How can it rain on shabbos?[1]
ונתתי מטר-ארצכם בעתו וגו’
I will give the rain of your lands in its proper time…[2]
In the second paragraph of Shema, we are told of all the things that we will receive if we keep the Torah. The inverse is also true, that if we don’t keep the Torah, we will be withheld all of Hashem’s good, or worse. One of the blessings promised is that of the rain of the lands falling in its proper time. What’s interesting is we find a parallel verse in parshas Bechukosai, famous for the curses that could befall the Jews, but also some blessings. There, it says, “I will give your rain in its time”[3]. Why is it that here the verse says, “your land’s rain”, but there it says, “your rain”?