ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף ירמיהו 17:13

According to Bereshit Rabbah 75,2, Solomon taught us something here about the true measure of a righteous person. When you observe such a person falter in the face of the superior might of a wicked person, such a weakness is only momentary; it does not represent a capitulation of the righteous in face of evil. He will recover from such weakness (with the help of G’d.) This is why Solomon already wrote in Proverbs 24, 16: “For the righteous will rise even if he falls seven times.” In the end he will regain his composure and his honour and dignity. The whole matter can be compared to a well of spring water which someone steps into and momentarily causes the waters in that well to become murky. After a short while of leaving those waters to themselves they will become clear again. Similarly, the righteous will regain his composure and hence his dignity. The wicked is unable to permanently suppress the superior qualities of the righteous.
Why did Solomon, or the sages who interpreted these verses of Proverbs, choose this comparison between a murky well and a polluted fountain? It is a well known fact that a river is fed by a fountain whereas the fountain draws on an original source of water. Both are recipients of their respective waters. The reason why the fountain is called מעין, i.e. something derived from עין, and we have the expression עין המים, (Genesis 24,13 where Eliezer met Rivkah) is that the eye, i.e. עין receives its water from the דמעה, the tear. Tears originate in the brain. When someone indulges in too much weeping he causes his brain to dry out. The מקור, “the source,” does not rely on outside sources for its input. It is a “self-starter.” Its waters keep increasing and never stop flowing. This is why the name מקור is an apt name applied to G’d, seeing that He is the fountainhead of everything, and seeing that because of this there is no danger that this source will ever fail. This is reflected in Jeremiah 17,13 מקור מים חיים את ה', that “the source of (life-giving) spring water is G’d Himself.” We also have Psalms 36,10 where the psalmist describes the source of such water as being with G’d, i.e. כי עמך מקור חיים, “with You is the fountain of life.” These considerations prompted Solomon to describe a righteous person who falters in the presence of a wicked person as comparable to murky waters and a polluted fountain. Both of these defects are temporary in nature and the force of the clear water is bound to reassert itself in time.

Rabbi Akiva said: Happy are you, Israel! Who is it before whom you become pure? And who is it that purifies you? Your Father who is in heaven, as it is said: “And I will sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean” (Ezekiel 36:25). And it further says: “O hope ( of Israel, O Lord” (Jeremiah 17:13--just as a mikveh purifies the unclean, so too does he Holy One, blessed be He, purify Israel. As is typical, the tractate concludes with some words of “aggadah.” Rabbi Akiva gives a message of hope to all of Israel, telling us how blessed we are that God cleanses us of our sins. The verses in Ezekiel talk about God’s redemption of the people of Israel, what we usually call the Messianic age. Rabbi Akiva seems to be alluding to this ultimate cleansing of sin, one in which God will give us a “new heart” (v. 26). Rabbi Akiva also makes a pun on the word “mikveh” in Jeremiah the word in its context means hope, but means “ritual bath” in other places. God acts as a purifier for Israel, cleansing us both in the here and now and in the redemptive future for which we long. Congratulations! We have finished Yoma. It is a tradition at this point to thank God for helping us finish learning the tractate and to commit ourselves to going back and relearning it, so that we may not forget it and so that its lessons will stay with us for all of our lives. If you’ve been following along with the Mishnah Yomit schedule then you have just completed Yom Kippur and in a couple of days Sukkot will begin. We could not have asked for better timing this year! Yoma contained a long description of how the day’s ritual was carried out in the Temple and it concluded by hinting at a message central to the world of the rabbis. We no longer have a Temple, but through repentance, through prayer, through study, through acts of loving kindness and through the observance of the commandments we can maintain and repair our relationship with God. I can’t think of any message more relevant to this time of year. As always, congratulations on learning another tractate of Mishnah. May you have the strength and time to keep on learning more! Tomorrow we begin Sukkah.

.ויחפרו עבדי יצחק בנחל וימצאו שם באר מים חיים , “Yitzchak’s servants dug in the valley and they discovered there a well of living water.” Nachmanides comments on this as follows: “The reason the Torah devotes so much space to the digging of wells is not because the knowledge of these facts is so useful to us, nor is the reason that the Torah wished to publicly honour Yitzchak for his activities in developing the area agriculturally. Rather, the reason is hat these details are allusions to what would happen to the Jewish people in their history long after Yitzchak had died. The words באר מים חיים, “a well of living water,” is an allusion to the Holy Temple of which it is written in Jeremiah 17,13: מקור מים חיים את ה', ”The Fount of living waters.” The first well which was called עשק is an allusion to the first Temple which became the object of contention (התעשקו) between the Jewish people and its adversaries until, in the end, they managed to destroy it. The second well, named שטנה, hatred, illustrates an even greater hatred than that which surrounded the first Temple and is an allusion to the second Temple, concerning which it has been written: “during the reign of Achashverosh, at the beginning of his reign, they issued letters of hate against all the inhabitants of Yehudah and Yerushalayim” (Ezra 4,6). This hatred continued throughout the existence of that Temple. Eventually, our opponents succeeded in destroying it and the Jewish people were exiled under very adverse conditions. The name of this well reminds you that this is where the source of Satan is to be found. Satan is none other than the spiritual representative of Esau in the celestial regions. Satan’s preoccupation in this world is to always oppose the Jewish people with a display of hatred.