What does the Mikvah do for you?

What does the Mikvah do for you?

by Imanuel Ravad - ט"ו שבט תשפ"ג    06.02.2023
 
The first man, Adam was created last, on Friday - three hours before the Sabbath, so that if he became proud they would say to him: "Even a mosquito preceded you".
G-d had to limit Adam and Eve - which He did by forbidding them to eat from one tree - because without restrictions people may think that there is no homeowner, and therefore they can do whatever they want. Restrictions ensure that they understand they are only guests who must obey the instructions of their host.
The Creator warned man that if he ate from the tree of knowledge, on that day he would die... In fact, Adam and Eve lived another 930 years after their sin. That is because the Shabbat protected them, and begged the Creator of the world that there be "Shabbat Observers". In honor of the first Shabbat, at the end of the sixth day, the sun did not set,  so Adam and Eve felt as if they were still in Paradise. Adam had an inspiration of 'a kind of World to Come', and so he composed the 'Psalm for the Sabbath', which King David added to the book of Psalms (ch. 92).
Towards the end of the first Sabbath of creation, Adam and Eve saw sunset for the first time. As the darkness began to descend, they were frightened and thought that this was their punishment for eating the forbidden fruit, and that because of them the world was about to be destroyed. They wept bitterly, and waited in fear for the world to end.
The Creator took pity on them, and showed Adam two flint-type stones. Adam was able to make a fire from them that somewhat lit up the darkness of the night. Therefore, on Shabbat evening, we recite the 'Blessing of Fire' in the Havdalah service because the first fire was created on Shabbat evening. We also take this opportunity to thank Hashem for fire, as it also serves as a source of light, heat and energy that powers the wheels of modern industrial and transportation machines.
In contrast to the lighting of the candles on Shabbat Eve, where each candle contains only one wick, for Havdalah we actually use a candle that contains at least two lit wicks together, which form one flame that represents 'fire'. A candle is the symbol of self-control, which Adam and Eve failed to exercise, and because G-d's candle is Adam's soul, that's why we light candles in honor of Shabbat, to correct Adam and Eve's lack of self-control.
In the Jewish calendar, the day begins at sunset and lasts until the next day when the stars appear, so candles which are lit in honor of Shabbat (at least 10 or 20 minutes before sunset, although some do 40 minutes), and we light a large enough candle (or sufficient quantity of oil) tol burn for at least two hours, so that it will provide light until after the Shabbat meal.
Havdalah is made the next day on Shabbat night, after three stars have already been seen in the sky. Since there are places and times when the sky is covered with clouds and the setting of the sun, and certainly the rising of the stars, is not visible, therefore every Jewish calendar provides the appropriate times for the setting and the rising of the stars of that day. Shabbat symbolizes self-control - on Shabbat we rest from all work as defined by our Sages. On Shabbat night, we are already allowed to do work and produce, therefore the Havdalah candle needs at least two wicks, representing a fire that can burn freely, symbolizing the lack of self-control that man exhibited in eating from the tree of knowledge. (See an instructive article: "In an abundance of electric light, what does a holy Shabbat candle add?")
On the first Sunday of the lives of Adam and Eve, they felt for the first time the fall from the security and comfort of heaven, to the endless problems of the world for which they were created. They lived together with all the animals which were created before them, like in a 'zoo' without bars, which frightened them very much. In Adam's ears echoed the warning: 'On the day you eat from the tree of knowledge - you will die'...
He understood the difficult problems facing him, how therefore he could not take his wife on a trip to enjoy the beautiful world into which they were created, because first of all he must do what he could to ensure their survival. Clearly, when a person faces life-threatening danger, he is not interested in trips. He understood he must beg the Creator of the world for his life, ask for forgiveness and atonement for his sin, and that he, his wife and his descendants be given a second chance to prove that they would have the self-control to fulfill all the commandments of the Creator demanded of them and even those commandments to be demanded from them in the future.
Why was man commanded to not eat from the tree of knowledge? All animals are born with all the knowledge they need for their survival throughout life, and therefore a day-old bull is already called a bull (Leviticus 22). In contrast to this, a human baby is the only creature born mindless and helpless, and he must learn all his life. Therefore, why was he forbidden to eat from the tree of knowledge? Why was he not forbidden to eat from a different tree?
One possible answer is as follows. All animals can do harm, but none can use their knowledge to destroy the world. Man is the only creature that can reach the pinnacle of knowledge and use it to destroy the world, as nowadays, when the knowledge of nuclear fission endangers the very existence of the world! A person with knowledge can pose a danger to the existence of the world, and therefore G-d forbade man to eat from the tree of knowledge, until he will prove that he has complete self-control.
