There is a sefer Ahavat Shalom by one of the Hasidim. In Parashat Vayakhel he says something fascinating. It’s slightly kabbalistic, but worthwhile. Hashem has many names.
The first one that He reveled to Moshe Rabbenu was
אהיה אשר אהיה
I will be that I will be.
God acts to us like we act to Him.
Some people won’t even pronounce this name, as with God’s other names.
There are many secrets to this name.
The Arizal says that if we spell out each letter of the name אהיה, Eh-yeh ( by a process called Milui) we get
Aleph, Heh, Yud, Heh
אלפ, הה, יוד,הה
The numerical value of these letters add up to 151.
This is the same numerical value as Mikveh
מקוה
A body of water that purifies.
He says that when the Jewish people gather together, it arouses this name of God, and they get a tremendous enlightening, equal to go into a Mikveh. The power of the Jewish people coming together in and of itself is like a Mikveh!
It’s interesting that on Yom Kippur, the Mishnah says,
“Rabbi Akiva says, Fortunate are the Jewish people, before Whom are you purifying, And Who purifies you? Your father in heaven. As it says, Hashem is the Mikveh of the Jewish people.”
Hashem’s name is the Mikveh.
Right before this, the Mishnah says that If you don’t get along with your friends, Yom Kippur cannot atone for those sins.”
In order to get the kapara of Yom Kippur, you have to be together with your friends. Because that is what brings the purity down. Purity comes down when we are together. The Jewish people, united, is a Mikveh. What Mikveh? The Mikveh of Hashem.
What an unbelievable concept! As we know, Yom Kippur is K’Purim/like Purim.
Why? One of the explanations is that Purim is the ultimate day of Ahavah.
We give Mishloach Manot, we give Matanot L’Evyonim, we are happy… this brings a Purity down.
It’s Yom K’Purim.. Purim is the higher level. Kippur is like Purim. But Purim is the ultimate Mikveh, because we have that Achdut/ unity.
I once heard something from the sefer Ahavat Shalom, which fits in beautifully with this week’s Parasha and Ahavat Yisrael. It’s a gift from Hashem: It says that the numerical value of the word Vayakhel/And they assembled, adds up to 151, the same amount as Mikveh, because when the Jewish people gather, that’s the Mikveh.
Mikveh means to gather. It’s a gathering of water. God gathered the waters together.
Moshe Rabbenu brought the Jewish people together, and that has the power of Mikveh. So the word Mikveh in itself means to come together. What an unbelievable thought!
So this is going to be like a Mikveh.
Right after this, it says Shabbat. This is one of the sources that you need to go to Mikveh before Shabbat. This is something many men do, because in order to bring down the beautiful kedusha, you need a Mikveh.
As the pasuk in tehilim says,
לב טהר ברא
Lev Tahor Bara… God should created a pure heart when the first letters of each word ל,ט,ב are scrambled, it spells טבל- Taval, dipping. You dip in the Mikveh, you unite with the Jewish people, and it creates a new heart.
These are unbelievable kabbalistic thoughts, but the bottom line is it means that when you gather yourself with the Jewish people, a light of God comes down upon you and brings a purification.
Furthermore ( for extra credit) the Kaf Hachaim says that the numerical value of אהיה Ehyeh is 21.
Hoshana Raba is the 21st day of Tishri. On that 21st day, this light comes out, which is the final purification of the Jewish people.
If the Gematria is too much, just think about this-
We are working on Ahavat Yisrael, which is like jumping into a Mikveh.
Rabbi Ades once taught us something about this:
Many years ago, on Lag B’Omer, we went straight from Meron to see Rabbi Ades. We got there right before the end of Lag B’Omer. We told him we went to Sfat, and to the Mikveh Arizal. And Rabbi Ades told us that if we want a Mikveh Arizal, every time you walk into your house and there are challenges, getting along with your wife, with your children, if they were hassles, and you are able to keep your composure, that is a Mikveh. Just like when you dive into the Mikveh Arizal and it’s ice cold, but you are ready for it and you get a thrill, because you were getting purified, so too, every time you walk into your house and you get along with your family, that is a Mikveh.
So let us appreciate the power of Vayakhel, the Mikveh, and also Shabbat…
It says on Shabbat, don’t light a fire- This means the fire of anger, because Shabbat is the day where we supposed to have the Mikveh, the purification of togetherness. Water symbolizes purity, not the fire of anger and dissension.
Have a Shabbat Shalom and a wonderful day.