In the beginning, God created the
Heaven and Earth. On the first day, He
created light and darkness. On the second
day, He separated the waters between the upper waters and lower waters. The lower became known as ‘mayim’,
while the upper became the ‘shomayim’.
The Midrash teaches that the lower waters were saddened.
“Why did the other waters merit to be close to You in the heavens?” they
cried out.
“Fear not,” replied the Almighty, “I will soon present you with an
opportunity to rise to even greater heights than the upper waters!”
That promise would be fulfilled during the sojourn of the Children of
Israel in the wilderness. . .
סָבַר רַב יוֹסֵף
לְמֵימַר מֶלַח הֲרֵי הוּא כְּתַבְלִין, דְּבִכְלִי רִאשׁוֹן בָּשְׁלָה וּבִכְלִי
שֵׁנִי לָא בָּשְׁלָה. אָמַר לֵיהּ אַבָּיֵי: תָּנֵי רַבִּי חִיָּיא: מֶלַח
אֵינָהּ כְּתַבְלִין, דְּבִכְלִי שֵׁנִי נָמֵי בָּשְׁלָה! וּפְלִיגָא דְּרַב
נַחְמָן, דְּאָמַר רַב נַחְמָן: צְרִיכָא מִילְחָא בִּישּׁוּלָא כְּבִשְׂרָא
דְתוֹרָא
Rav Yosef thought to say that salt
is like a spice whose legal status is: In a primary vessel that was on the
fire, salt gets cooked and therefore it is prohibited to place salt into it on
Shabbat. And in a secondary vessel, into which the contents of a primary vessel
were poured, salt does not get cooked. Abaye said to him: Didn’t Rabbi Chiya
already teach that salt is not like a spice? Certainly he meant that in a secondary
vessel it also gets cooked. And this disputes the statement of Rav Nacḥman, as Rav
Nacḥman said: Salt requires cooking for as long as the meat of an ox.
Why are our Sages not clear about
whether salt is like other spices?
According to Kabbalah, there are four levels of creation: inanimate
objects, vegetation, animals, and human beings.
Most spices are from category 2, vegetation. Salt, however, would appear to be the
singular ‘spice’ that originates in the realm of the inanimate. Rabbi
Chaim Vital suggests that salt is a bridge species between the inanimate and
the vegetable realms. Likewise, he
maintains that apes are a bridge species between animals and human beings!
What is the significance of salt in
Judaism? The Torah declares that a special covenant was
made with salt, and in the Holy Temple, every sacrifice was brought with
salt. And while we no longer have a Holy
Temple and animal sacrifice, one aspect that remains is the custom of salting
our bread. The Rema writes, “It is a
mitzvah to place salt upon the table before breaking bread, for one’s dining
table is like the holy altar and one’s food is like the sacrifice. And the salt shields from spiritual forces of
wrath.”
Why does salt have this special
protective power? First, continuing our
earlier story, the Midrash teaches that Hashem made a covenant with the lower
salt waters that anytime we would offer a sacrifice, it would be accompanied by
salt. When we sanctify the offering on
the Holy Altar, it is elevated – together with its accompanying ‘spice’ – to
the spiritual realms, far beyond the physical heavens, which are the abode of
the upper waters (such as clouds). Thus,
the sacrifices are the fulfilment of God’s promise to the lower waters.
Rabbi Vital’s idea might stem from
an earlier concept of Ramban, who teaches that salt has the power either to
preserve or destroy. On the one hand, prior
to refrigeration, the only way to keep food for an extended period was to
preserve it with salt. In that respect,
it almost has life-giving powers, like vegetation. On the other hand, think of the Dead Sea. Tradition has it that it is a remnant of the
destruction of Sodom. The high salt
content ensures that no plant-life or fish can survive.
What was the covenant that Hashem
made with salt? That He would utilize it, not only as a destructive force, but
as a force for preservation of the Torah.
Every offering was accompanied by salt, and every time we break bread
and dip it into salt, we are reminded that the purpose of our table, and indeed
our lives, is to preserve and maintain the Torah, in its 3000-year old holy and
pristine state. That’s the commitment
you make when you dip your challah in salt!
Even within the word for salt, we
find positive and negative aspects, and transformative mind-sets, depending on
our perspective and viewpoint. The Kaf
Hachayim notes that we dip our bread in salt, because they share the same
letters: LeCHeM and MeLaCH.
So too, as we think about the world
during these dark days of MaCHaLa – affliction, we ask Hashem to have CheMLah –
compassion – upon us. We need to do our
part, by reaching out to those we may have fallen out with – miLCHaMa – and
offer MeCHiLah – forgiveness.
We dream – CHoLeM – of the time,
please God very soon, when we will sail – MaLaCH – out of this terrible situation,
and be on top of things – CHoLeM (the vowel) – once again. May Hashem bring about the transformation and
elevation speedily!
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