Concerning Rosh Chodesh Kislev, the Rambam פסקנ'ס in הלכות נדרים פרק י׳ הלכה י״א, and so is it also פסקנ'ד in Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah סימן רכ״ח סעיף י״ח, that Rosh Chodesh Kislev is called the זמן הגשמים בארץ ישראל, the time of rain in Eretz Yisrael. As the Rambam פסקנ'ס there that האוסר עצמו בדבר עד הגשם, if someone makes himself forbidden, he makes a נדר that he should be אסור on something till the time of rain, הרי זה אסור עד זמן הגשמים שהוא בארץ ישראל ראש חודש כסלו. He is forbidden to do that thing up to Rosh Chodesh Kislev, because that is considered the זמן הגשמים. Even though from other places in the Rambam it's משמע, it seems differently, as the Rambam says in הלכות תעניות פרק ג׳ הלכה א׳, and in הלכות מתנות עניים פרק א׳ הלכה י״א, so the מפרשים speak about it, as the Kesef Mishneh there in Hilchot Matnot Aniyim explains, and the Lechem Mishneh in הלכות תעניות פרק ג׳ הלכה י׳, and they answer the contradiction. But whatever the answer should be, we do see from this halachah that Rosh Chodesh Kislev is called the זמן הגשמים in Eretz Yisrael.

The inyan of גשמים, the inyan of rain, is a very, very important thing. It is the brachah that includes all the brachot. As it says in the Sifrei on Chumash Devarim קפיטל י״א פסוק י״ד, on the פסוק ונתתי מטר ארצכם בעתו, and Hashem promises that He will give the rain of your land in its time, so the Sifrei says it is a ברכה שכל הברכות כלולות בה, it's a brachah that all the brachot are included in it. It is such a brachah that includes everything. And we also understand this from the Ramban in Parashat Bechukotai קפיטל כ״ו פסוק ג׳-ד׳, when it says ונתתי גשמיכם בעתם, \"I will give you your rain in its time,\" so he explains there how this is a very, very important brachah. And also in דברים רבה פרשה ז׳ ו׳, it's also understood from there that the inyan of rain is a very important berachah, it includes a lot of things. And it's also known the peshat of the Baal Shem Tov on the פסוק ונתתי גשמיכם בעתם, that \"I will give you your rain in its time,\" so he says the word גשמיכם doesn't only mean your rain, but it means your gashmiyut, all your physical needs. So the word גשמים includes not only rain, but includes all gashmiyut, because gashmiyut all comes from rain. Rain is the source of everything that grows, and that gives us our food, mimeila we see that rain is the source of all the berachot. And the Tur in Orach Chaim סימן קי״ד also brings the Yerushalmi where it says: כשם שתחיית המתים חיים לעולם, כך הגשמים חיים לעולם. Just like תחיית המתים will live forever, when the dead will become alive again after Mashiach will come, and there will be תחיית המתים, and that'll be forever, the rain is also forever. So we see how the rain is the source of all the berachot. The truth is it's not only the source of all the physical berachot, but it also includes spiritual berachot. As it says in the Gemara Taanit דף ז׳ עמוד א׳: גדול יום הגשמים, the day of the rain is as great, יותר מיום שניתנה בתורה, even greater than the day the Torah was given. So we see that even spiritually the inyan of rain is very important.

