THREE WATERS: MENUCHOS, MERARIM, AND RAGLIM

Something in the comments on another blog made me think of waters.


So here are three wet spots for your consideration.


MEI MENUCHOS = An easily comprehended book by Rabbi Nachman Kahane, notable of Young Isroel of Yerushalayim’s old city, and an authority on Temple ceremony. It is an explanation of commentaries, a phrase by phrase mefarsh on tosafos.

The name Mei Menuchos means tranquil waters, as in Psalm 23 “Binot deshe yarbitzeini al mei menuchot yenehalani” (….He makes me rest in green meadows, and leads me beside the tranquil waters, oh yeah).


MEI MERARIM = Bitter Waters. As mentioned in Bamidbar, and expanded upon in Meseches Sotah, a man who suspects his wife of adultery brings her to an auto da fe presided over by a kohen.
[Bamidbar (Numbers), Parshas Naso (psukim 4:21 through 7:89); relevant verses: psukim 5:12 through 5:31.]

Tractate Sotah is the Talmud part which deals with straying women, who must swear that they are innocent, if there is no evidence that they went astray, and who will then be presumed not guilty. Mere suspicion on the husband’s part can be overcome by the wife taking an oath. The most peculiar part of the tractate, however, is the part in which a woman who is presumed to have given reason for suspicion can be forced to drink water mixed with floor-sweepings from the Temple - the sweepings or dust have to be poured upon the water, not the water upon the sweepings or dust. The exact amount of sweepings or dust, or substitutions for same if housekeeping has been by recently, is a matter of discussion.

Upon drinking this bitter water, the guilty woman shall be sterile, sick of appearance, and afflicted with a bloated stomach and a gimpy leg. But the innocent woman shall be blessed and conceive of a son.
It is not recorded what the thoughts are of a woman who has been subjected to this ordeal, nor what women thought of the entire idea. It would have been interesting if it had.

[After describing the meal offering which is to be made, the tractate veers off into legal differences between the genders, defilement, food, languages which can be used ritually, priestly benedictions, the king’s reading on the feast of tabernacles, military clergy, exemption from military service, and the breaking of a heifer’s neck. It's one heck of a read.]


MEI RAGLAYIM = Urine. But according to some rabbeyim it is actually water from a spring which has an odour, and other sources aver that it is a stinky grass.

Why this machlokes?

Because mei raglayim is connected with the manufacture of ketores (incense), a fragrant offering, and it would be considered an offense to bring so base a substance into the service of the Presence.

It should be noted, though, that chemicals in urine function as fixatives and stabilizers, and have been used for that purpose in the manufacture of fragrances and incense since antiquity, much like some of the compounds in modern day perfumes.
You may want to really look into the added fragrances in soaps and lotions – you will be slightly sickened. But. You smell very good.

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BITTER WATER

Now, given that mention was made above of the dust-water trial of an adulteress, I reproduce the relevant watery verses below.

5:12 "Daber el-Benei Yisrael veamarta alehem ish ish ki-tiste ishto umaala vo maal" (Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: If any man's wife go astray, and act unfaithfully against him),

5:13 "Veshachav ish ota shichvat-zera venelam meeinei isha venistera vehi nitmaa veed ein ba vehiv lo nitpasa" (and a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, she being defiled secretly, and there be no witness against her, neither she be caught in the act),

5:14 "Veavar alav ruach-kina vekine et-ishto vehiv nitmaa o-avar alav ruach-kina vekine et-ishto vehi lo nitmaa" (and the spirit of jealousy come upon him and he be jealous of his wife and she be defiled; or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him and he be jealous of his wife and she be not defiled),

5:15 "Vehevi haish et-ishto el-ha kohen vehevi et-karbana aleiha asirit haeifa kemach seorim lo-yitzok alav shemen velo-yiten alav levona ki-minchat kenaot hu minchat zikaron mazkeret avon" (then shall the man bring his wife to the kahuna, and shall bring an offering for her, the tenth of an efah of barley flour; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon, for it is a meal-offering of jealousy, a meal-offering of remembering, bringing iniquity to remembrance).

5:16 "Vehikriv ota ha kohen veheemida lifnei Adonoi" (And the kahuna shall bring her close, and set her before the Lord).

