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Translation (Ein Ayah, Berachot 16a):
A person who becomes tamei can only attain purity by tevilah, immersing in water. This alludes to a profound spiritual lesson. All immoral deeds, character flaws and corrupt ideas stem from the same root. And that is a person’s failure to realize the transitory character of existence in this world.[1] Everything in this physical world is meant to be a vehicle to serve a higher and more eternal purpose.
But we lose sight of this truth and come to see ourselves as permanent residents. Immersing in water recalibrates our perspective. A person cannot survive underwater for an extended time. Thus, immersion forces us to confront the fleeting nature of life in this world. We emerge from the water invigorated to strive after eternal values and aspirations, to imbue our lives with goodness, wisdom and righteousness.
However, tevilah is not the only way to attain this recalibrated perspective. Our Sages hinted to another way when they compared Torah study to a purifying stream of water:
Why does Bilam [in Bamidbar 24:6] compare the tents (lit. אהלים) of Israel to streams? This teaches us that just as a stream brings one from impurity to purity, so too the tents of Torah study raise one from guilt to merit. (Gemara Berachot, 16a)
Throughout midrashic literature, we find that places of Torah study are referred to as ‘tents.’[2] Tents are the paradigm of a transient dwelling. By using this terminology, our Sages highlight a unique aspect of Torah study. Torah study is more than just another religious obligation or a how-to manual for the mitzvot.Studying Torah refines our sensibilities and raises our aspirations to the realm of the eternal. Like a mikveh or a natural spring, Torah purifies us and lifts us out of the smallness of being mired in this world.
Commentary/Insights
Rav Kook doesn’t go into detail about how exactly Torah study raises us out of the smallness of the physical world. It could be a simple process – i.e. Torah is the unchanging word of the Eternal G-d, so studying Torah forces you to confront eternal, spiritual matters. Or maybe Rav Kook has in mind a more mystical explanation.[3] However, there may be a different expression of the transcendental nature of Torah, which I think is illustrated by a description that Rav Soloveitchik gave about his experience of giving shiur:
I start shiur…I don’t know what the conclusion will be. Whenever I start the shiur the door opens another old man walks in and sits down. He is older than I am. He is my grandfather, Rav Chaim Brisker, without whom you cannot learn nowadays. The door opens quietly again and another old man walks in. He is older than Rav Chaim. He lived in the 17thcentury. What’s his name? Shabbesai Cohen, the famous Shakh who must be present when dinei mamonot are discussed… More visitors show up, some from 11th, 12th, 13thcenturies, some from antiquity: Rabbi Akiva, Rashi, Rabbenu Tam, the Ra’avad, the Rashba, more and more come in. What do I do? I introduce them to my pupils and the dialogue commences. The Rambam says something and the Ra’avad disagrees: sometimes it’s very nasty; the Ra’avad uses very sharp language. A boy jumps up to defend the Rambam against the Ra’avad and the boy is fresh. You know how young boys are. He uses improper language so I correct him. Another boy jumps up with a new idea, the Rashba smiles gently. I try to analyze what the young boy meant… another boy intervenes… we call upon Rabbenu Tam to express his opinion and suddenly a symposium of generations comes into existence. Generations, young boys twenty two or twenty three, and my generation, the generation of Rav Chaim Brisker, of the Shakh… of Rabbenu Tam, Rav Hai Ga’on, Rabbi Akiva, and Rabbi Elazar, and Rabbi Yohanan Ben Zakai… We all speak one language… We all chat. We all laugh. We all enjoy the company. We all pursue one goal. We all are committed to a common vision and we all operate with the same categories. There is Mesorah collegiality, friendship, comity between old and young between antiquity and Middle Ages and modern times… This unity of generations, this march of centuries, this conversation of generations this dialogue between antiquity and presentwill finally bring the redemption of the Jew.
The Gemara in Berachot is not the only place where our Sages compare Torah to water. Consider the following additional sources:
Gemara Ta’anit 7b – “Why are matters of Torah likened to water, as it is written “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come for water! (Isaiah 55:1)”? Just as water leaves a high place and flows to a low place, so too, Torah matters are retained only by one whose spirit is lowly [i.e., a humble person].
