Waters and Freedoms a Seder Source Sheet

(13) If, then, you follow the commandments that I command you today, loving the LORD your God and serving God with all your heart and soul, (14) I will grant the rain for your land in season, the early rain and the late. You will gather in your new grain and wine and oil— (15) I will also provide grass in the fields for your cattle—and you will eat your fill.

(9)...R. Akiva says, Happy are you, Israel! Before whom are you purified, and who purifies you [of your transgressions]? Your Father Who is in heaven. For it is said, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean"; and it is also said, "The ‏ritual bath‎ [lit. Hope] of Israel is the Lord"; even as a ritual bath purifies the unclean, so does the Holy One, Blessed be He, purify Israel.

(25) I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you will be clean: I will cleanse you from all your uncleanness and from all your idolatries.

(2) And about the reason that water purifies everything impure, I would think on the side of the simple understanding that it is in order that a human see himself with the immersion as if they are created at that time, [just] like the whole world was water before humans were on it - as it is written (Genesis 1:2), "and the spirit of God floated upon the face of the waters." And through this comparison, they place on their heart that [just] like they are renewed in their body, they also renew their actions for the good, fix their actions and be exacting in the way of God, blessed be God. And therefore the Sages said that the purification is not fit with water that is in a vessel, but only with living water - or collected [water], which is on the ground and, in any case, not in a vessel - in order to place in their heart the thought as if the world was entirely water, and [that] they are renewed with their emerging from them [waters], as we said. But if the water was in a vessel - or even if it passed through a vessel - this matter that we said would not be set in the thought of the one immersing. As there is a limit to all that is in a vessel, which is the creation of the hands of humans.

Rabbi Yoḥanan taught Reish Lakish Bible, and taught him Mishna, and turned him into a great man. Eventually, Reish Lakish became one of the outstanding Torah scholars of his generation. One day the Sages of the study hall were engaging in a dispute concerning the following baraita: With regard to the sword, the knife, the dagger [vehapigyon], the spear, a hand sickle, and a harvest sickle, from when are they susceptible to ritual impurity? The baraita answers: It is from the time of the completion of their manufacture, which is the halakha with regard to metal vessels in general. These Sages inquired: And when is the completion of their manufacture? Rabbi Yoḥanan says: It is from when one fires these items in the furnace. Reish Lakish said: It is from when one scours them in water, after they have been fired in the furnace.

(13) When the feet of the priests lifting the Ark of the LORD, the Ruler of all the earth, come to rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan—the water coming from upstream—will be cut off and will stand in a single heap.” (14) When the people set out from their tents cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant were at the head of the people. (15) Now the Jordan keeps flowing over its entire bed throughout the harvest season. But as soon as the carriers of the Ark reached the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the Ark dipped into the water at its edge, (16) the waters coming down from upstream piled up in a single heap a great way off, at Adam, the town next to Zarethan; and those flowing away downstream to the Sea of the Arabah (the Dead Sea) ran out completely. So the people crossed near Jericho. (17) The priests who lifted the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant stood on dry land exactly in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel crossed over on dry land, until the entire nation had finished crossing the Jordan. (1) When the entire nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, (2) “Select twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, (3) and instruct them as follows: Pick up twelve stones from the spot exactly in the middle of the Jordan, where the priests’ feet are standing; take them along with you and deposit them in the place where you will spend the night.” ... (6) This shall serve as a symbol among you: in time to come, when your children ask, ‘What is the meaning of these stones for you?’ (7) you shall tell them, ‘The waters of the Jordan were cut off because of the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant; when it passed through the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ And so these stones shall serve the people of Israel as a memorial for all time.”

(15) Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is coming out to the water, and station yourself before him at the edge of the Nile, taking with you the rod that turned into a snake. (16) And say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you to say, “Let My people go that they may worship Me in the wilderness.” But you have not listened until now. (17) This is what the LORD says: “By this you will know that I am the LORD.” See, I will strike the water in the Nile with the rod that is in my hand, and it will be turned into blood; (18) and the fish in the Nile will die. The Nile will stink so that the Egyptians will find it impossible to drink the water of the Nile.’” (19) And the LORD said to Moses, “Say to Aaron: Take your rod and hold out your arm over the waters of Egypt—its rivers, its canals, its ponds, all its bodies of water—that they may turn to blood; there shall be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and stone.” (20) Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD commanded: he lifted up the rod and struck the water in the Nile in the sight of Pharaoh and his courtiers, and all the water in the Nile was turned into blood

(6) Ten things were created on the eve of the [first] Shabbat at twilight. And these are they: The mouth of the earth [that swallowed Korach in Numbers 16:32]; and the mouth of the well [that accompanied the Israelites in the wilderness in Numbers 21:17]; and the mouth of the donkey [that spoke to Bilaam in Numbers 22:28–30]; and the rainbow [that served as a covenant after the flood in Genesis 9:13]; and the manna [that God provided the Israelites in the wilderness in Exodus 16:4–21]; and the staff [of Moshe]; and the shamir (the worm that helped build the Temple without metal tools); and the letters; and the writing; and the tablets [all of the latter three, of the Ten Commandments]. And some say, also the destructive spirits, and the burial place of Moshe, our teacher, and the ram of Abraham, our father. And some say, also the [first human-made] tongs, made with [Divine] tongs.

(28) (Fol. 35a) R. Chiya said: "Whoever desires to see the well of Miriam, let him ascend to the top of Mount Carmel and, looking down, he will observe in the sea a stone in the form of a sieve, and this is the well of Miriam."

(2) What were Akiva's beginnings? It is said: Up to the age of forty, he had not yet studied a thing. One time, while standing by the mouth of a well in Lydda, he inquired, "Who hollowed out this stone?" and was told, "Akiva, haven't you read that 'water wears away stone' (Job 14:19)? - it was water falling upon it constantly, day after day." At that, Rabbi Akiva asked himself: Is my mind harder than this stone? I will go and study at least one section of Torah. He went directly to a schoolhouse, and he and his son began reading from a child's tablet. Rabbi Akiva took hold of one end of the tablet, and his son of the other end. The teacher wrote down alef and bet for him, and he learned them; alef to tav, and he learned them; the book of Leviticus, and he learned it. He went on studying until he learned the whole Torah.

(19) Like water (reflects) a face to a face (in the water), so too the heart of a human (reflects the heart) to another human.