5:17 "Velakach ha kohen mayim kedoshim bichli-chares umin-heafar asher yihye bekarka hamishkan yikach hakohen venatan el-hamayim" (And the kahuna shall take holy water in a clay pot, and dust from the floor of the Mishkan, and put it into the water).

5:18 "Veheemid ha kohen et-haisha lifnei Adonoi ufara et-rosh haisha venatan al-kapeiha et minchat hazikaron minchat kenaot hiv uveyad hakohen yihyu mei hamarim hamearrim" (And the kahuna shall set the woman before the Lord, and loosen the woman's hair, and put the meal-offering of remembrance in her hands, which is the meal offering of jealousy, and the kahuna shall have in his hand the bitter waters that cause the curse).

5:19 "Vehishbia ota ha kohen veamar el-haisha im-lo shachav ish otach veim-lo satit tuma tachat ishech hinaki mimei hamarim hamearrim haele" (And the kahuna shall make her swear, and shall say to the woman: 'If no man has lain with you, and if you have not gone astray to filth, being under your husband, you will be free from this bitter water that causes the curse),

5:20 "Veat ki satit tachat ishech vechi nitmet vayiten ish bach et-shechavto mibaladei ishech" (but if you have strayed, being under your husband, and if you are defiled, and some man has lain with you besides your husband),

5:21 "Vehishbia ha kohen et-ha isha bishvuat haala veamar hakohen laisha yiten adonai otach leala velishvua betoch amech betet Adonoi et-yerechech nofelet veet-bitnech tzava" (then the kahuna shall make the woman swear to this cursing oath, and the kahuna shall say to the woman "the Lord makes you a curse and a damnation among your people, when the Lord shall make your thigh wither and your belly bloat),

5:22 "Uvau hamayim hamearrim haele bemeayich latzbot beten velanpil yarech veamra haisha 'amen amen'" (and this water that causes the curse shall enter your bowels, and make your belly bloat up, and your thigh wither'; and the woman shall say: 'Amen, Amen.').

5:23 "Vechatav et-haalot haele ha kohen basefer umacha el-mei hamarim" (And the kahuna shall write these curses on a scroll, and he shall dissolve them in the bitter water).

5:24 "Vehishka et-haisha et-mei hamarim hamearrim uvau va hamayim hameararim lemarim" (And he shall make the woman drink the bitter water that causes the curse; and the water that causes the curse shall flow into her and become bitter).

5:25 "Velakach ha kohen miyad haisha et minchat hakenaot vehenif et-hamincha lifnei Adonoi vehikriv ota el-hamizbeach" (And the kahuna shall take the meal-offering of jealousy from of the woman's hand, and shall wave the meal-offering before the Lord, and bring it to altar).

5:26 "Vekamatz ha kohen min-hamincha et-azkarata vehiktir hamizbecha veachar yashke et-haisha et-hamayim" (And the kahuna shall take a handful of the meal-offering, as the memorial part, and smolder it upon the altar, after which he shall make the woman drink the water).

5:27 "Vehishka et-hamayim vehaita im-nitmea vatimol maal beisha uvau va hamayim hamearrim lemarim vetzavta vitna venafla yerecha vehaita haisha leala bekerev ama" (And when he has made her drink the water, it shall happen, that if she is defiled and has acted unfaithfully against her husband, that the water that causes the curse shall flow into her and become bitter, and her belly shall bloat, and her thigh shall wither, and the woman shall be a curse among her people).

5:28 "Veim-lo nitmea haisha utehora hiv venikta venizrea zara" (And if the woman is NOT defiled, but clean - then she shall be cleared, and shall become pregnant),

5:29 "Zot torat hakenaot asher tiste isha tachat isha venitmaa" (This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goes aside, and is defiled),

5:30 "O ish asher taavor alav ruach kina vekine et-ishto veheemid et-haisha lifnei adonai veasa la hakohen et kol-hatora hazot" (or when the spirit of jealousy come upon a man, and he be jealous of his wife, then he shall bring the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall enforce this law against her).

5:31 "Venika haish meavon vehaisha hahiv tisa et-avona" (And the man shall be clear from iniquity, and that woman shall bear her iniquity).


So then. We know what Rashi thinks of this. But what do you think of it? What does this strange passage say to you?