Sweet & Sour Water
Raboyseyee and Ladies,
While you are all familiar with sweet & sour chicken and meatballs, have you heard of sweet and sour water? You will in the paragraphs below, ober we begin the 15th review of this parsha with this:
It’s finally over! After 210 years, the Yiddin have finally been freed. They’ve left Mitzrayim and are on their way to Har Seenai to receive the heylige Toirah. They don’t yet know that, but their three-day trip is about to get extended to 40 years. For the rest of their lives -and ours- in all our prayers- be it the sh’ma, the reciting of kiddish, the Pesach seder, Hallel, and on so many other places and occasions, we shall always make reference to the fact that the RBSO took us out of Egypt. The words “zecher litzias mitzrayim” and or, “I am the lord that took you out of Egypt” can be found throughout the Siddur, the Machzor and are forever our strongest connection to the RBSO. He saved us, He owns us; we owe Him! Case closed!
Anyway chevra, while this week’s parsha of Beshalach is avada most famous for the splitting of the sea, and the song that Moishe and the Yiddin – followed by Miriam and her band, sang after they witnessed perhaps the biggest miracle of all time, this year, for the first time, I thought we should take a deeper look at what went down at a place called Moro (Marah). Ober chap nisht: Let us not jump ahead as that storyline doesn’t appear until much later in the parsha, after the Mitzrim perished in the sea and after the celebratory sing song. Let us see if the parsha has any hidden treasures till then; yes it does.
The parsha begins by telling us the exact travel route that the Yiddin took as they left Mitzrayim. It’s too bad there was no GPS, WAZE or Goggle Maps; perhaps they would have shaved 39 plus years off their excursion. The heylige Toirah tells us that following the Exodus, the RBSO did not lead the Yiddin on a direct route to the Promised Land, through the land of the Plishtim (Philistines). Why? Lest the Israelites have “a change of heart when they see war.” Let us read the very first posik of the parsha together.
וַיְהִ֗י בְּשַׁלַּ֣ח פַּרְעֹה֮ אֶת־הָעָם֒ וְלֹא־נָחָ֣ם אֱלֹהִ֗ים דֶּ֚רֶךְ אֶ֣רֶץ פְּלִשְׁתִּ֔ים כִּ֥י קָר֖וֹב ה֑וּא כִּ֣י ׀ אָמַ֣ר אֱלֹהִ֗ים פֶּֽן־יִנָּחֵ֥ם הָעָ֛ם בִּרְאֹתָ֥ם מִלְחָמָ֖ה וְשָׁ֥בוּ מִצְרָֽיְמָה׃
Now when Pharaoh let the people go, G-d did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearer; for G-d said, “The people may have a change of heart when they see war, and return to Egypt.”
Mistama, because you were (and still are) an oisvorf, these words never bothered you but le-myseh (in reality), they should. Listen and pay attention and you too might be wondering as to which idiot would, after 210 years of back-breaking slavery, want to return to Mitzrayim just because he or she saw war on the way. What’s pshat here? Who was at war and where? Says the midrash that there was no real war, it was already over. What they might have encountered were the remnants of war. What taka happened? And the answer is: they would have seen the bones of 300,000 Yiddin from the tribe of Ephraim, lying “in heaps on the road.” Say it’s not so! Another 300,000 dead Yiddin? What’s pshat here? How, when, and why did we lose 300,000 members of this sheyvet (tribe)? Did anyone survive? Why is there no mention of such an event in the Toirah, and when did such a massacre take place? Didn’t Ephraim get a special brocho from his Zeyde Yaakov?
Nu, tradition has it that having miscalculated the end of the 400 years of slavery which the RBSO prophesied to Avrohom, they – the Ephraimites- left Mitzrayim (Egypt) on their own, 30 years ahead of schedule and were slaughtered by the Philistines. Exactly how they left on their own when they were slaves is not addressed and one has to wonder if they could leave on their own, why didn’t the rest leave? Ober, that question aside, let’s continue with the medrish. In any event, the RBSO elected to circumvent the scene of this tragedy. According to this pshat, the RBSO reasoned that were the Yiddin to behold the bones of the Ephraimites strewn in the path, they would return to Egypt. Mistama (likely), you’re wondering if the RBSO could bring on the 10 plagues without much effort, would it be so difficult to remove 300,000 bodies from the road. Was there a sanitation strike underway? Troubled by this? Me too! Ober Raboyseyee: let’s not ever forget that the RBSO wanted it that way, case closed! Mistama (likely) He had a good reason and who says He has to share it with us?
In any event, if you remember anything that we covered over the past 14 years, you will zicher recall that we quoted a medrish which states that approximately 12 million Yiddin died during the plague of Choishech (darkness) and that the RBSO specifically made it so dark in order to wipe out the bad seed among the Yiddin. 12 million bad seed is quite a dramatic number only to be outdone by the seed many of you have wasted since high school, if you chap. Let’s count the dead: we lost 12 million last Shabbis and another 300,000 this week; is anyone still alive? Hello! Yet, according to this dramatic midrash, the Yiddin weren’t spooked and left Mitzrayim anyway. One has to wonder why seeing a few thousand dead Ephraimites would cause them to go back. Taka a gevaldige kasha. You want answers too? Moreover, if this medrish is correct, it would seem that very few of us were alive by the time we actually arrived to Har Seenai.
