Sweetening the seventy branches on Sukkos

בנוסח תפלת גשם זכור שנים עשר שבטים שהעברת בגזרת מים שהמתקת למו מרירות מים כו'.

In the text of the prayer for rain we say: "Remember the twelve Shevatim (tribes) whom You brought across through the splitting of the waters, for whom You sweetened the bitterness of the water, etc."

The Sefas Emes opens from the liturgy of Tefillas Geshem, which recalls how Hashem led the Shevatim through the sea and turned bitter waters sweet — a theme he will tie to the avodah of Sukkos.

דכתיב אחר שנסעו מים ויבואו מרתה כו' ויורהו ה' עץ וימתקו המים שם שם לו חק ומשפט.

As it is written, that after they journeyed from the sea they came to Marah, etc., and Hashem showed him a tree and the waters were sweetened; "there He established for him a statute and a law" (Shemos 15:25).

At Marah the bitter water was made drinkable through the tree Hashem showed Moshe Rabbeinu, and there Bnei Yisrael received their first chukim — a hint that the "sweetening" comes by way of law and order.

אח"כ ויבואו אלימה כו' י"ב עינות מים ושבעים תמרים.

Afterward, "they came to Eilim," etc., where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date-palms.

The Torah records that the next encampment, Eilim, had exactly twelve springs and seventy palm trees — numbers the Sefas Emes will read as the twelve Shevatim and the seventy nations.

דהנה ההשפעה הבאה משמים ע"י שמתפשט אח"כ לכמה ענפים עד שכל העולם ניזון ממנו.

For the shefa (Divine influence) that comes from Heaven, by spreading out afterward into many branches, becomes the sustenance of the whole world.

Divine flow descends as a single pure stream but then divides into countless channels so that all of creation can be nourished by it.

ומצד זה נמצא מרירות במים.

And it is on account of this that bitterness is found in the waters.

The very fact that the shefa fans out into so many lower branches is what allows bitterness — coarseness and concealment — to enter the "waters."

והי"ב השבטים הם העומדים בראשונה ובזכותם מונעים הקטרוג.

And the twelve Shevatim are the ones who stand at the head, and in their merit they hold back the accusation.

The twelve Shevatim stand first in line to receive the shefa, and their zechus deflects the heavenly prosecution against the world.

כי רב צדקתם לגבור על כל המרירות שעתיד אח"כ להיות.

For the abundance of their righteousness is enough to overcome all the bitterness that is destined to arise afterward.

Their tzidkus is so great that it can subdue every bitterness that will later emerge as the shefa descends into the lower world.

ובאמת בנ"י אחר יציאת מצרים נבראו לתקן כל העולם.

And in truth, after Yetzias Mitzrayim Bnei Yisrael were created to be a tikkun (rectification) for the entire world.

The exodus gave Bnei Yisrael their purpose: to repair and elevate all of creation, not themselves alone.

ואחר שעברו בגזרי מים הי' המכוון שיעמדו להיות חומת ברזל לבטל המרירות של הרשעים.

And after they passed through the split waters, the intent was that they should stand as a wall of iron to nullify the bitterness of the resha'im (wicked).

Having crossed the sea, Bnei Yisrael were meant to serve as an impenetrable barrier that neutralizes the bitterness generated by the wicked.

ויבואו מרתה וימתקו.

"And they came to Marah" — and the waters were sweetened.

This sweetening at Marah is the model of how Bnei Yisrael transform bitterness into sweetness.

שם לו חק יתכן לרמוז על החודש הזה שהוא התיקון בדרך המשפט.

"There He established for him a statute" — it may be hinting at this month (Tishrei), which is the tikkun that comes by way of judgment.

The "chok" given at Marah alludes to the Yamim Noraim, when the world is set right specifically through mishpat — Divine judgment.

ושם נסהו לשון הרמה שאדרבא ע"י המשפט שבר"ה ויוהכ"פ זוכין אח"כ לזה החג שהוא למעלה מהטבע.

And "there He tested him" (nisahu) is a term of elevation (haramah) — for on the contrary, through the judgment of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur we afterward merit this Yom Tov (Sukkos), which is above nature.

Reading "nisahu" as "raised him up," the Sefas Emes teaches that the judgment of the Yamim Noraim is precisely what lifts us to the supernatural joy of Sukkos.

