By Marco Del Monte
The Mikveh of the World and the Hope that Floats In Creation, we speak of “Mikveh Hamayim — Collection of waters”. The word mikveh (collection of waters) shares the same root as tikvah (hope). Waters gather to create life, and hope gathers in the heart to create a future.
Just as water quenches the body, hope quenches the soul: it is what keeps us alive even when everything seems arid. The Mikveh, the ritual bath, purifies us by plunging us into the origin of life and of the world. The state of impurity of one who comes into contact with death dissolves in the clarity of the water; and so, too, he who experiences the death of the soul — the thought of not being able to make it — needs to immerse himself in Tikvah, that which purifies from fear and restores trust. Hope is not an illusion: it is the certainty that life can be reborn once more. The word *Maamin* ("I believe") shares the same root as *Amen* ("so be it"), as if to say: "if I truly believe it, so it will be". It is no coincidence that the chant rising from the past towards the final vision of the future is *Ani Maamin*, the chant of those who have defeated the death of the world. And who knows, perhaps it is no coincidence that the Israeli anthem is called "HaTikvah" – Hope, that song of the people who have crossed all the floods of history and still float, bearing life and faith. But let us return to Noach. At the time of the Flood, the entire world became a Mikveh: the waters enveloped the earth as in a great immersion of purification. Forty days of rain, like the forty *se'ah* — the measure of a kosher Mikveh — a precise measure in time and space, so that the impurity of the world could dissolve and Creation could be reborn, just as one is reborn upon emerging from the basin of the Mikveh. Thus one also understands the profound bond between microcosm and macrocosm, Man-World. The mystical book *Shiur Komah* speaks of the "measure of the Divine body": not in a physical sense, but as a symbol of the bond between the limbs of the universe and the manifestation of the Divine. In this sense, man is *olam katan*, a small world, and the world is *adam gadol*, a large man. The same *middot* — the same energies that flow through the human body — flow through Creation, and peace is the harmonious circulation of this vitality. In the midst of that total purification, a single thing does not sink: the *Tevah* of Noach, the Ark. The term *Tevah* in Hebrew also means "word". It does not need to be submerged to be pure: it is already built according to Divine measures, it glides over the waters and becomes the place that safeguards life. It is the eternal lesson: the world is purified, but hope never sinks. Chassidut teaches us to read "Bo el hatevah" – "Enter the Ark" – as "Enter the Word", referring to *tefillah* and, more generally, to the powerful action of dialogue with Hashem. The words of the Torah, of prayer, and of daily conversation with the Creator become our spiritual Ark: they protect us from the flood of noises, fears, and destructive thoughts that threaten to overwhelm the soul. Also the phrase "Tzoar Taasè Latevah", not read as: "You shall make a skylight for the ark", but *Tzoar* read as "Illumination", or rather You shall illuminate the word, a practice used in mystical meditations, but also read as "the word is illuminating". The Chachamim explain: The secret of study is to study out loud. Many psychologists also speak of the relationship of fortifying thought through the word (cf. the book language and thought). In this context, the Torah also reveals to us the secret of the verse from Psalms: "He'emanti ki adaber" – "I believed, because I will speak". In other words: "I realised (*Emanti* – Amen) because I spoke". Believing is not just thinking: it is speaking, giving voice to faith. There is an indissoluble relationship between language and creation: the word itself builds reality; the term so frequently used in cartoons, "Abracadabra", is to be read as "HAbarà KeDaberà – He created when He spoke"... And G-d said, let there be light, and there was light. Through words, therefore, we define our existence. When we speak with Hashem, as the Chassidim teach in *Hitbodedut* — solitary conversation with the Creator — we change not only ourselves, but also the world around us. Every word of faith is a drop of water feeding the great sea of universal hope. Just as the waters of every spring eventually flow into the sea, so every prayer, every sincere search, every act of goodness leads to the Mikveh, to the Tikvah, to the common hope that regenerates humanity. Hope is the inner sea where all souls meet without being annulled, like waves of the same ocean reflecting the light of Heaven. And in every generation, the Ark of the word continues to float, reminding us that speaking with faith is building the future — *He'emanti ki adaber*.
Shabbat Shalom
Translated from the Italian with Google Gemini. The Italian text is the original.