Let It Rain?

The rain is finally here, and we are happy to receive it. We need the winter rain. The land depends on it — our fields, rivers, lakes, etc., etc. We really are — and should always be — grateful that it’s raining here in Eretz Yisrael. It is a bracha! This is all true.

But…when the leaks in my house start popping open and we need to put buckets and towels everywhere, I start to wish- just a little bit — that the rain would stop, the sun will come out,  and we can do some damage control. I can’t help it. And I know I am not alone in feeling this way.

Nearly everyone I know who lives in a house in Israel, no matter how or when it was built or renovated, has winter leaks. And these leaks do serious damage, which sometimes cannot be reversed or fixed. So, we live with it. When we are awakened by storms in the middle of the night, we silently pray that we won’t wake up to a flood in the basement in the morning. In my house, there are the usual spots that we run to to see if water is dripping. A corner of the living room ceiling (actually, this year we have upgraded to two corners); a wall in one of the upstairs bedrooms; the floor/ceiling between the main floor and the basement.  Of course, we fix these “spots” every summer, as well as the “eetoom” (sealing) of the cracks around the outside of the house and the windows. But strangely  (miraculously?), every winter, the same leaks appear! And even new ones-in places that we didn’t realize there could be leaks. Yes, we are surprised every time we see water seeping into our home.  Why are we so surprised? I don’t know. It’s as if we are experiencing this for the first time each time it happens. It’s as if we actually believed that our fixes from last year were permanent and that we had solved the problem for good. We were SO sure of it. Ha Ha! Joke’s on us!

I am reminded of our first house in Israel 17 years ago when we would wake up to actual pools of water in the hallway upstairs. It would come in from every possible opening, crack, hairline fracture. The walls looked like wet cardboard.  One year we had to get the attic pumped because there was a foot of water sitting there, slowly dripping into our living space….

So here we are again, though I am happy to say that in this house we don’t have any indoor pools…yet. We will just deal with it as we always do, and when winter has passed, and we start the fixing, we will once again truly and honestly believe that this time will be the final fix! Wishful thinking!

Enjoy the rains and the blessings that come with it. And stay safe!

One of the leaks on the writer’s ceiling. Courtesy.

A recurring leak in the writer’s kitchen.