Study Taanit folio 8B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Reish Lakish elaborates: Closing up is stated with regard to a woman who cannot give birth, as it is stated: “For YHWH has fast closed up all the wombs” (Genesis 20:18), and closing up is stated with regard to rains, as it is written: “And He will close up the heavens” (Deuteronomy 11:17).
Likewise, an expression of giving birth is stated with regard to a woman, and an expression of giving birth is also stated with regard to rain. Specifically, giving birth is stated with regard to a woman, as it is written in the case of Rachel, when God had mercy on her: “And she conceived and gave
Lastly, an expression of remembering is stated in connection with a woman, and an expression of remembering is also stated in connection to rain. Remembering is stated in connection with a woman, as it is written: “And YHWH remembered Sarah” (Genesis 21:1), and remembering is stated in connection to
The Talmud asks a question with regard to this verse. What is the meaning of the phrase: “With the pool of God that is full of water”? The Talmud answers that it was taught in a baraita: There is a kind of vault [kuba] in the sky, out of which the rain falls.
R' Shmuel bar Naḥmani said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “Whatever he commands them upon the face of the habitable world, whether it is for correction, or for His earth, or for mercy that He causes it to come” (Job 37:12–13)? The phrase “whether it is for correction” means that if