Water Splitting & People Coming Together
How Hebrew Grammar Speaks to both Physics and Psychology
Welcome back to our exploration of the Hebrew language and how it speaks with Divine precision about the universe and the bottomless depth of the human psyche, hence the series’s title, the Language of Life.
I am going to start with a disclaimer. I am well aware that most people find grammar miserably boring. This was certainly my view of it until I rediscovered Hebrew in my 20s. The reason for my change of heart is that I came to see that the logic of how the words of the Torah work with one another is as saturated with meaning as the words and sentences themselves.
Whereas in other languages, if you ask, “why is it like that?” the answer is often “because that’s just the way it is,” in Hebrew, the answers to “why?” are the secrets of life.
“…in other languages, if you ask, ‘why is it like that?’ the answer is often ‘because that’s just the way it is’…
…in Hebrew, the answers to ‘why?’ are the secrets of life.”
Now that you’re hopefully emotionally prepared for a bit of grammar, we can proceed.
The Hebrew word for water, Mayim-מים shares a similar but opposite oddity with the words for man and woman, Ish and Isha, איש and אשה. Mayim-מים is always plural, and Ish-איש and Isha-אשה are always singular.
In Hebrew, “masculine” words are pluralized by adding the letters “ים___” at the end of the word, which make the sound “eem” (“feminine” word are pluralized by adding the letters “ות___“ at the end, pronounced “ot”).
If an item comes in pairs, then one would pronounce it “ayim.”
So, for example:
The word for “hand” is Yad-יד, and the word for “hands” is Yadayim-ידים.
The word for “eye” is Ayin-עין, and for “eyes” is Ayn-ayim-עינים.
The word for “foot” is Regel-רגל, and for “feet” is Rag-layim-רגלים.
Why is water — an otherwise singular object — always in plural, Mayim-מים, literally “waters”?1 Why is there is no such thing as “Mm-מ,” as in, a single “water”?
Analogously, the words for “man” and “woman,” Ish-איש and Isha-אשה, which we’ve begun to explore in previous posts, have no true plural form. They are exceptions to the above rule. The plural word for “men” is not Ishim-אישים, nor is the plural for “women” Ishot-אשות. To say “men,” we have borrow a different word Anashim-אנשים, and to say “women,” we use the word Nashim-נשים. Ish and Isha, however, exist only in singular form.
Why??
Hold this question, while we look at a cryptic statement of the Talmud that may contain an answer:
Sotah 2a and Sanhedrin 22a:
“It’s as difficult [for G-d] to match couples as it is to split the sea.”
How is anything “difficult” for G-d? And if making matches between people is somehow harder for G-d, in what way is it specifically compared to the splitting of the sea?
Here is the answer to all the above questions by the great Kabbalist/Psychologist/Philosopher/Rabbi the Maharal of Prague (1512–1609):
Water is the primordial substance that exists in perpetual plurality. A single molecule of water will not get you wet. Wetness, which is the hallmark of water, only emerges when many water molecules function in concert.2 It’s for this reason that Hebrew grammar doesn’t allow for Mayim-מים to be singularized. It can only be plural. There is no such thing as a “Mm-מ.” Only Mayim-מים.
People are the opposite. An individual human being is intrinsically alone. In a certain very real sense, we go through life with our private thoughts, feelings, perceptions and experiences, and can only express these to others in a limited way through our words and actions.3 As much as two people can spend lots of time together, share with one another, and get to know each other, they will always remain two separate individuals. It is for this reason that Hebrew grammar does not allow for the words Ish-איש and Isha-אשה to be pluralized. There is no Ishim, and no Ishot. Only an Ish and another Ish. Or an Ish and an Isha.
According to Maharal, this is what the Sages meant when they said that “it’s as hard [for G-d] to bring a couple together as it is to split the sea.”4 As antithetical as it is for water to be split apart since it is made of many particles that always function as a single entity, it is equally antithetical for a man and a woman to truly come together, since they are intrinsically independent individuals with their own disconnected worlds.
Absorbing and appreciating this idea can help us be patient with ourselves and others in our relationships, especially the most important relationship in our lives. Although the Torah tells us to become “one flesh,” and work to feel the other person’s pains and pleasures,5 it’s a fallacy to think that a couple eventually merges together to think the same way and share the same opinions. That was never the intent of marriage.
The miracle of dating and marriage is that if we stay humble and open to the person Hashem brings into our life, we can manage to connect, share, learn from, and build a life together with them despite the fact that we are and will always be independent individuals. This is a miracle that should blow us away as much as the splitting of the sea.
In the words of Dr David Pelcovitz:6
“To be happily married you don’t have to think alike, but you do have to be able to think together.”
If you want to say, “cold water,” you don’t say Mayim Kar (מים קר), but rather Mayim Rabbim (מים קרים), literally “cold waters.”
Check out this video for more on the stunning concept of emergence, which is epitomized by the mystery of wetness:
The modern classic treatise on this subject in Jewish literature is Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik’s Lonely Man of Faith.
The Maharal’s explanation is found in his Chiddushei Aggadot on Sotah 2a.
I am not someone who finds grammar boring — not Hebrew grammar, anyway.
Thank you for sharing this. I learned a lot.
Thank you! For me, that's much more relatable. :-)
It's interesting how reducing something to just its abstract sometimes renders it more concrete.