Rabbi Yaakov Galinsky zt”l adds explanatory notes to the verse:
“No shrub of the field was yet on the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprouted. [And why?] Because Hashem God had not caused it to rain upon the earth. [And why had He not caused it to rain? Because] there was no man to work the ground” — and no one to recognize the goodness of rain. When man came and understood that rain is a necessity for the world, he prayed for it, and the trees and grasses sprouted (Bereishis 2:5, with Rashi).
Rav Galinsky also refers us to the Gemara in Chullin 60b: the grasses came up and stood at the surface of the ground until Adam HaRishon came and prayed for mercy on their behalf; then rain fell and they sprouted. This teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, longs for the prayers of the righteous. Rav Nachman bar Pappa had a garden; he planted it, but nothing grew. He prayed for mercy, rain fell, and it grew. He said: “this is what we learned, that the Holy One, Blessed be He, longs for our prayers!”
In order for Adam to ask for rain, he first had to understand why rain mattered. He saw the need, he “understood that rain is a necessity,” and that was why he asked.
Hashem certainly did not need Adam to tell Him the grass needed water. What Hashem needed was to create a world that taught us to ask for our needs. Thus He created a world with grasses ready to grow, but only once Adam asked.
Prayer doesn’t inform G-d; it changes us. Someone who asks knows he depends on Someone else. So when the answer comes, he also knows Who sent it. The grass waited just below the surface, so that the world’s first rain would arrive as an answer, rather than as weather.
Just before this, Rabbi Galinsky cites the principle that one should not do a favor for someone who won’t recognize it. The flip side of this idea is that a vast treasury of free gifts is waiting for those who do.
Chazal wrote this into halacha. When rain falls after a drought, we thank Hashem “for every single drop You brought down for us” (Berachos 59b). The thanks is for every drop, not just “the rain.”
And Rav Nachman bar Pappa’s lesson came from a garden, not a famine. Nothing is too small to ask for, and nothing is too small to say thank you for. Too often we pray hard for the big things, take the small ones for granted, and forget to say thanks even for the big ones once they arrive.
So the next time you ask for something, plan to come back and say thank you. The rain is ready. It’s waiting for us to notice, to ask, and to express our gratitude once it comes.
