Talmud Bavli
Talmud Bavli

Musar for Sotah 67:2

אמר לו ר' אלעזר בר' שמעון לדבריך אדם קל או מים קלים הוי אומר מים קלים אם כן באין מים ושוטפין אותן

Such is the statement of R. Judah; and R. Eleazar b. Simeon said to him, According to your explanation, which is swifter, man or water? Surely water is swifter; therefore the water must have returned and drowned them!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' If the water rose to twelve mil only to subside again, they would not have been able to traverse a sufficient distance to escape the returning water. ');"><sup>3</sup></span> It rather teaches that the waters were heaped up like stacks to a height of more than three hundred <i>mil</i>, until all the kings of the East and West saw them; as it is said: And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, which were beyond Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard how that the Lord had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel until they were passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Josh. V, 1. ');"><sup>4</sup></span>

Shenei Luchot HaBerit

[The author digresses here to explain the symbolism of different kinds of water, and how the "wrong" kind of "water," or water which has not been put in the service of the right side of the emanations, will prove destructive, fatal. He also refers to the river Dinor a river of fire mentioned in the Book of Daniel which, according to Kabbalistic teachings, serves as a ritual bath for the souls once they emerge from judgment in purgatory. I am skipping most of this excursion into deep mysticism. Ed.]
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