אלימה הוא בחי' אלקים.

"Eilim" is the aspect of Elokim.

The name Eilim shares letters with the Name Elokim — the Divine attribute of judgment and the natural order.

ושם שתים עשרה עינות בחי' הי"ב שבטים י"ב שערים הראשונים עומד על שנים עשר בקר.

And there were twelve springs — the aspect of the twelve Shevatim, the twelve first gates, standing upon twelve oxen.

The twelve springs correspond to the twelve Shevatim, the twelve gates, and the twelve oxen that bore the Yam (the basin) in the Bais Hamikdash — all expressions of the same root structure.

אח"כ יש ע' תמרים הוא התחלקות ענפים ע' שרים ששם יש יניקה לע' אומות לכך יש מרירות כנ"ל.

Afterward there are seventy palms — this is the division into branches, the seventy heavenly princes, where there is nourishment for the seventy nations; and that is why there is bitterness, as above.

Beyond the twelve springs, the shefa subdivides into seventy channels feeding the seventy nations, and it is at this level of division that bitterness arises.

ותמרים לשון תמורה ששם יש התחלפות ותמורות כענין שנא' אל תמר בו ודרשו חז"ל מלשון תמורה.

And "temarim" (palms) is a term of "temurah" (exchange), for there exists change and substitution, as in the verse "do not rebel against him" (al tamer bo, Shemos 23:21), which Chazal expounded from the language of temurah.

The word for palms echoes "exchange," signaling the realm where things shift and substitute — the unstable lower branches as opposed to the fixed twelve springs.

וע"י הי"ב עינות נמתק המרירות ויחנו שם על המים.

And through the twelve springs the bitterness is sweetened, and "they encamped there by the water."

The twelve springs — the Shevatim — are the means by which the bitterness of the seventy branches is sweetened, allowing Bnei Yisrael to rest "by the water."

וזה עבודת זה החג שנדונין בו על המים.

And this is the avodah of this Yom Tov, on which we are judged regarding water.

On Sukkos the world is judged for rainfall, and the avodah of the Yom Tov is precisely to draw down and sweeten this flow of water.

והי"ב עינות וע' תמרים והג' אבות גי' פה שהם הכלי לקבל שפע הבאה מלמעלה.

And the twelve springs, the seventy palms, and the three Avos together equal the gematria of "peh" (mouth, 85), which is the vessel to receive the shefa that comes from above.

12 + 70 + 3 equals 85, the value of "peh" — the mouth, which is the kli (vessel) that receives Divine flow, as in the avodah of prayer.

והכל גי' אלהי"ם ואלימ"ה כנ"ל.

And the total equals the gematria of Elokim and of Eilimah, as above.

The same numerical total ties back to the Name Elokim and to Eilim — the realm of judgment and nature through which the shefa is filtered.

ולכן בחג הזה צריכין התיקונים בע' פרים לע' ענפים שנקרא תמרים.

Therefore on this Yom Tov the tikkunim are needed by means of the seventy bulls, corresponding to the seventy branches that are called palms.

The seventy korbanos (offerings) brought over Sukkos repair and sweeten the seventy "palm-branches" — the channels feeding the seventy nations.

[ויריחו נק' בפ' עיר התמרים. ויתכן שהיא שורש ז' אומות שהם שורש לע' אומות כמ"ש מזה בר"ה מענין מריע ומפיל חומה]:

[And Yericho is called "the city of palms" (Devarim 34:3). It may be that it is the root of the seven nations, which are themselves the root of the seventy nations, as is explained regarding Rosh Hashanah from the matter of sounding the teruah and toppling the wall.]

Yericho, "the city of palms," is the root of the seven Canaanite nations who underlie the seventy nations; its walls fell to the teruah-blast, linking the shofar of Rosh Hashanah to breaking the power of these outer "branches."

Summary: Drawing on Tefillas Geshem and the journey from Marah to Eilim, the Sefas Emes explains that Divine shefa descends as a pure stream and then divides into many branches — twelve springs for the twelve Shevatim and seventy palms for the seventy nations — and that bitterness enters only at the level of division. The avodah of Sukkos, reached through the judgment of the Yamim Noraim, is to sweeten that bitterness: the Shevatim and the korbanos of the Yom Tov rectify the seventy branches and draw the supernatural flow of blessing down into the world.