Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus 15:22 slips in a phrase that seems geographical but is actually theological: they journeyed three days in the desert, empty of instruction, and found no water.
"Empty of instruction." That is the Targumist's gloss on the three days of thirst. The Aramaic rakin me'ulpan means devoid of teaching, without oraita, without Torah. The Sages of the Talmud (Bava Kamma 82a, Babylonian Talmud, c. 500 CE) use exactly this reading to explain why the rabbis later instituted the public Torah reading on Mondays and Thursdays: so no three days would ever pass again without the community hearing words of Torah.
Water and Torah, then, are being equated. A person can go three days without water and begin to die of thirst. A people can go three days without Torah and begin to die of a different kind of thirst. The Targum is not using a metaphor. It is making a medical observation about the soul.
The Maggid notes the structure. Israel had just crossed the sea. They had just sung the Song. They had just crowned God king. And within three days, without Torah, they were grumbling, parched, and ready to go back. Redemption does not stick on its own. It needs maintenance. It needs oraita, study, the regular rhythm of being reminded who redeemed you.
Takeaway: set your three-day clock. Whatever spiritual moment you have just lived through, set aside time within three days to return to <a href='/categories/midrash-rabbah.html'>the teachings</a> that frame it. Without instruction, even the Sea of Reeds fades in seventy-two hours.