תּלמוד אויף בראשית 2:6

Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish said, it is written⁴⁸Gen. 2:6.: and distress⁴⁹He identifies אֵד “fog” and אֵיד “dies ater”. In Gen. rabba13(15) the entire paragraph is attributed to R. Berekhiah. rose from the earth. If rupture rises from the earth, rain will fall immediately. Rebbi Berekhiah said, it is written⁵⁰Deut. 32:2.: may my teaching drip like rain, because if one confesses in repentance⁵¹The homily identifies ערף “to drip” (Accadic arapu“to be cloudy”) with another root ערף (Arabic ערף “to know”, אעתרף “to confess”.) rain will fall immediately. Rebbi Berekhiah made thirteen fast days but no rain fell; at the end locusts came. He went and said before them, our brethren, look at what we are doing. Is that not what the prophet needles us⁵²Micah7:3–4., from evil hands to profit, we damage one another with our hands and expect good things; the noble asks where is the bribe to be collected, and the judge in payment, pay me and I shall pay you, the great one speaks lies from his soul and they will distort it, they will turn it thick, they turned it into a plaiting of debts. And who can stop it? Their best one is like thorns, the best one among them is like thorns, the straight one like a hedge of thorns, the most upright among them is like those branches, on the day to which they looked comes their due, on the day which we expected relief locusts, this shall be their consternation! From the midst of their crying, and crying, and crying, there fell rain.

³¹Gen. rabba13(11). It is called by five names: fog, canopy, cloud, prince, and storm-cloud. From where “fog”? And fog rose from the earth³²Gen. 2:6.. “Thick cloud,” [which thickens the sky]³³Corrector’s addition from Gen. rabba., behold, I shall come to you in a canopy of cloud³⁴Ex. 19:9.. “Cloud”, because it makes people meek with one another. “Prince” because it turns owners of houses into princes: He raises rain-clouds from the ends of the earth³⁵Ps. 135:7.. “Storm-clouds” because it turns the sky into multiple visions³⁶Deriving the unexplained word as pilpel form of חזה “to have a vision”.: The Eternal makes storm clouds³⁷Sach. 10:1..

Rebbi Joḥanan said, when you collect from your threshing floor and your wine press¹⁴⁹Deut. 16:13.. From the waste of the threshing floor and the wine press you make your thatching¹⁵⁰The verse in Deut. describes the festival of Tabernacles which, as the name indicates, is characterized by the obligation to dwell in a sukkah. The verse hints at the rule of the Mishnah that the roof of the sukkah has to be made from agricultural waste (which is grown from the earth but as waste is not subject to impurity even if cut and wetted. It is possible that R. Joḥanan reads אספ like Arabic “to have regret” to have waste rather than usable produce.) Babli 12a.. Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish said, and mist rose from the earth¹⁵¹Gen. 2:6. This refers to the standard interpretation of Lev. 23:43 that the Children of Israel dwelt in huts in the desert, when in reality they dwelt in tents. Therefore the ‘huts” are taken as the Divine cloud cover which shielded the encampment (as spelled out in the Targumim to Lev. 23:43), which R. Simeon ben Laqish takes as formed by mist from the earth; thatching has to imitate the cloud cover arising from the earth. Babli 11b.. Rebbi Tanḥuma said, each of them follows his own opinion. Rebbi Joḥanan who said that the clouds were above infers it from when you collect. Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish who said that the clouds were below infers it from the clouds. Rebbi Abbin said, each of them follows his own opinion. Rebbi Joḥanan compares it to one who sends to another an amphora and its pitcher. Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish compares it to one who says to another, bring your box and take wheat for yourself¹⁵²R. Joḥanan also agrees that the roof of the sukkah has to symbolize clouds. He does not agree that clouds are generated by mist from the earth but are sent by God to give rain to the farmers. R. Simeon ben Laqish is presumed to think that clouds are generated by the earth and then filled with rain by God. Both agree that the sukkah is a charm to assure abundant rain in the coming wet season. Detailed argument Gen. rabba13(10)..