Ober, let’s get to the topic of interest this week and it’s about water. In recent weeks, a lot has been written and reported about the lack of water in the fire hydrants and the effect it may have had on the raging fires over in the Los Angeles area. Ironically, those fires have disappeared from the news as other pressing stories have taken over. Ober the parsha comes back to life each and every year. Let’s begin and set the scene.
Moishe led the Yiddin away from the Red Sea, and they went out into the desert of Shur; they walked for three days in the desert, but did not find water. They came to Marah, but they could not drink water from Marah, because it was bitter; therefore, it was named Marah. Let’s read the pisukim (Shmois 15:23-25) innaveynig:
(כג) וַיָּבֹ֣אוּ מָרָ֔תָה וְלֹ֣א יָֽכְל֗וּ לִשְׁתֹּ֥ת מַ֙יִם֙ מִמָּרָ֔ה כִּ֥י מָרִ֖ים הֵ֑ם עַל־כֵּ֥ן קָרָֽא־שְׁמָ֖הּ מָרָֽה׃ (כד) וַיִּלֹּ֧נוּ הָעָ֛ם עַל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹ֖ר מַה־נִּשְׁתֶּֽה׃ (כה) וַיִּצְעַ֣ק אֶל־יְהֹוָ֗ וַיּוֹרֵ֤הוּ יְהֹוָ עֵ֔ץ וַיַּשְׁלֵךְ֙ אֶל־הַמַּ֔יִם וַֽיִּמְתְּק֖וּ הַמָּ֑יִם
(23) “They came to Marah, but they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; that is why it was named Marah. (24) And the people grumbled against Moishe, saying, “What shall we drink?” (25) So he cried out to יהו, and יהו showed him a piece of wood; he threw it into the water and the water became sweet.” And just like that, bitter waters became instantly sweet.
The bottom line: kimat from the beginning, Toirah characters have had a tenuous relationship with water. Some dug wells, others fought over water wells, changed their locations due to a lack of water, and back a few parshas, Paroy decreed that all male Jewish babies be killed by being thrown into water. Let’s find out more about what happened in this place called Moro (Marah). Let’s not forget the role of water as Eliezer spotted Rivka there, Yaakov laid eyes on Rochel, Moishe met Tziporah, and the list goes on.
Shortly after crossing the split sea, and after the celebrations subsided -such celebrations included songs about the sea led by Moishe and Miriam -separately of course -we think, the Yiddin continued their trek through the desert, and arrived thirsty at a place called Moroh. They could not however drink because the waters were bitter. What to do? Of course, they immediately complained to Moishe with “what shall we drink”?! Moishe cried out to the RBSO, and the Almighty responded: “The RBSO instructed [Moishe] concerning a piece of wood, which he cast into the water, and the water became sweet.” Then we read this: “There He gave them a statute and an ordinance, and there He tested them.”
The story is quite strange. A thirsty nation, bitter waters, a “magic” tree, statutes and ordinances, and later the RBSO will promise that if the Yiddin follow His commandments, He will not afflict them with the diseases that were doled out to the Egyptians; what is happening here? Other questions on the Ois’s mind this week, include these? What was it about the wood that caused it to sweeten the water? Did it have special qualities? Was it miraculous, or was this a natural phenomenon -throwing a piece of wood- with which Moishe and the Yiddin were simply unfamiliar? Was Moishe the inventor of the first ever natural or even artificial sweeteners? Moreover, what about the sheer chutzpah the Yiddin showed? Wasn’t it but days mamish days after they experienced open miracles and not long since they were eyewitnesses to the plagues the RBSO smote the Egyptians with? And now they were already complaining? What were they thinking? How quickly they forgot; oy vey! Yet another puzzling item about this narrative is the fact that the place is later named Moro meaning “bitter.” But why would the heylige Toirah want to emphasize and eternalize the RBSO’s scheme of embitterment? The place could just as well have been called “sweet,” after the story’s sweet ending. Finally, what is the connection between the sweetened water and the statutes and ordinances mentioned at the end of the verse? Nu, all the answers we don’t have space or time for this week, ober let us begin here.
Shoin, this laconic description of a piece of wood had the medrish spring into action; they and others wanted to know more about the magical wood. When wood saves the day, inquiring minds want to know more. Says the medrish (Midrash Tanchuma, Beshalach 24:2, azoy: What kind of tree was it? Reb Yehoshua held: It was a willow tree. Reb Noson declared: It was a bitter ivy tree, while Rebbe Eleazar of Modi’im insisted: It was an olive tree. R. Yehoshua the son of Karcha maintained that it was a cedar tree. Others said that it was the root of a fig tree and the root of a pomegranate tree. And now you know? Not! Veyter!
