Water
As part of our discussions regarding food within Torah and Judaism we will discuss the most widely used ingredient in the world, water.
Water is the most important substance after air. Chovot Halevavot was written around 1060 CE. It points out how The Holy One Blessed Be He made the world so that it can be lived on. We constantly need air in order to breathe and survive. Air is found everywhere in the world. Water is found in many places. We consume less water than air. Food is harder to find than water and almost always requires preparation.
Water is the most important ingredient in almost every recipe. Even if the recipe does not call for water just about all food contains more than fifty percent water.
Every country gets its water in different ways. Clean drinking water comes from the sky as rain, subterranean wells, overflowing rivers, and many more ways.
Some localities suffer from unclean water and the residents suffer. While other countries have lots of water and can dump as much as would like. Other localities might have many natural, clean water sources that have been polluted by industry.
Our Rabbis of Blessed Memory have said that the meteorology of Israel is connected to our level of righteousness. As it says, “It is a land which the Lord your God looks after, on which the Lord your God always keeps His eye, from years beginning to years end.” (Devarim 11 12)
The Rashba”m says that this land is good for those who follow the Mitzvot of the Torah and bad for those who do not.
The water situation in Israel is always very precarious. I believe that it always has been. That certainly seems to be one of the messages that this Pasuk tells us. In Israel it rains only for several months every year in the winter. Even then it does not rain all the time. After many years with little rain it can rain enough to make up for those years. This happens just as the Jewish people gets used to living without water and plans to desalinate seawater or to purchase it from wet countries.
In desert countries they get used to living without water. Even if they follow Torah and Mitzvot it will not rain much. The Pasuk says that in Egypt it rarely rains, however, they have Nile River that supplies them with water. In other countries it rains almost every day. No matter how evil they are it will not stop raining.
Water is a very special substance that is central to existence. Its special qualities aid life. Hydrogen bonding is responsible for the special qualities of water. Freezing cold water and ice float to the top of water because ice is less dense than water. This allows for the fish and other life under the water to always be able to float down to warmer water. The ice on top actually insulates the water.