What is a Mikvah? [Spelled in hebrew Mem, Kuf, Vav, Heh]

The Hebrew word “Mikvah” means a “pool” or gathering of water. The one place where the Torah specifically mentions Mikvah is in the verse (Leviticus 11:36), “Only a spring and a pit, a gathering of water, shall be clean”.

The Mikvah for the following purposes:

1. The most common use is for the purification of a woman after her monthly period.

2. Conversion of a non-Jew into a Jew.

3. Immersion of pots, dishes and other eating utensils.

There are many laws and details related to each of these applications, but behind them are a great deal of depth and meaning to the mystery of the Mikvah.

The sefer (book) “Waters of Eden” by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan (Zt’l) is a profound and amazing work that explains the source and esoteric reasoning behind the Mikvah. The following passages come from pages 72-73.

As Rabbi Kaplan (Zt’l), explains:

“Mikvah entails two basic concepts, namely water and the number forty. Both of these concepts are contained in a single letter, namely, the Hebrew letter Mem. The letter Mem derives its name from Mayim, the Hebrew word for water. Furthermore, the numerical value of the letter Mem is forty (In Judaism every Hebrew letter has a numerical value; Hebrew words and their numerical values are a significant part of their meaning).

“Therefore, it is not very surprising to learn that the letter Mem is also said to represent the Mikvah. [Zohar 2:159b] (Grammatically, the Hebrew word ‘Mayim’ [water] is literally the plural of the plain letter Mem).

“Another concept that we find associated with the letter Mem is that of a womb. [Sefer Yetzira 3:4]

“The closer, (end or final) Mem is the womb closed during pregancy, while the open Mem is the open womb giving birth. [Bahir 84]

“The numerical value forty, associated with Mem, then also represents the 40 days during which the embryo is formed.

“In order to understand the meaning of this letter on a deeper level and see how it related to Mikvah, we must delve into a most interesting Midrash (Beraishis Raba 81:2). The Prophet says, (Jeremiah 10:10) ‘The Lord, G-D, is Truth (Emes).’ The Midrash then gives the following explanation:

What is G-D’s seal? Our Rabbi said in the name of Rabbi Reuven,’G-D’s seal is Truth’. Reish Lakish asked, ‘Why is Emes the Hebrew word for truth’? He replied, ‘Because it is spelled Aleph Mem Tav. Aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Mem is the middle letter, and Tav is the last letter of the alphabet. God, this says (Isaiah 44:6), ‘I am first, and I am last’

“From this, we see that the letter Mem has a most interesting property. Aleph, the first letter of the alphabet, represents the beginning. Tav, the last letter, represents the end. Mem is the letter that represents transition.

“We see this most clearly in the word Emes itself. The first two letters, Aleph Mem, spelled out Em [Pronounced Aim], the Hebrew word for mother. This is the beginning of man. The last two letters Mem Tav, spell out Mes, the Hebrew word for death, the end of man [in a physical sense].

“Most important here, Mem represents the concept of transition and change. Aleph is the past, and Tav is the future, so Mem represents the transition from past to future. As such it is this instant that we call present.

“The past is history and cannot be changed. We have no way of even touching the future. Therefore, the arena of action, where all change takes place, is the present. Symbolic of water, the essence of change as well as the number forty, the essence of birth, the letter Mem also represents the present – the transition between past and future – which is the arena for all change.

“On a deeper level, the transition from past to future also represents an aspect of birth. Indeed, one word for “future” in Hebrew is HaNolad [Avos 2:9], which literally means, “that which is being born”. The womb in which the future is born is the present. This is the letter Mem.

“Thus, when a person enters the Mikvah, he is actually entering the concept of the ultimate present. Past and future cease to exist for him. What he was in the past no longer counts. Even the forty days of formation are no longer an expanse of time, but a volume of water – forty Sa’ah. [The measurement of natural waters is one of the requirements for a Kosher Mikvah]

“Then when he emerges from the Mikvah, he reenters the stream of time as if he were a new being”.

May we be blessed to live fully in the present, and may this learning and the mitzvos of Tzedaka and Mikvah herald a change for Mom and transition from sickness to health!