But the question that comes up right away is, mimeila when we say rain is a very important berachah בגשמיות, we understand, because if not for rain things won't grow, and then we won't have any food, and that is the ikar of everything. But why is rain so important ברוחניות? Why do we say that rain is as important as יום שניתנה בתורה, as the day the Torah was given, even more than that? What is so special about rain? In order to understand that we have to look into what it says in Chumash, in פרשת עקב קפיטל י״א פסוק י׳, the Torah says: כי הארץ אשר אתה בא שמה לרשתה, for the land that you are going in to inherit, which is ארץ ישראל, לא כארץ מצרים היא, it's not like the land of מצרים, אשר יצאתם משם, that you went out of there, אשר תזרע את זרעך, that you plant the זרע, והשקית ברגלך כגן הירק, and you watered the fields with your feet. והארץ אשר אתם עוברים שמה לרשתה, but the land that you are going in to inherit, which is ארץ ישראל, ארץ הרים ובקעות למטר השמים תשתה מים, the rain from heaven you will drink water. So the pasuk is telling us that one of the specialties of Eretz Yisrael is that there it rains and you get the water from rain, not like Eretz Mitzrayim, where the water comes because the Nilus, the Nile, overflows every year, and it goes into the fields and that's how it waters the fields, but in Eretz Yisrael you will get rain. So obviously rain must be a very, very special thing, that Hashem is telling the Yidden that what is the shevach, the praise of Eretz Yisrael, that you will have rain. So here too the question is, what is so special about rain? The answer is that the If we look at the next pasuk there in Parashat Ekev, the pasuk says that what is so special about Eretz Yisrael? ארץ אשר השם אלוקיך דורש אותה, a land that Hashem, your God, searches it, תמיד עיני השם אלוקיך בה, constantly are the eyes of Hashem in it, מראשית השנה ועד אחרית שנה, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. The pasuk is telling us that Eretz Yisrael is a place where Hashem's eyes are constantly, which means Hashem constantly looks into Eretz Yisrael. And peshat would mean that this is a land where Hashem is משגיח בהשגחה פרטית. It's a land where Hashem takes care of very closely b'hashgachah pratit. But the question is, why is that special in Eretz Yisrael? Hashem is משגיח בהשגחה פרטית on the whole world. Hashem takes care of the whole world, not only of Eretz Yisrael. So what do we mean Hashem looks into Eretz Yisrael? Hashem looks into everything and Hashem takes care of the whole world. But the peshat is that as much as Hashem is משגיח, takes care of the whole world, in Eretz Yisrael He takes care more. And as the Rabbeinu Bachya says there that עיקר הדרישה וההשגחה שם, that the main hashgachah of Hashem is there in ארץ ישראל, ומשם מתפשטת לשאר הארצות, and from there it spreads out to other lands. And he continues that the peshat is שאין ארץ ישראל מסורה תחת ממשלת הכוכבים והמזלות, that Eretz Yisrael is not put under the control of the stars and the constellations. But הקדוש ברוך הוא בעצמו בכבודו דורש אותה תמיד. Hashem Himself is the one that searches it constantly. Now what does that mean, that Hashem cares more about Eretz Yisrael? That He searches and He cares about it Himself, not through the stars and the constellations. Now the truth is, even when Hashem cares concerning other parts of the world through the stars, it's still Hashem that cares about it. It's just put into the levush, so to speak, the garment, the cover of the stars. And therefore, it is harder to see that it comes from Hashem. If you look at it superficially, it seems as if who takes care of the place, who is in control, the כוכבים ומזלות, not Hashem. Even though in truth it is Hashem, because the stars don't have their own power. It's only that Hashem is in them, and Hashem controls it through them, but it is not בגילוי, it is not revealed to the people. In Eretz Yisrael Hashem Himself takes care, it means that there He doesn't cover up His hashgacha, but it is בגילוי, it is revealed, that people who want are able to see השגחה פרטית in Eretz Yisrael, see how Hashem takes care of Eretz Yisrael more than other places. Now in truth, if a person doesn't want to see it, even in Eretz Yisrael he will not see it. Because Hashem did not take away the בחירה חפשית, didn't take away the free choice, so therefore even in Eretz Yisrael if a person closes his eyes and doesn't want to see the hashgacha of Hashem, he will not see it. But if a person wants to see the hashgacha of Hashem, so in Eretz Yisrael it is easier to see than in other places of the world.

