The Key to Jewish Survival - Part XX

The Key to Jewish Survival - An article for the month of Tishrei, in Memory of R’ Meir ben R’ Mordechai Zvi HaCohen Zt”l

מ ק ו ה is an Acronym for מקוה (Mikvah) "ואותנו קדשת מכל העמים” - “And You Have Sanctified Us of All the Nations”.

There are three partners in the creation of Man: G-d, his father and mother (הקב"ה אביו ואמו).

The Hebrew word for Man, אדם (Adam): א, the first letter, refers to אלוקים (G-d), אלופו של עולם (the Almighty). The Hebrew letter, א (Alef), is made up of a slanted 'ו' (Vav) and two 'י' (yod). Together, in Gematrya (Jewish numerology), they equal 26, which is equal to the value of the Divine name of G-d: י – (ק) – ו – (ק) = 26 ^[1].

אדם – the numeric value of the second two letters דם(dam, which means blood) = 44, the Hebrew words for mother and father, אם (Em) and אב (Av) are equal to 44.

From G-d: facial features, spirit and soul, mind and intelligence, speech, sight, hearing, and gait

From his father: a brain, bones, tendons, fingernails, and the white of the eye.

From his mother: flesh, hair, skin, and the pupil of the eye (according to Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer)

Nothing elevates G-d as the principle “partner”, as much as the mitzvah of immersion in a Mikvah. Aside from the fact that the waters from above (rain waters) and those from below converge in the Mikvah waters, indeed, the very immersion in a stooped and crouching position, completely surrounded by water, intensifies the feeling of the fragility of life within us, and shouts from the depths of the silence the obliteration of man’s pride, his surrender to and recognition of his Creator, at exactly the point of connection between life and death – one opposite the other is the cessation within the water, and the exit into a new life as a baby exits from its mother’s womb^[2], where it was surrounded by water.

This is a mitzvah that through its performance the body approaches the spirit and connects at its peak. In preparation for it, we are commanded regarding pure and simple bodily functions, and in the actual immersion one can sense a spiritual uplifting. If we were to imagine the mitzvoth by colors; for example, red for Kashruth and saving of a human life, blue for tzitzit and so on. The mitzvah of immersion is transparent (as water), a primordial mitzvah with no color, which is located at the highest rungs of holiness and purity.

The universe, as an infant was surrounded with water. The waters gathered to one place and the dry land came out of the waters similar to the exit from the Mikvah – thus the dry land was created. When the land sinned and produced trees bearing fruit and not fruit trees, as per

G-d’s commandment, it was not punished. However, at the time of Noah, when man strayed,

G-d took account with Man and with earth because it produced crops quickly and Man was idle for he had no need to work hard (the crops produced by the earth were sufficient to provide sustenance for 40 years) and he sinned. In order to atone for its sin the earth was once more immersed in the waters of the Mikvah, in the flood waters that covered it, and it was restored as new and different.

40 - a number that symbolizes a type of perfection, after which one passes to a new perspective: immersion in 40 se-ah סאה (a biblical-era liquid measure) of water in the Mikvah is purifying.

Moses stayed in heaven for 40 days and nights. Only afterwards did he become known as “a man of G-d”.

The flood waters came down for 40 days and nights and transferred the world to a new stage of purity.

The foetus receives all of its organs in his mother’s womb after 40 days. From the 41st day on, the woman is already called mother (Em – אם) = 41.

אב (Father) – Meaning; the א equal to 1 becomes a father when there are 2 (ב) only from the moment the child is born.

The life of the foetus begins from the third day of conception: On the first day, the foetus receives six Nitzotzot, on the second six more and on the third another six, together 18 – חי (Chai – life). (According to the New Zohar).

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[1] The middle Hebrew letter ל, the tallest of all the letters also indicates the Divine name, as it is built of the letters ‘ו’ of numerical value 6 and ‘כ’ of numerical value 20 = 26

[2] The Hebrew word for womb, רחם (Rechem) has a mutual root with the words for mercy רחמים (Rachamim) and tomorrow מחר (Machar) - How much mercy does the foetus require when in the womb, and for tomorrow when it leaves for life.

Compiled and edited from articles of Rabbi Imanuel Ravad, founder of the Mikvah – Tikvah organization ravad@mikvatikva.org © All the rights are protected, October 26, 2016 – 5776. It is a mitzvah and one is permitted to copy to benefit the public, not for commercial purposes.