Bitter Waters, Waters Of Transformation

ב' בסיון תשס"ז

My previous entry, Catharsis Of The Sotah, discussed the ordeal of bitter waters which exonerates or condemns the sotah, an accusing wife. What are these bitter waters (מי המרים)?

Rabbi Akiva said to them [prior to their ascension]: "When you come to the place of pure marble stones, do not say, 'Water! Water!' (4 Who Entered The Pardes)

מי המרים is a permutation of מיים המר

Significantly, there are two letters yod (יי) in the transforming permutation for "waters" (מיים). This contrasts the singular yod in each of the two words comprising "bitter waters" (מי המרים), where "bitter waters" corresponds to water! water! Two ideas come to mind regarding the two letters yod of the transformation.

First, יי is shorthand for the Essential Divine Name. Consequently, the waters of the transformation contain the Essence of the Divine.

Second, יי implies involvement and catharsis of both the ruach and the neshamah levels of the soul. Through the ordeal of bitter waters, the Essential Name acts to purify and clear the emotive and intellectual faculties of the woman. As indicated in the previous entry, the purification will end in one of two ways - transformation or death.

המר is a "pit emptied of heaps of earth" [1]. In other words, it is a well (for containing water) emptied of (unclean) dirt. This contrasts to the permutation מרה which means "oppose", "bitterness" and "rebelling" [1], all characteristics of the sotah prior to initiation and successful completion of the ritual ordeal. Thus, המר describes a woman emptied of bitterness.

Taken together, the bitter waters (מי המרים) are also the waters of emptying bitterness (מיים המר) and contain within them the method by which a woman is emptied of bitterness through the cleansing action of Essential Divine Name.

Significantly, it is a woman's true husband (from some level) who brings her to this place of transformation or death. The bitter waters are those which belong to her husband. In the process of transformation, not only are the masculine "waters" cleared, but the feminine "dirt" is also cleared. Consequently, the sotah ritual not only rectifies the woman herself, but is an important rectification of the masculine (which the woman performs on behalf of her husband) as well.

Footnote:

[1] Etymological Dictionary Of Biblical Hebrew, R. Matityahu Clark

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