Shir haShirim Rabbah – “Just as water is a source of life, so is Torah a source of life…Just as water comes from heaven, so too is the Torah’s origin in heaven… Just as water originates in tiny drops and accumulates into mighty streams and rivers, so the Torah is acquired word by word and verse by verse… Just as someone who does not know how to swim will drowned in water, so too with Torah, if one doesn’t know how to ‘swim’ and issue proper halachic guidance, he can drown in it.”
Later sources elaborate on this imagery as well. In the words of R. Aharon Lichtenstein:
Water represents primal existence. Even before Creation, God’s spirit hovered over the water. Water is the most basic necessity for man and for all life; it therefore expresses naturalness. There is nothing more natural, more primeval, than a spring gurgling in a place that no human eye has ever seen and where no human foot has ever trodden. Fire, in contrast, is a product of technology. Fire expresses creativity, innovation, and dynamism. The discovery of fire is one of the most important revolutions in human history, the basis for all subsequent technology. Unlike water, which is to be found around us in nature, a person who needs fire must seek it, pursue it, work to create it. The Torah, given in fire and in water, shares characteristics with both of them. Like water, the Torah too preceded the creation of the Earth. The world was created only for the sake of the Torah, which is called “reshit” (the first). The Torah is primal and natural: God “looked into the Torah and created the world” (Zohar, Teruma 161a).
[1]In the Hebrew original, Rav Kook uses the language of כגר ולא כתושב.
[2]A familiar example – midrashim about the Torah’s description of Ya’akov as an איש תם יושב אהלים. If you have a copy of the authoritative source Little Midrash Says, look up the illustration contained therein.
[3]In the Hebrew original, Rav Kook describes this property of Torah as a ‘סגולה’, which implies that it’s not something entirely rational.
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
- What does it mean to be overly rooted in physical, this-worldly matters? What can we do to make sure we maintain a proper perspective?
- Why is it important to study Torah? And which is more important, the experiential dimension of Torah study or the pragmatic goal of absorbing information? Do we have to choose?
- Rav Kook explains that tevilahcomes to dislodge a perspective of excessive rootedness in this world. That seems to associate tumah with a flawed mindset that needs correction. But we find that tumah is associated with biological realities which we have no control over (i.e. niddah, zav, yoledet, etc.) How can Rav Kook imply that tumah involves being overly rooted in this world?[A]
- Our Sages refer to Shabbat as מעין עולם הבא, a semblance of the World to Come. Based on Rav Kook’s teaching about the spiritual meaning behind tevilah, can you suggest an explanation for the practice (common among Chasidim) to immerse in the mikveh on Erev Shabbat?
- The second pasuk in the Torah reads וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָֽיְתָ֥ה תֹ֨הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְח֖שֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹקים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם. How might this support Rav Kook’s understanding of tevilah?
[A]In his commentary on the Torah, Rav Shimson Raphael Hirsch develops the notion that tumah is a symbolic system for emphasizing the value of moral freedom. Moral duties and spiritual values are entirely incompatible with a purely physical conception of existence. Death is thus the highest form of tumah, because it “awakens the idea that Man has altogether no free will… that Man is a mere puppet in the hands of the physical powers of Nature.” All other forms of tumah, even those beyond one’s control – especially those beyond one’s control– can awaken a similar reaction, as Rav Hirsch discusses at length. Regarding childbirth, for example, Rav Hirsch writes that “Man originates, grows and exists like a plant and the noblest and most glorious name that the human tongue can utter, the name ‘Mother,’ reminds one at same time of the purely physical unfree process of human origin. If anywhere, it is surely here, that the fact must be established, that, in spite of this, once he is born, Man is a morally free agent. Above all, the Mother herself, under the fresh impression of her physically completely passively and painfully having to submit to the forces of the physical laws of Nature at the most sublime procedure of her earthly calling, has to re-establish again the consciousness of her own spiritual height.” Are you convinced? Why or why not?
