[Avodah] The Tahom

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, Oct 19, 2020 at 04:04:52PM -0500, Brent Kaufman via Avodah wrote:
> This is something that Jews don't know (at least no one that I've asked)
> and don't realize that they don't know and don't care. The Torah speaks of
> many geological structures that we are familiar with, e.g. har/mountains,
> yam/sea, major/river.... but the Torah, in many places mentions The Tahom
> as if everyone is familiar with it but no one can define it precisely like
> we can a mountain, river, or seas which we can point at.

In Sumaerian and early Babylonian religion, Tiamet, sometimes Tihamat,
is the goddess of the primeval ocean. The name is generally considered
a cognate of the Hebrew "tehom". /THM/ is also the Ugaritic word for
the Great Deep. And in Akkadian, "tamtu" -- which is where "Tiamet",
without the "h" is coming from.

We also have the word "tehomos", which implies that the tehom does not
remain a unique singular thing. "Qaf'u tehomos beleiv yam".

Seems to me The Tehom was the single body of water before HQBH introduced
yabashah, and was split into miqvei mayim called yamim.

Also notable: it's the miqvah mayim which is called yam. Not the mayim.
The most exact translation of "yam" is "seabed", not "sea". As in
"mayim bayamim".

Which frees up a possible meaning to be applied to "tehom". After day 2,
the "depths" (as per the cognates) of a sea or ocean.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 "I hear, then I forget; I see, then I remember;
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   I do, then I understand." - Confucius
Author: Widen Your Tent      "Hearing doesn't compare to seeing." - Mechilta
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF    "We will do and we will listen." - Israelites