And this is why the pasuk stresses that Eretz Yisrael is a place where it rains. The difference between a place where it rains and a place where it doesn't rain is, as it says in Bereishit Rabbah in מדרש פרשה יג ט, and it also is mentioned in Yerushalmi in תענית פרק ג הלכה ג, that when it rains הכל תולים עיניהם כלפי מעלה. Everyone has to put their eyes up to the top, to above, to see the rain that comes. And if it doesn't rain from time to time, you have to be mitpalel, you have to daven to Hashem, He should give you the rain. So when it rains, you feel that it comes from above. When it doesn't rain, like it was in Mitzrayim, that there it doesn't rain, there the Nile overflows once a year and that waters the fields, there it is easier to feel that it comes from nature. Because you don't have to pick up your eyes to heaven, and also this is something that happens always at the same time of the year, and it's something that you don't have to daven for, mimela it would seem that this is nature. In truth, nature is also from Hashem. Who controls the nature, who makes all these natural things happen? Hashem. But being that they happen constantly, so a person is able to forget that this is Hashem, and he thinks that this comes from what we call nature. But when it rains and you always have to pick up your eyes to heaven, and you have to daven to Hashem to give you rain, so there it's harder to forget that it comes from Hashem. There you see that it comes from above, it comes from Hashem. And therefore, the pasuk says that what is the maalah of Eretz Yisrael, the maalah is that it rains. This is similar to the maalah that the next pasuk says, that Eretz Yisrael is a place where Hashem constantly searches, which means that there the hashgacha pratis is more בגילוי, more revealed. It's easier for a person to feel that everything comes from Hashem. So too is the maalah of rain, that this makes it easier for a person to feel that everything comes from Hashem. And this is the special maalah of Eretz Yisrael over ארץ מצרים. In ארץ מצרים, people did not believe in Hashem, they only believed in nature. As the pasuk says that Pharaoh said, לא ידעתי את ה', when Moshe came to him and said that Hashem' wants you to send out the Yidden from Mitzrayim, he said, לא ידעתי את ה', I don't know Hashem', and which name did he use there? He said, לא ידעתי את הוי'ה, the name he used was Havayah. When Yosef spoke to Pharaoh, and Pharaoh said to him, I heard that you're able to interpret a dream, he answered, אלוקים יענה את שלום פרעה. Elokim, Hashem' will answer the shalom, the peace of Pharaoh. He used the name Elokim. And it says in ספרי חסידות, in חסידישע ספרים, that the peshat is that Pharaoh only believed in Elokim. We know the difference between שם אלוקים and שם הוי'ה, that Elokim represents the teva, the nature, the way Hashem' controls the world through the nature. That's why the name Elokim itself is gematria, the numerical value of the word Elokim is hateva, the nature. But Havayah, which is made up of three words, היה, הווה ויהיה, past, present, and future, and since they're in one word it means that it's past, present, and future כאחד, together, this is beyond nature. So Havayah, shem Havayah, represents the way Hashem' is beyond nature, and שם Elokim represents Hashem' the way He is in nature. So Paro said, לא ידעתי את הוי'ה, I don't know Havayah. Paro did not believe in beyond nature. What he believed was אלוקים יענה את שלום פרעה, he only believed in Elokim, which means in nature, but he did not believe that Hashem' controls the nature. He did not believe that there is Hashem' who is beyond nature, and He is the one that put Himself into the nature. And this is the difference between Mitzrayim and Eretz Yisrael. Eretz Yisrael is a place where השגחה פרטית is bagaluy, it's easy to feel that it's controlled by Hashem'. In Mitzrayim it's just the opposite, it's a place where the people don't feel that way, it's harder to feel it, as it is expressed in the fact that in Mitzrayim it doesn't rain, and in Eretz Yisrael it does rain. In truth, this is not only the maalah of Eretz Yisrael over Eretz Mitzrayim, but this is the maalah of Eretz Yisrael over the whole world. As the pasuk says that only in Eretz Yisrael is a place which ארץ אשר ה' אלוקיך דורש אותה, the land where ה' searches, and תמיד עיני ה' אלוקיך בה, that constantly the eyes of ה' are there, which means in Eretz Yisrael the השגחה פרטית is bagaluy, is revealed even more than other parts of the world, not only more than Mitzrayim. And even though all other places in the world also need rain, but first of all, Eretz Yisrael needs more rain than any other place in the world, as the Gemara says in Taanit דף י' עמוד א', as explained in Rashi there, דיבור המתחיל שתות, and in these pesukim in Ekev, the Shach on the Torah explains it in detail. But in addition to that, the Gemara says there that ארץ ישראל משקה אותה הקדוש ברוך הוא בעצמו וכל העולם כולו על ידי שליח, that ארץ ישראל, ה' Himself waters it, and the whole world Hashem' waters through a shaliach. As the Maharsha explains there that it means through the שרי אומות העולם ומזלי שלהם, and their mazal, which means there it is not b'galuy, even the rain is not so b'galuy. So it comes out that this maalah of rain is a maalah mainly in Eretz Yisrael, and all over the world it doesn't need as much rain as Eretz Yisrael. And even the rain that it does rain in other places of the world, as the Gemara says there, from the rain you do not get the feeling so much as in Eretz Yisrael that it all comes from Hashem'. And this is the specialty of Eretz Yisrael.

