The Bitter Tree That Healed the Bitter Waters at Marah

"And he cried out to the LORD" (Exodus 15:25). From here we learn that the righteous are not slow to have their prayer accepted, and incidentally you learn that the prayer of the righteous is short. There is a story about a disciple who passed before the reading desk in the presence of Rabbi Eliezer and shortened his blessings. His students said to him, "Rabbi, did you see So-and-so who shortened his blessings?" And they were saying of him, "This is a curt scholar." He said to them, "He did not shorten more than Moses, as it is said, 'O God, please heal her, please' (Numbers 12:13)." Again there is a story about a disciple who passed before the desk in the presence of Rabbi Eliezer and lengthened his blessings. They said to him, "Rabbi, did you see So-and-so who lengthened his blessings?" And they were saying of him, "This is a long-winded one." He said to them, "He did not lengthen more than Moses our teacher, as it is said, 'And I fell down before the LORD the forty days' (Deuteronomy 9:25)," for he used to say, "There is a time to shorten and a time to lengthen." "And the LORD showed him a tree" (Exodus 15:25). Rabbi Yehoshua says: This was a tree of willow. Rabbi Elazar of Modi'in says: This was a tree of olive, for you have nothing more bitter than olive. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korhah says: This was a tree of oleander. Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai says: He showed him a matter from the Torah, as it is said, "And the LORD showed him a tree," like the matter of which it is said, "And He taught me and said to me, Let your heart hold fast my words" (Proverbs 4:4), and it is written, "It is a tree of life to those who lay hold of it" (Proverbs 3:18). Rabbi Natan says: This was a tree of cedar; and some say the root of a fig tree and the root of a pomegranate. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: Come and see how distinct are the ways of the Omnipresent from the ways of flesh and blood. Flesh and blood heals the bitter with the sweet, but the Holy One, blessed be He, is not so; rather He heals the bitter with the bitter. How so? He puts the thing that damages into the thing that was damaged, in order to work a miracle through it. Similarly, "And Isaiah said, Let them take a cake of figs" (Isaiah 38:21); but surely if you place a cake of figs upon living flesh it immediately festers. How so? He puts the damaging thing into the damaged thing in order to work a miracle within a miracle. Similarly, "And he went out to the spring of water and cast salt there, and said, Thus says the LORD" (II Kings 2:21); but surely the waters were sweet, and once you put salt into them they immediately turn briny. How so? He puts the damaging thing into the damaged thing in order to work a miracle. "And he cast it into the waters." Others say: Israel were pleading and humbling themselves before their Father in heaven like a son who pleads before his father and like a disciple who humbles himself before his master. So Israel were pleading and humbling themselves before their Father in heaven, and they said before Him, "Master of the universe, we have sinned before You, for we complained at the Sea." "And the waters were made sweet." Rabbi Yehoshua says: They were bitter for a moment and then made sweet. Rabbi Elazar of Modi'in says: They were bitter from the start, as it is said, "the waters, the waters," twice. It is written, "Let them make a tree fifty cubits high" (Esther 5:14), and the Holy One, blessed be He, cried out: let it not be in vain. "What shall I do for Abraham, of whom it says, 'And he stood by them under the tree' (Genesis 18:8)? And how shall I appease Moses, of whom it says, 'And the LORD showed him a tree'? That one spoke and shall not carry it out." And Haman was seeking a beam of fifty cubits and did not find it, except a beam that was in his house, for his son Parshandata was governor in Cadronia, and he took one plank from the ark of Noah, which the Holy One, blessed be He, had made as a memorial for the world, so that the generations of the world would know that He brought a flood upon the world, as it is written, "He has made a memorial for His wonders" (Psalms 111:4). And likewise when Sodom and Gomorrah were overturned it is written, "And his wife looked back from behind him," and until now she stands as a pillar of salt. Why? "He has made a memorial for His wonders," so that the generations should recount the praise of the Holy One, blessed be He.