Why Does It Always Rain?
This question puzzles meteorologists everywhere.

by Rabbi Aron Moss

Question
Why does it always rain on Sukkos? It is supposed to be the festival of joy, and after building our sukkah and getting all excited about eating in it, we end up getting a downpour. Why does G-d do this to us?

Answer
This question has puzzled meteorologists the world over. How is it that no matter when Sukkos is celebrated, it brings rain? Here's the answer I heard from my wife, Nechama Dina.

The weather is the one thing that none of us can claim to control. We can plan our day down to the last detail, and then our plans can be washed out by a rainstorm. This can be frustrating. But it can be liberating too. Rather than getting annoyed, we can laugh and acknowledge just how little is really in our hands. And that's when we find happiness.

Happiness and joy come most when we let go and surrender to a higher power. Much of our misery is the result of thinking we can control what happens to us. As soon as we realise that we have no say in what happens to us, we can only decide how we react to it, we can find happiness.

So every year we sit in the sukkah we make ourselves vulnerable to the elements and we say, "What will be will be. If it pours, so be it. It's not my call. I leave it up to G-d, I am in His hands, and that is reason to be happy."

Rabbi Aron Moss works to bring searching souls back to Judaism in Sydney, Australia.