It is written in the Talmud (Tract of Rosh Hashanah 31) that this world will only exist for 6000 years. As was mentioned above, one day of the Creator of the world is 1000 years to us, as it is written "A thousand years in one day" (Psalms 4:4) and in Genesis (Parashat Vakelo) it is written that G-d acted and acts for six days, and a day of the Creator of the world is equal to 1000 years of humans; therefore this world will exist for 6000 years. When the world we live in reached 95% of its existence - in 1940, when only 300 years remained, which is 5% of the world's existence - the Creator of the world revealed to us the theory of relativity and the detonation of the nuclear bombs, (and even then nuclear bombs were detonated for the first time, for a test, in the Nawada desert in the United States), and today there are already enough nuclear bombs, in more than ten countries, that can destroy the world several times over...
Abraham our father already understood and warned us: When there is no fear of G-d, human life is in danger! "There is no fear of G-d - they will kill me!" (Bereshit…) According to the above, today, until the end of the world's existence there is a maximum of 217 years. Considering the nuclear bomb situation worldwide, it is clear that in order to survive we depend on the self-control of those who "sit" on the nuclear bombs - yet these are people who cannot be trusted. Therefore we have no one on Who we can lean but our Father in heaven. However, even in our small country the majority of people do not keep the Torah and mitzvot, and there are wars between the various political parties, so nowadays, more than ever, it is extremely important to educate people, to understand that there is a Creator of the world, and we may not try to destroy the world.
The Almighty created man from dust that he collected around the world, so that when a man dies, there will be no place in the world that the earth refuses to accept him for burial on the claim: "You are not ours..." (As proof of this, note that the sea does not accept the body of a dead person, and throws it onto the land). But as to the head of man, that G-d created from dust which he took from Jerusalem, from the place where the temple will be built, and therefore when G-d expelled man from Eden, He expelled him to Jerusalem, to the place from where the dust of the head of man was taken. Therefore, when man wanted to ask for forgiveness and atonement for his sin, he ran to the 'Shiloh Spring' (which is now 200 meters from the Western Wall and the source of its water starts from the place where the Holy of Holies of the Temple will be) in order to immerse himself and pray and beg the Creator of the world to forgive him, and allow him, and all his descendants, a second chance until the end of generations - to prove that we have self-control!
G-d did not command immersion in a mikvah. How did Adam realize by himself that he must immerse in a mikvah? Because he noticed that in life there are too many distractions all competing for a person's attention, so one cannot concentrate and thereby communicate and talk with the Creator of the world. The purpose of every mikvah immersion, in addition to holiness and purity is to inspire us: "Remember before Whom you stand, before the Creator of Heaven and Earth"! Therefore a man could only enter the Bais HaMikdash after immersing in a mikvah, and Adam understood he had to do the same. Consequently, Adam sat in the Shiloh Spring for 49 days, and alternately immersed and wept. Much of the water around him was his tears.
On the fiftieth day, after Adam left the Shiloh Spring and stopped begging for his life and that of his wife, only then was Cain able to kill his brother Abel, because there is no sin without punishment, big or small. Therefore, although Adam and Eve themselves did not die immediately, they did immediately lose their two sons in one day, one 'killed' and the other disappeared without any means of contact with the parents. 130 years later, Adam and Eve had a third son named Seth, who at the age of 105 had a son named Enosh.
In the generation of Enosh they began to worship idolatry... (Rashi, 4:26) Therefore, before the great flood that was in Noah's generation, which destroyed the entire world, there was also a flood in the generation of Enosh - and a third of the world was destroyed - turned into water - and was never restored.
In fact we see that the Creator of the world did not command Adam to immerse in the mikvah, but he understood the need on his own. What did the mikvah give to the first man? And what does the mikvah give to every Jew in all generations, even nowadays? Why is it important for us to immerse in a mikvah, even if we are not commanded to do so?
Adam saw that he was endlessly surrounded by problems and issues that troubled him and did not allow him the necessary concentration of thought. He realized he must immerse to be able to concentrate and communicate with the Creator of the world, because mikvah immersion leads to:
1. Complete isolation from the distracting environment.
2. A pause in the activity of the five senses, which always occupies us, and interferes with the concentration of thought required to connect with the Creator of the world.
3. The cessation of breathing - while immersed we are at the gate between life and death, because four minutes without breathing and supplying oxygen to the head causes brain death.
When faced with death, every person instinctively calls out to the Creator of the world in awe, and prays to G-d in his heart and asks Him not only for life, but also for help to solve life's problems. After all, there is no person in the world without problems, even if he is healthy, strong, smart and rich... and why is there no person without problems? After all, the Creator of the world created a perfect world. The sun, the moon and the whole universe have been working for thousands of years, non-stop and without problems. Why exactly is it that man, who is the most perfect creature in creation, who also has the power of thought and speech, which no one in the universe has, why exactly is he full of problems?
