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The Gemara
in Maseches Pesachim
page 42
gives us a story.
Pesach is coming up.
Anyone that has learned Maseches
Pesachim knows that this is a
Maseches that's full of jewels, precious
jewels.
Not only in regarding to Pesach, but
also in regards to a lot of other
issues.
Among them
Am Yisrael, stories about Am Yisrael,
the different communities that were
around throughout the history.
In the Gemara in Maseches Pesachim page
42A
there's a teaching by Rav Yehuda
who says "Ishah lo talush ela bemayim
shelanu."
That a woman should knead the dough
for the matzah
only with mayim shelanu.
Which is water that slept overnight.
Explanation.
Since at this time of the year when we
make matzah
the world it becomes hotter
and that heats up the water underground.
And in order to make
the matzah that it doesn't ferment too
quickly
we need the water to be cooler.
And of course this is before the days of
refrigerators and freezers and so on.
So Rav Yehuda teaches that if you don't
want the dough to ferment too quickly
then you have to make sure that you
use mayim shelanu, which is water that
sat overnight.
Sat for a while, which gave it enough
time to cool because it was warmer than
usual when you got it out of the well.
When you got it out of the river.
So once you take it out
and you let it rest for a while
it'll get cooler.
Rav Matana
took this halacha that Rav Yehuda taught
and he
gave this in a teaching, in a lecture
that he gave in the town of Papunya.
And he says
"Ishah lo talush ela bemayim shelanu."
That the woman should not knead only
with mayim shelanu.
The next day
Rav Matana hears knocking on the door.
He hears a little commotion outside of
his door. He opens the door and he sees
the entire town
is outside of his door
each with a bowl each with a bucket.
Rav Matana says
"What what what What What do you need?"
"Rabbi, we came
we came to get water from you."
"Get water from me? Why do you need
water from me?
Everybody needs water from me." "Yes,
that's what you said."
"I said it? I said you get water from
me?" "Yes, we need to make the dough for
the matzahs and you said in the shul
yesterday that in order to make the
dough use mayim shelanu."
Rav Matana smiled
and said "Ah
you understood that when I said mayim
shelanu
instead of it being mayim, water that
rested
you understood mayim shelanu, which
shelanu also is our water.
Shelanu means our. So you understood
that in order for you to make the dough
you need to use our water, meaning my
water.
But that's not what I meant. I meant
mayim shelanu, which is water that has
rested and so it cools."
Now
Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz
says why is the Gemara
telling us this story? What, to make fun
of the people of Papunya?
That they're all clueless?
He says no.
Opposite.
The Torah is celebrating.
It's celebrating these peoples emunah
temimah, simple emunah in the chachamim.
Unlike the people that think of
themselves as smarter than the sages,
smarter than the rabbis, smarter than
everybody else
and questions everything.
This town was full of people that were
very simple. They heard in the shul the
rabbi said
"Use If you want to make matzah you have
to use our water." That's what they
understood.
They didn't say why his water. I mean, I
saw him take it out of the river. It's
not different than my water. I could
take it out of the river also. Maybe
he's trying to make money out of us.
Maybe he's putting something. They
didn't ask those questions.
They heard the rabbi said mayim shelanu,
okay, the rabbi wants to says we have to
use his water, then that's what we have
to use. We have to use his water. And
the whole town lined up with their
buckets. "Rabbi, yeah, we need to make
matzah for Pesach and you said mayim
shelanu, so we came to get the water
from you."
Says Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz, "Look at how
great these people are, how beautiful
their emunah in the chachamim were.
The rabbi said, therefore I do."
These are the types of people
that Hakadosh Baruch Hu loves
and these are the types of people that
survived
the Spanish Inquisition.
And other pogroms and inquisitions and
horrible things that have happened to Am
Yisrael. Why?
Simple emunah.
Simple-minded, they just know "This is
what you have to do? Okay, that's what
I'm going to do. Hashem said this? Okay,
I'm going to do it.
Hashem said that? Okay, I'm going to do
it."
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