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In our daf of the new masechta Moed Katan where irrigation is compared with a physical love affair between husband and wife. In both examples, the man is said to be the dry field and the woman is the water, satiating and relieving him of his thirst.
Rain is referred to as ‘fertility,’ ‘fertilizing the earth.’ The earth receives the rain ‘as the female opens towards the male’ (Yerushalmi Brachot 14a); dew is named ‘the husband of the earth’ (Ta’anit 6b). The Sages thus indicated their preference for irrigation by direct rainfall from heaven, so that ‘the earth is impregnated as a bride by her first husband’ rather than by canals, ‘as a widow impregnated through harlotry (!)’ (Pirkei Rabbi Eliezer, Chapter 4).
We explore the halachic laws derived from our first day in Moed Katan and the use of irrigation as a metaphor for the soul.