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Text Excerpt
דלא מיעצר. וכי מאחר דלא מיעצר, אליהו אשתבועי למה ליה? הכי קאמר ליה: אפילו טל ברכה נמי לא אתי. וליהדריה לטל דברכה? משום דלא מינכרא מילתא.
is not withheld, and therefore it continued even during this time of drought. The Talmud asks: And since dew is not withheld, why did Elijah swear that there would be no dew as well as no rain? The Talmud explains that this is what Elijah said to Ahab: Not only will there be no rainfall, but even the dew of blessing, which helps crops grow, will not come. This prediction was indeed fulfilled. The Talmud asks: But if so, let God restore the dew of blessing when He ended the drought of rain, in the aforementioned verse. The Talmud answers: This was not necessary, because the matter is not recognizable, i.e., people cannot distinguish between dew of blessing and the regular dew which is always present.
אלא רוחות מנא לן דלא מיעצרי? אמר רבי יהושע בן לוי, דאמר קרא: ״כי כארבע רוחות השמים פרשתי אתכם נאם ה׳״. מאי קאמר להו? אילימא הכי קאמר להו הקדוש ברוך הוא לישראל: דבדרתינכו בארבע רוחי דעלמא, אי הכי — ״כארבע״? ״בארבע״ מיבעי ליה! אלא הכי קאמר: כשם שאי אפשר לעולם בלא רוחות — כך אי אפשר לעולם בלא ישראל.
The Talmud asks: However, with regard to winds, from where do we derive that it is not withheld but perpetually blows? R' Yehoshua ben Levi said that the verse states: “For I have spread you abroad as the 4 winds of the heaven, says YHWH” (Zechariah 2:10). He clarifies: What is God saying to them? If we say that this is what God is saying to the Jewish people: I have scattered you to the 4 winds of the world; if so, why did He say “as the 4 winds”? He should have said: To the 4 winds. Rather, this is what God is saying: Just as the world cannot exist without winds, so too, the world cannot exist without the Jewish people. This interpretation of the verse is based on the claim that the winds never cease.