Editing Shimon Bar Yochai (section)

==== Bringing Rain Through Him ====
In the Zohar, there is a story about a time when the world needed rain, and the Tannaim Rabbi Chizkiya and Rabbi Yeisa went to ask Rashbi to bring rain, but before they told him their desire, he taught them Torah on the verse "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together," and then rain began to fall.

In Chassidut, this story is brought as an example of Rashbi's unique greatness: In other cases in Chazal's sources, it is told about Tannaim who wanted to bring rain and needed prayer for this (like Choni HaMe'agel and Rabbi Akiva), but Rashbi brought rain through Torah. The advantage in this way is - that prayer is a request from below to above, and therefore doesn't have the power to immediately fulfill the request, but Torah is a Divine influence from above to below, and therefore immediately brought the desired rain.

In Rashbi's bringing rain through his Torah, there is something novel compared to all other ways of action: Through blessing, one can draw down abundance quickly from above to below, but this can only be done for abundance that has already been decreed for a person from above in advance. Through Torah, one can draw down abundance quickly from above to below, even if it wasn't decreed in advance, if the Tanna proves that according to the wisdom of Torah, it is fitting to receive this abundance. Through prayer, one can also bring down new abundance from the Infinite Light, but this is through a request from below to above, and not immediately. Rashbi, in teaching his Torah, drew down new abundance, in a way from above to below, and this even without proving according to Torah the need for abundance (since in the teaching he gave, he did not prove that according to Torah the world was worthy of rain then). The reason for this is that in the inner dimension of Torah - the Infinite Light shines openly, and therefore Rashbi, who is the source for the revelation of the inner dimension of Torah, brought about in his Torah a new drawing down from the Infinite Light.