The Chief Rabbinate today proclaimed Thursday, the Fast of Esther, as a countrywide day of supplication for rains. A solemn prayer for rain will be recited on Thursday in all synagogues throughout the country.
Official rainfall figures for the period from last September to February of this year, released today by the Government Meteorological Bureau, show that Israel’s current drought is the worst to have hit the country in its 111 years of recorded rainfall history. The Jerusalem area received only 22 percent of the average rainfall for the six-month period; the Negev 25 to 35 percent and Galilee 50 percent of the average rainfall.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