One of the answers is because the Creator of the world is the One Who creates the problems for every person, at any time, according to his situation, so that he will repent! As it is written: "Man is reduced to a pulp (the Creator brings problems to man until he is close to death)," and says to him: Do you want to live? Repent!" (Psalms 90:3, see Rashi and other commentaries). Another interpretation of this verse: Adam's sons were the grandfathers of the human generation. And every person is responsible, apart from his own education and behavior, also for that of his sons and grandsons. Therefore, when the sons or grandsons sin, the guilt is also the grandfathers' and so these grandfathers also have to repent for the sins of their sons and grandsons. And so the sons of Adam had to repent for the sins of the future human generation as well. That is why it is written that "Man was punished until death": Man received the punishment for his sins, and the grandfathers were also obliged to repent; that is why it is said "repent men" (that is, the sons of Adam). And without problems men do not (usually) repent.
And when the problems are disturbing and painful enough, they push every person (even those not yet observant) to pray to G-d, with their mouth or heart, in the synagogue and/or outside it (in the words of the siddur or in his own words), but G-d declares that He "does not listen" to our freely-offered prayer without the "bathing" understood from the Tenach - an immersion of prayer for repentance (Isaiah 1:15-16, Targum Jonathan). Because in immersion there is complete isolation - with no air to breathe, a person is at the gate between life and death, and in the face of death every person instinctively communicates to the Creator of the world, asking of Him, besides life, to also solve their life's problems.
In immersion, a person asks the Creator of the world to open a new and more cautious page in his life without problems. Therefore, each person emerges from a mikvah immersion with joy in life and hope that G-d will fulfill the wishes of his heart for good. Consequently, after immersion, each person thinks differently, prays and lives differently, and the whole life of the community also takes on a more serious character. The purity of the family is also preserved in the best and most effective way.
Immersion in the mikvah brings to every person "joy of life and happiness" - leading to a sense of gratitude to the Creator of the world. And to remember with more courage that the Creator also has demands from us, and we must anticipate and fulfill His demands, so that the Creator will mercifully and willingly fulfill our requests, and hence we are on the path to repentance!
Moses prayed 515 prayers and asked the Creator of the world for the permission to enter the Land of Israel, "and I begged" - in gematria = 515. Why did he want to enter the Land of Israel so much? He wanted to see in the Land of Israel this 'good mountain' in Jerusalem, and 'Lebanon' - which is the Temple. Why is the Temple called Lebanon? Because the work of the temple whitens the sins of the workers and the pilgrims who come to the temple, from a red color to white, as it is written - "If your sins are red, "shani", as red as a red silk garment, they will become white as snow" - the service of the temple would whiten them to a white color. King David also added the prayer of Moses to the book of Psalms, in chapter 90.
Why did the Creator of the world refuse Moshe's request to ascend to the Land of Israel, and that instead He would take him to a high mountain from where he would be able to see everything he wanted to see in the Land of Israel? Because Moses had promised the people of Israel in Egypt, to bring them to the Land of Israel, and all those to whom he promised this, they all died in the desert, because of the sin of the spies. And when a ship is sinking, the captain cannot save himself, before he saves all the others. Therefore, since all those whom he promised to ascend to the land, died in the desert, therefore it was impossible that only he would ascend to the land. Therefore, apart from Moses, Aaron and Miriam, and all the other leaders, they all died and were buried in the desert. Only the new generation, born in the desert, immigrated to Israel.
The prophet Isaiah declares in the name of Hashem, "I do not listen to your prayer (automatically and willingly) until you bathe" which refers to mikvah immersion, to facilitate repentance (Isaiah 1:15-16, Jonathan's translation). This means that even if many prayers are offered, G-d does not listen to prayer automatically; in order for G-d to listen to the prayer, it is necessary to "wash" that is, "mikvah immersion" for repentance. Therefore, it is no wonder that many men immerse every morning before prayer, and also immerse before all prayers for special problems and requests. In some synagogues, especially those of Hassidim, those who are not immersed in the morning before prayer cannot serve as a Chazzan, nor receive aliyah to the Torah and special honors; therefore most Hasidic synagogues have a "men's mikvah" in the basement or in the synagogue complex. And when men immerse, all those who must immerse certainly do.
Additional point – it is a Hassidic custom that every mitzvah that is fulfilled by a physical activity requires immersion before, such as: writing Torah scrolls and mezuzots, blowing the shofar, circumcision, lighting Hanukkah candles, slaughtering, etc.
Question: we all know that Yom Kippur is a fast day and there are five prohibitions which are "torture"– one is the prohibition to use water for washing. When we must to wash our hands we may do so, only the tips of our fingers. Why is it different for the Cohen Gadol? Not only is he allowed to, but he is required to have five total immersions in the mikvah before each of the services of the day.
My take on this is as follows: It is written - "The Cohen Gadol who is greater than his brothers." It means that he must be the greatest of all his fellow Cohanim, also in wisdom, wealth etc., and if he is not rich then his fellow Cohanim must give him enough money until he become the richest of all the Cohanim.
