Day 13: Our Living Water

  BLESSING FOR COUNTING THE OMER:

Baruch ata Adonai, ELOHEYNU melech ha-olam, asher kiddeshanu bidvarecha v’tzi-va-noo al sifeerat ha-omer.

Blessed are you, O Adonai our GOD, King of the universe Who has sanctified us by your Word and commanded us concerning the Counting of the Omer.

Today is thirteen days, which is one week and six days of the Omer.

While reading Leviticus 13:55-14:20, I came across a very unusual purification ritual for cleansing someone with Biblical leprosy. I was struck by Lev. 14:5, which reads:

 “And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water.” Leviticus 14:5

In Hebrew, “running water” can also mean “living water,” mayim chayim. Where can living water be found? It is found in natural water sources, such as springs, rivers, streams, and even rainwater! This water has not gone through plumbing or been drawn from wells. In the verse above, the water was taken from a living water source, perhaps a nearby river. In the Torah, water purification and immersion rituals must be performed in living water, which is called a mikvah. As I read on, the person being cleansed of leprosy, along with his clothes, was required to perform a mikvah on the 7th day.

"He who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean. After that he shall come into the camp, and shall stay outside his tent seven days. "But on the seventh day he shall shave all the hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows-all his hair he shall shave off. He shall wash his clothes and wash his body in water, and he shall be clean." Leviticus 14:8-9

He shaves all his hair off, which means he has to set aside his ego and humble himself as he is immersed in the water. Clothing can symbolize identity. This running, living water, when a person immerses, carries the uncleanliness of ego and worldly identity away. He is now restored to his God, family, and community.

"Yeshua answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, "but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." John 4:13-14

Yeshua is the Living Word. The Living Word is also known as the Torah. In Jewish thought, the Torah is the Living Water. The Torah is understood to be a vital, life-sustaining, and cleansing force for the soul, mirroring how physical water sustains life, cleanses, and restores. Before we read the Torah, we must humble ourselves and remove the uncleanness (leprosy) we carry before we can immerse ourselves in the bubbling, cooling, cleansing, refreshing eternal source of wisdom! Water can be found across the earth. The teachings of the Torah are meant to be accessible to all who seek it!

"For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns-broken cisterns that can hold no water. Jeremiah 2:13

Avinu Malkeinu, Our Father, Our King, please help me cleanse myself of the “cisterns” of the world. Help me empty myself of all the worldly influences and sins. Allow me, humbly, to dip myself into the Living Water of your Torah and fill me to overflowing.