What type of wood was this? Says the Ramban it was a bitter wood and that through a neys-min-hashomayim (miracle from above) that something bitter was thrown in and it turned the bitter water into something sweet. Says Targum Yoinoson that the wood had the RBSO’s holy name on it. What was it that made the bitter waters turn sweet? The miracle or the RBSO’s holy name?
The bottom line: Most seem to agree that the wood was extremely bitter. And taka, many have heard this argument before, if you chap. Reb Shimon Ben Gamliel said: Come and observe how different the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He, are from the ways of man. Man improves the taste of a bitter thing with something sweet, but the Holy One, blessed be He, improves the taste of a bitter thing by adding something bitter. The Holy One, blessed be He, declared unto Moishe: Is it not a fact that I am a unique craftsman? Do I not heal with what I wound? If these waters are bitter, I will make them palatable by adding something that is bitter.
Says the Mechilta D’Rabbi Bar Yochai, (Chapter 15), azoy: Moishe did not use sugar or other natural sweeteners to make the water more palatable. To the contrary – he sought out something bitter. In the words of our sages, “Let us see how divergent the ways of flesh and blood are from the ways of Hashem. For creatures of flesh and blood, sweetness cures bitterness, but this is not the case for the One who Spoke and the world came to be. For him, bitterness cures bitterness.”
Oh, one more opinion: Rebbe Yehoshua says: The waters were sweet to begin with. Then they became bitter temporarily, until they were sweetened again. According to Reb Yehoshua, these were not bitter waters before the Yiddin showed up; they became undrinkable upon their arrival at Marah. Ober, oib azoy, if that’s the case, why would the RBSO intentionally provoke the tired and thirsty nation by making their drinking water bitter? Taka an excellent kasha unless the RBSO was but testing the Yiddin which of course is one pshat. Incidentally, it does appear that the Yiddin would go on to fail every test given throughout their midbar experience and only by the good graces of the RBSO were they finally able to enter the promised land. Of course, that entire generation of Yiddin -those who tested the RBSO, over and again- all perished first and only the next generation made it in. Was the lack of potable water but one of the tests the Yiddin failed? And one more question. The heylige Toirah tells us that the Yiddin arrived to a place called Moro seemingly so named before they were thirsty. “They came to Moro, but they could not drink water from Moro, because it was bitter; therefore, it was named Moro.” The implication is that the place was named Moro only after -and as a result of- the Yiddin’s experience there. On the other hand, “they came to Moro” implies the place was named Moro before, and independent of the Yiddin’ s visit. Which is it?
Says the Maggid of Mezritch, azoy: Throughout those three days, the Yiddin were complaining. They were full of bitterness. They were criticizing their leader Moishe, and asking the RBSO why He had brought them into this wilderness. They had been looking forward to going into the land they were promised, and were wondering why they were now here instead. In his view, it’s a play on the words of the heylige Toirah: “Ki morim hem” (“because they were bitter”). The bitterness does not refer to the water, but to the people. It was the people’s bitterness which caused the water to taste bitter when they drank it. It was their attitude which impacted on what they were drinking, and the taste it had. Says The Kotzker homiletically that the reference is to the people – they were bitter. Because the people were bitter, they found fault with the water. Bitter people find fault even with sweet water. How true that is! And the bottom line? Human nature dictates that when someone is embittered, he sees everything negatively. On the other hand, when one is content, everything seems great.
On the other hand, did the Yiddin have a legitimate gripe? Were the Yiddin correct to complain? One could argue, they were somewhat justified in their complaint! They had been traveling for three days in the desert. Water supplies they schlepped along had surely been consumed. Let us remember that they had “borrowed” (without any intention of returning) many items from the Mitzrim. Gold, silver and even clothing. As well, they were mistama laden down with many other riches that washed ashore when the hapless Mitzrim gave chase and drowned. Were they going to fill their pockets or wagons with water when they had other assets to carry? With gold and silver, one can purchase water! Try buying gold with water! They were thirsty and that’s ok. Were they expected to be silent when thirsty after three days? Not even to put in a request? Perhaps they were not so wrong when asking Moishe for water. Interestingly enough, in this particular case, we see no anger, not from Moishe and not even from the RBSO. Farkert: the opposite seems to be true: It would appear that the RBSO accepted their request as legitimate and provided a solution to the water shortage. Ober not to worry as the Yiddin will test the RBSO over and again during their futile forty years of trekking around in the midbar. In cases where the RBSO decided their complaining was out of hand, He punished them severely.
And finally, how does the water story and this emphasis on the RBSO’s law and the Yiddin’s acceptance of it, become a single story? Says the Rashbam so gishmak, 15:25), azoy: “There he set for them statute and judgment and there he put them to the test: There at Moro, through the fabrication of a test – the RBSO made them thirst for water and then ‘healed’ the water for them. He began to demonstrate to them, that if they will keep the statutes and judgments which He will teach, He will provide their needs.” The bitter water event was but a set-up by the RBSO. He led them on a route on which there would be no water, He guided them to the bitter “Moro” waters and then He “healed” the waters making them fit for human consumption. One needs to trust the system, the system being the RBSO.
A gittin Shabbis!
The Heylige Oisvorfer Ruv
Yitz Grossman