The Cohen Gadol enters the Holy of Holies only once a year to pray for the people of Israel and the entire world. How can we ensure that he will pray also for the poor? After all, he is the richest, he lacks nothing, how can we ensure that he will pray for us? Every person is closer to himself than to any one other person in the world. A person cannot pray for someone else with all his heart and soul if he does not have to pray for himself as well. For this reason a Cohen cannot serve as a Cohen Gadol unless he is married and has his wife waiting for him at home. And he has duties to pray for her and provide for all her needs. If he does not have the obligation to pray for his wife and his family, there is no guarantee that he will pray for the entire Jewish people and the entire world. Therefore before each of the five prayers of the day he must immerse, because before going down for immersion in the mikvah the person must remove all his clothing - clothing instills in a person a spirit of importance and pride - thus he temporarily departs from his property which instills in him a spirit of falsified confidence. And so every man descends to mikvah immersion out of submission. And only when he prays for himself, is there a chance that he will also pray for all others.
Rabbi Akiva declares: "Fortunate are you Israel". What does he mean when he says we are "fortunate"? And he adds: "Mikvah Yisrael Hashem" (Yuma 85). What does he mean? Rabbi Akiva lived at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple. As long as the Temple existed, thanks to the worship of the Temple, G-d would save the people of Israel from all enemies and problems, and now that it is destroyed, who will save us? Rabbi Akiva came to strengthen us, that we should not "despair"! Even until the Third Temple is rebuilt by the Creator of the world, and comes down prepared with fire from the heavens, as it is written "The Temple of the Lord has been prepared by your hands" (Exod. "Mikvah Israel, G-d" (Jeremiah 17:13). (Note: the Hebrew word for hope is Tikvah, similar to Mikvah.)
After King Cyrus allowed the Second Temple and Jerusalem to be rebuilt, and there were problems with the foreign inhabitants who in the meantime took over the land (the Samaritans), the Babylonian exiles asked Ezra the writer, "Is there hope for Israel?" The meaning is not whether there are immersion mikvahs in Israel, but whether there is "hope" for Israel? (Ezra 12:22, Rashi). This is further proof that "mikvah" also means prayer, and indeed after immersion, each person thinks differently, prays and lives differently, and the whole life of the community also takes on a more serious tone, of learning and observing Torah commandments, and the " family purity" is maintained as required and proper, and all this leads to a feeling of security, peace and happiness!
In conclusion: What does the mikvah do for you? It does what it did to the first man, and as Moses writes, and as the prophet Isaiah proclaims, and Jeremiah the prophet who says "Mikvah Yisrael is his Messiah"! And as the people of Israel practice immersion from the first man to the present day, especially on the eve of Sabbaths and holidays and on the eve of Yom Kippur, it is customary to immerse for the sake of repentance (Abraham's shield), and there is no obligation to wait until Yom Kippur to repent, as it is written in the chapters of Avot - "and again the day before your death" and since no one knows On the day of his death, he must repent every day! And since the easiest and most effective way to bring any person back to repentance is by mikvah immersion. And so the people of Israel were indeed immersed in all generations from the first man to the present day.
Indeed, immersion in the mikvah helped the first man, whose Creator upgraded his punishment, from death - on that 24-hour "day" of humans - to death on that "day" of the Creator of the world, which is a thousand years, as it is written: "A thousand years in one day" (Psalms 4, see the article: The Power of Prayer in Immersion), and indeed the first man, Adam, instead of living as long as the world exists - 6000 years, was punished to live only 1000 years (a day of the Creator of the World). However, Adam sacrificed 70 years of his life for King David, who was his seed, and as we learn, the Messiah King will come and correct the sin of the first man, because the correction of the sin must be at the expense of the corrupter. Therefore, the first Adam and Eve lived 930 years (Genesis 5:5), and therefore King David, who reigned over Israel for 40 years, the first 7 years of his reign (which are 10% of his life), as king in the city of Hebron, near the Cave of the Patriarchs (where Adam is buried), and not in Jerusalem, which is the eternal capital city of the Jewish people, in order to pay respect to Adam from whom he received his 70 years of life (Samuel 2, 8:4, see in the guide to the salvation of our people, the article "Secrets of Hebron - from the first man, Adam to the present day)".
Rabbi Kahneman ztz"l used to say, thanks to this, that our ancestors, who lived in European countries, were ready to immerse themselves even in frozen rivers under the ice, at the risk of their lives, the nation of Israel survived, even from flames of fire. Therefore, what the mikvah has done throughout the generations, it does for every Jew and can also do for you!
And in short - mikvah immersion brings you joy of life and reminds us: "before whom are you standing"!
At the request of the rabbis and elders of the generation, the Orthodox press recently published articles encouraging every synagogue to speak about family purity. From 40 years of experience, and many positive results, it is clear that the most effective way to publicize and increase the issue of family purity is when we begin to strengthen the issue of men immersing in the mikvah. One of the proofs of this is: Note that the opening sentence of the Talmud is on the subject of male immersion: "From when did he hear? From the hour that the priests (men) immerse". In contrast, the topic of family purity is in the last tractate of the Talmud. Men in the opening sentence of the Talmud, and family purity in the last treatise! And the message is loud and clear! Because after men are immersed, they think differently, pray differently and live differently and also the whole life of the community gets a more serious tone, and then family purity is also kept to the best of its ability!
See articles in "Guide for the salvation of our people":

