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Passover water and wine

By Susan Remson

February 26th, 2010

Apples. Parsley. Carrots. Eggs. Lots of eggs. That’s the start of my shopping list for Passover. It continues with matzah, farfel, fish, wine, and water.

Water? Water on a Pesach shopping list? Maybe not, but even though I don’t have to buy water, I am aware that it is a precious commodity and one integrally tied to this holiday.

The presence of water is seen early in the story of Passover with Moses being pulled from the river. It continues in the Ten Plagues, where water is turned to blood, and goes on to tell of the waters of the Red Sea parting to allow our escape from Egypt.

In the desert, people are hungry and thirsty but, according to Midrash, their thirst was sated by water from Miriam’s miraculous well.

In our seder rituals, we dip our greens into salt water, and we wash our hands with water.

A new ritual that many have adopted is the inclusion of Miriam’s Cup, which honors Moses’ sister. The cup is filled with water, not wine. The ritual, which has become part of women’s seders as well as many family seders, acknowledges the role of the cup’s namesake in the survival of the Jewish people, as well as the sustenance we get from what is in the cup.

Our seder tables will be flowing with wine to fill the four cups and water to fill our glasses. We take it for granted that when the water pitcher is empty, someone will go into the kitchen, open the tap, and clean water will flow. We do not need Miriam’s well to give us clean water; we have our own.

In Israel, water is still a precious commodity. Increases in the population and standard of living put heavy demands on water usage, yet severe drought does not replenish the supply. Today a dramatic drop in the water table in Israel has led to water shortages and rationing.

On the positive side, Israel’s water crisis has put it at the forefront of research in hydrology and water technology.

In Wisconsin, we are also trying to make our mark as a world water center, but here it seems that we have more than enough water for agriculture, recreation, and commerce.

Lake Michigan, along with the other Great Lakes, contains one-fifth of the world’s supply of fresh water. Our landscape is filled with streams, lakes, and rivers — and yet even here, water is a concern.

We worry about pollution, invasive species, and overuse. Conservationists tell us that if we divert our water away from the Great Lakes Basin, we too could be faced with water shortages. Some of the communities asking for Great Lakes water are as far away as Arizona and New Mexico; others are as close as New Berlin and Waukesha. Water rationing is not just for others, and is not just a fear for the future. 

Our Passover rituals are reminders to appreciate our freedom and to work so that those who do not know freedom can have it. We can extend that appreciation to our natural resources, using water, so essential to life itself, as its symbol.

Perhaps we should add new rituals to our seders to remind us of how precious water is. In addition to the four cups of wine, we could drink four glasses of water, or perhaps it would be more meaningful not to drink any water at all during the seder. What would it be like not to have a glass of cool, clean water waiting for us after the bitter taste of the maror?

Or maybe just as we don’t eat anything after tasting the afikoman, we shouldn’t drink water after it either. That last piece of matzah leaves us with a dry mouth, the taste of slavery. A little discomfort might go a long way toward helping us understand the real meaning of Miriam’s well.

Back to that shopping list. I can cross water off the list at least for this year, but I will keep in mind its value. In a world where bottled water can be the same price as wine, let’s hope they both continue to flow at our Passover seders.

Susan Remson lives in Kenosha, where she write about the environment, politics, and culture of the Great Lakes at www.greatlakesviews.blogspot.com.