The Prayer He Would Not Finish

It is told that once a great tzaddik of Yerushalayim, Rav Shalom, proclaimed a fast for rain and gathered everyone to daven together in one shul. He sent word to Rav Gershon that he should lead the prayers. In Yerushalayim, whoever stood before the amud was expected to give words of rebuke, and the preachers of the city took pains to quote the Gemara or Midrash exactly, since altering the wording was considered a disgrace.

Rav Gershon prepared all night, repeating the words again and again until he had them exactly, and he did not sleep. By dawn his throat was hoarse. He told his son Leib to tell Rav Shalom that he could not lead. The gathering broke up and each person davened in his usual place.

Then, during the singing in the shul, Rav Shalom heard Rav Gershon's voice return. As soon as the silent prayer was done he sent the leader away from the amud, and Rav Gershon went to lead the Amidah aloud and recite the Selichos. He said the opening, left the amud, and would say no more. His son asked why.

He answered that in the opening his prayer had flowed freely from his mouth, and he felt that if he said more, rain would fall at once. He feared pride, so he stopped. He knew, he said, that rain would come for two or three days afterward. And so it was.