1. Results 

2. The power of prayer in immersion.

3. Miracles in the mikvah

4. A round trip ticket - to sail through Israel and return to heaven.

5. Hope on an unknown island

6. Hope in the White House.

7. Shabbat desecration, like any other sin, drills a hole in our ship, and endangers all of us, because we are all in one ship, and we bind each other. 8. A condition for peace - observance of Shabbat Kodesh, as it is customary to say "Shabbat Shalom".
The people of Israel are warned many times in the Bible, that peace in the land is conditional on observing the commandments of the Torah. Note that today we are the only nation and country in the world threatened with nuclear annihilation! Every sin that every Jew commits, drills a hole in our ship, and endangers us all! Because we are all in the same ship, and we care about each other (see article: "The easy and effective way to save our people, and bring a blessing and joy of life to your home"). And it's not enough that only I, you and we will do it, we must all!! That is why our sages established that the last verse we say in the morning prayer every day - that all your sons learn Torah - is a condition for "Rav (Plentiful) Shalom to your sons" (Isaiah 54) so that we remember it every day, for the entire day.
Therefore, it is obligatory for each and every one of us to strive with all our might and use all possibilities to bring the whole nation back to repentance. That is why it is extremely important that each and every one donate a serious amount, in order to translate this information into different languages, and distribute this article, and other related articles around the world. The issue of men immersing is not a sensitive issue, and it is easy to talk about anywhere. Do not think you can ignore this, please think seriously, the problem is also yours, and that of each of us! Contribute as much as you can to this important issue!
Best of luck and every Milli Demeitav!
Donate by bank transfer to Bank Discount (11), branch 139, account: 139078691, in the name of: Emanuel Ravaad. or send by mail to the organization "Mikvah Tikvah", 20 Shemaya Street, Bnei Brak, 5132703.
Rosh Chodesh Adar 5783 - 22.02.2023