of the city are suffering so much, and you dare to waste their time and strength in such foolishness!”
Rabbi Galante kept walking. When they arrived at the gravesite, the rabbi prostrated himself on the tombstone and remained there, immersed in profound concentration. All the other people cried out in prayer from the depths of their hearts.
Suddenly, they realized that a breeze was blowing-a soft, gentle breeze, but still…a breeze! Then, rather quickly, the breeze became a real wind, which began to blow furiously. A few raindrops were felt. Then it began to drizzle, and soon after that to pour. The Jews opened their umbrellas. In no time at all, they were in the mist of a torrential shower.
Peering through the deluge, they saw a man running as fast as he could in the rain towards them. It was the police officer! By the time he reached them, he was so thoroughly soaked he seemed to be made more of water than of solid flesh. He made straight for Rabbi Galante and threw himself down in the mud before his feet. “Forgive me, please, for how I insulted you,” he begged. “I didn’t realize you were such a great, holy person.”
In order to display his sincerity and make amends, he lifted the rabbi onto his shoulders, marched with him at the head of the Jewish procession back to town, and carried him all the way to the door of his house.
The rainstorm continued all the night. By dawn, all the cisterns were filled to overflowing. Later in the morning, the pasha himself came and apologized for threatening to expel the Jews. He proffered more words of appeasement and then stated emotionally, “Now I know that your L-rd is the true G-d, and that you Jews really are his treasured people.”
All we have to do is fully trust in Hashem…then the Yeshuos DO come to Klal Yisroel!