This explains why Chazal say that ישראל הדר בחוץ לארץ דומה כמי שאין לו אלוק, a Yid who lives in chutz la'aretz, it's similar as if he has no God. Or a different maamar Chazal that ישראל הדרים בחוץ לארץ, that the Yidden who live outside of ארץ ישראל, עובדי עבודה זרה בטהרה, they worship avodah zarah in purity, which means they worship avodah zarah, but it is not out of tumah, but it's out of taharah. What does that mean? What do we mean that the Yidden who don't live in ארץ ישראל, חס ושלום, worship avodah zarah, or it's as if they don't have a God? But the pshat is that being that in chutz la'aretz it's harder to feel that everything comes from Hashem', so it is similar to as if they worship avodah zarah. Because as we know, what is the inyan of avodah zarah? As the Rambam explains in the beginning of הלכות עבודה זרה, the belief that the stars, the constellations, the sun, the moon, etc., have their own power. Even though they believe that the power was given to them by Hashem', but now they have their own power, that's avodah zarah. So just like believing in another power in the sun, for instance, is called avodah zarah, if a person would believe in his own power, it is also avodah zarah. And therefore, if a person thinks that כחי ועצם ידי עשה לי את החיל הזה, that when he made money or whatever he has it's his own power that brought it, this is a certain form of avodah zarah. Because the truth is, as the pasuk says in עקב, קפיטל ח' פסוק י''ז י''ח, that הוא הנותן לך כח לעשות חיל, ה' is the one that gives us the power to get money or whatever we get. But if a person forgets about that and thinks that it comes from himself, this is a form of avodah zarah, because he believes in another power other than Hashem. He believes in himself. And since in chutz la'aretz, it's harder to feel that everything comes from Hashem, so therefore people usually think that it comes from their own power, this is a certain form of avodah zarah, and it's a certain form of not really believing 100% in Hashem. And this is what the Chazal mean when they say that it's עובד עבודה זרה בטהרה, or it's כמי שאין לו אלוקה. And this explains why the Nilos was the avodah zarah of Mitzrayim. Because in Mitzrayim, since they believed in teva, and the Nilos was the source in derech hateva of their livelihood, so this was their god, this was the highest level they got to, they believed in teva. And this explains another thing: why did Yaakov Avinu give Paroh a brachah that יעלה נילוס לרגליו, that when he would walk over to the Nilos, the Nilos should come to his feet and overflow and water the fields? As Rashi says in ויגש, קפיטל מ״ז פסוק י׳, from Tanchuma, נוסחא ב׳. Likh'orah, being that the Nilos was the avodah zarah of Mitzrayim, so by Yaakov giving this brachah to Paroh, he would likh'orah strengthen the avodah zarah. Paroh was able to say now that I am god and I am the one that brings the Nilos to overflow and give us our parnasah. But the truth is, it's just the opposite. Yaakov Avinu wanted to break the avodah zarah of Mitzrayim. So he wanted to show that even when the Nilos, which is their avodah zarah, the Nilos which is their source of teva, overflows, it also comes not by itself, it comes because Yaakov gave the berachah with the koach he had from Hashem. So he really wanted to weaken that avodah zarah, to show that even though this is teva, but this teva itself comes from Hashem. And therefore he wanted it to come through his berachah. And that would show that this Nilos, which is the source of their teva, overflows only bekoach of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, that gave Yaakov Avinu the koach of a berachah, and that's why it overflows. And this would show the Mitzrayim that they shouldn't think that there is nothing higher than teva, so he showed them that even their teva also comes בכוחו של הקדוש