Rain on Shemini Atzeres: turning to Heaven's outpouring

בענין מוריד הגשם בשמיני עצרת.

Concerning the matter of "Mashiv ha'ruach u'morid ha'geshem" (mentioning rain) beginning on Shemini Atzeres.

The Sefas Emes explains why we begin to mention rain specifically on Shemini Atzeres and not earlier in Sukkos.

ובמד' [שיה"ש] אתם נועלין לפני בפסח ואני נועל בפניכם בעצרת ע"ש.

And in the Midrash (Shir HaShirim): "You lock before Me on Pesach, and I lock before you on Atzeres," see there.

The Midrash pictures a mutual "locking up": on Pesach Yisrael close off something before Hashem, and on Atzeres (Shemini Atzeres / Shavuos) Hashem closes off something before them. The Sefas Emes will explain this as the seasonal shift of where the primary avodah lies.

הענין הוא כמו שסדר הטבע בימות הגשמים נעשה משמים פעולת הארץ ע"י הגשמים.

The matter is that, just as in the natural order during the rainy season the work of the earth is accomplished from Heaven by means of the rains,

In nature there is a rhythm: in the rainy winter months the decisive activity comes from above — Heaven sends rain that does the work of making the earth produce.

ובימות הקיץ הקצירה והאסיפה להיות גמרו בידי אדם.

and in the summer months the reaping and the gathering — so that the completion is by the hand of man.

In the dry summer months, by contrast, the decisive work shifts below: harvesting and ingathering are accomplished through human effort.

כמו כן הוא בפנימיות שרוב עבודת בנ"י גם בזמן המקדש בג' רגלים בימות החמה.

So too it is in the inner dimension (penimiyus): the majority of the avodah of Bnei Yisrael — even in the time of the Bais Hamikdash, with the three Regalim — was in the warm season.

This natural rhythm mirrors a spiritual one. Most of Yisrael's active avodah — including two of the three Regalim, Pesach and Shavuos, and the mitzvah-deeds — falls in the warmer half of the year, the season of human "doing."

וכן שמעתי מפי מו"ז ז"ל שבימות החורף העסק בתורה בפרשיות יצ"מ וקבלת התורה המצות שמקיימים בעובדא בימות החמה.

And so I heard from my grandfather, of blessed memory, that in the winter months the engagement is in Torah — in the parshiyos of Yetzias Mitzrayim and Kabbalas HaTorah — [the study of] the mitzvos that are fulfilled in deed during the warm months.

In the name of his grandfather (the Chiddushei HaRim): the winter is the season of Torah study — we read the parshiyos of the Exodus and the giving of the Torah — and we learn then about the very mitzvos that we then carry out in action during the summer. Winter is "from Heaven" (study/da'as drawn down); summer is "by man" (deed).

ולכן בחג שנדונין על המים הוא השפעת הדעת בתורה לכל איש ישראל בכלל ובפרט.

Therefore on the festival (Sukkos), when we are judged concerning water, there is an outpouring of da'as in Torah to every Jew, in general and in particular.

Because Sukkos is when the world is judged for rain — water from above — it is also the time when a flow of Torah-da'as is poured down from Heaven upon every individual Jew, collectively and personally.

וזה רמז דשמחת תורה.

And this is the hint of Simchas Torah.

Simchas Torah, at the close of this season, alludes to exactly this — the joy of receiving the heavenly outpouring of Torah-da'as.

וז"ש שבפסח אתם נועלין לפני דכתיב עצרת לה' אלקיך.

And this is the meaning that "on Pesach you lock before Me," as it is written "an atzeres to Hashem your God" (Devarim 16:8).

The "atzeres" of Pesach is described as "to Hashem" — the day belongs to the people's service. This is "you lock before Me": from Pesach onward the emphasis is on the avodah of those below, the human "doing" of the warm season.

שמתחיל להיות עיקר בעבודת התחתונים ע"י המצות.

For it begins to be that the essential focus is on the avodah of those below (ha'tachtonim), through the mitzvos.

From Pesach the primary work passes to the lower world — to Yisrael's active fulfillment of mitzvos in deed.

ובשמיני עצרת תהי' לכם.

And on Shemini Atzeres, "it shall be for you (lachem)" (Bamidbar 29:35).

Shemini Atzeres, by contrast, is called "lachem" — "for you," a gift to Yisrael — marking the turn back toward what Hashem bestows from above.

שמתחיל להיות עיקר בהשפעתו יתברך בתורה לכל העוסקים בה.

For it begins to be that the essential focus is on His outpouring, may He be blessed, in Torah to all who engage in it.

From Shemini Atzeres the primary "action" returns above: Hashem pours down Torah and da'as to all who toil in it — the winter season of receiving from Heaven, "I lock before you."

וזהו הרמז שאמרו ז"ל גשמים סימן קללה בחג משל ששפך לו קיתון על פניו אי אפשי בשמושך ע"ש.

And this is the hint in what Chazal said: rain on the festival (Sukkos) is a sign of a curse — a parable of a servant who poured a jug (kiton) for his master, and the master spilled it back in his face, [saying] "I do not desire your service" (Sukkah 28b–29a), see there.

Chazal teach that rain during Sukkos is an unfavorable sign, comparing it to a master rejecting the servant's poured drink. The Sefas Emes now explains why rain is unwelcome specifically then.

והוא כנ"ל שמאחר שעדיין העיקר בעבודת התחתונים א"צ להיות ירידת הגשמים אז כמ"ש:

And this is as above: since the essential focus is still on the avodah of those below, the descent of the rains is not needed then, as stated.

During Sukkos itself the primary avodah still belongs to those below — the human "doing" of the festival. Rain (the heavenly "doing") at that moment is out of place, like serving a drink that is not wanted; only once Shemini Atzeres turns the focus back to Hashem's outpouring from above is the season of rain — and of receiving Torah from Heaven — fitting to begin.

Summary: Nature alternates between winter, when Heaven does the decisive work through rain, and summer, when man completes the work through harvest — and the same rhythm governs avodah: from Pesach the focus is on the "lower" world's active mitzvos ("you lock before Me"), while from Shemini Atzeres ("lachem") the focus returns to Hashem's outpouring of Torah-da'as from above ("I lock before you"). This is why rain — the heavenly "doing" — is unwelcome during Sukkos when the human avodah still predominates, but is rightly begun on Shemini Atzeres, the gateway to the winter of receiving Torah from Heaven, hinted at in Simchas Torah.