The Torah portion of Nitzavim/נצבים (Deut. 29:9 - 30:20) is always read on the Shabbos before Rosh Hashanah. Nitzavim contains 40 verses. The number forty is represented in Hebrew by the letter mem/מ"ם, that is, mayim/מים/water.
The first verses of the portion emphasize the letter מ"ם/mem and the aspect of water:
אתם נצבים היום כולכם לפני ה' א-ל-היכם ראשיכם שבטיכם זקניכם ושוטריכם כל איש ישראל. טפכם נשיכם ... מחוטב עציך עד שואב מימיך
You stand this day, all of you, before the L-rd your G-d--your tribal heads, your elders and your officials, all the men of Israel, your children, your wives...from [your] woodchopper to [your] water drawer. (Deut. 29:9-10)
The mnemonic device for the verses of a Torah portion is a word whose letters have the same numerical value. For Nitzavim, the device or סימן is לבבו/his heart, as in the verse:
פן יש בכם איש או אשה...אשר לבבו פונה היום מעם ה' א-לו-הינו...
Perchance there is among you some man or woman...whose heart is even now turning away from the L-rd our G-d... (Deut. 29:17)
The same word reappears in the verse:
והתברך בלבבו לאמור שלום יהיה-לי...למען ספות הרוה את-הצמאה
...he may fancy himself immune (he will bless himself in his heart) thinking, "I shall be safe" (peace shall be mine)...to compound the moist with the thirsty. (Deut. 29:18).
The Aramaic Targum of Onkelos renders the final clause:
לאוספא ליה חטאי שלותא על זדנותא
to compound sins of non-intention with [those of] willfulness
When one is watered (Rashi: drunk), one acts without evil intention. When one is "thirsty" he acts out of intention and desire (Rashi).
Just as the letter mem/מ"ם is made up of two letters mem, so there are two intentions/hearts/לבבו, two thirsts, two waters. All of them revolve around and center upon the middle letter of mayim/מים, that is, the letter yud/יו"ד, that is, G-d.
There is the intention that turns away/פונה...מעם from G-d (Deut. 29:17) and there is the intention that stands in the presence/נצבים...לפני ה' אלקינו of G-d (Deut. 29:9).
There is the thirst of willful wrongdoing/לספות הרוה את הצמאה (Deut. 29:18) and there is the thirst for G-d:
כאיל תערוג על אפיקי מים, כן נפשי תערוג אליך א-ל-הים. צמאה נפשי ל-א-להים לא-ל חי
Like a hind crying for watercourses, so my soul cries for You, O G-d. My soul thirsts for G-d, the living G-d... (Psalms 42:2-3)
There are two waters. There is the seething water of willfulness:
אזי עבר על נפשנו המים הזידונים
Over us would have swept the seething (zeidonim) waters (Psalms 124:5. As the Malbim explains, seething/zeidonim waters refer to willfulness and apostasy.)
And there is the water of purification of repentance, reconciliation, atonement:
וזרקתי עליכם מים טהורים וטהרתם
I will sprinkle purifying water upon you and you shall be purified... (Ezekiel 36:25)
On Rosh Hashanah, we beseech the Master of the World that He save us from the waters of wilfullness and sprinkle us with the waters of purity:
טומאה העבר והתם הזידונים, טהרה תזרוק מים הנאמנים
Take away our impurity and make innocent the seething [water/misdeeds], sprinkle purification, the faithful water (from the Selichah/penitential poem "My L-rd, G-d of Hosts" of Shlomoh bar Yitzchak [Selichah #32 in the Lithuanian Rite, recited on the Eve of Rosh Hashanah])
In order to receive the external purification, the sprinkled water, we must apply the internal purification. To do this, we redirect our intention: We overcome the deceit of our false thirst for physical and even intellectual gratification. We thirst for G-d:
צמאה נפשי ל-א-להים לא-ל חי
My soul thirsts for G-d, the living G-d... (Psalms 42:3)
We stand before G-d, bringing all of our letters mem, bringing all aspects of ourselves:
your tribal heads, your elders and your officials, all the men of Israel, your children, your wives...from [your] woodchopper to [your] water drawer
that is, all of our physical and intellectual powers, all of our sensitivities and experience, and all of our good deeds, Torah, and mitzvos.
Let us draw our water and may G-d sprinkle us with His.
-- H. A. Massig המשיג