Why the One Sea Is Called Seas in the Plural

Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 8:3

Curated by Arthur·Told by Maggid·

All the seas are like a mikveh [a gathering of waters], as it is said: "And the gathering of the waters He called Seas" - these are the words of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Yehuda says: The Great Sea is like a mikveh, and it is not called "Seas" except because there are many kinds of seas within it.

Themes

SeaCreation

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Yalkut Shimoni on TorahHow God Gathered the Waters and Fenced the Sea with SandBefore the third day of creation, the world was a flat, drowned plain. The earth lay level like a single open valley, and water lay over all of it, edge to edgeYalkut Shimoni on TorahThe Sea Returned to the Covenant Made at CreationWhen the people were safely across, God told Moses to stretch out his hand so the sea would close again over Egypt. The sages hear in the command a principle ofMekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben YochaiThe Morning Watch and the Mercy That Heals Where It StrikesThe verse fixes the moment of Egypt's downfall at the morning watch, and the midrash hears in that single word an echo of every great dawn in Israel's story. AbMekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben YochaiThe Sea That Cannot Resist and the Scheme That ReturnsGod tells Moses to stretch his hand over the sea, and the midrash hears reassurance in the command. The sea will not stand against him; it is already God's instMekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben YochaiThe Sea Returns to Its Strength and Its Ancient ConditionMoses stretches his hand a second time, now to bring the waters back, and again the sea offers no resistance. Scripture says the sea returned to its eitano, andMekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben YochaiDid Pharaoh Drown in the Sea or Survive ItWhen the waters rolled back, the midrash insists that this was no ordinary tide. All the waters in the world returned at once, as if every sea on earth answered