17/07/2023
"Secrets of the Mikvah: Waters of Transformation" Rav Pinson
There is something magical about water. As an element, it both cleanses and quenches, floods and drowns. As a symbol, it implies a state of dream-like fluidity, as well as a sense of hidden depths. When scientists search for life on other planets, they first look for water — without water there is simply no possibility for life as we know it.
===
It is no coincidence that both the earth’s surface, and the structure of the human body, are comprised of around 70 percent water. This symmetry between the planet and the body explains why we are so drawn to oceans, rivers, lakes and springs. Natural bodies of water stir and stimulate the inner worlds and imaginations of children, sailors, mystics and poets alike. They are magnetic and mysterious, simultaneously beckoning and frightening, relaxing and even upsetting for some. Water is our primordial origin. It quietly calls us and all Creation back to the fountains of life deep beneath the surface of consciousness.
===
For the first 40 days of life, an embryo is called Mayim b'Alma / simply water. As a fetus in the womb, our life force is submerged and swims within a sea of warm amniotic waters. Only later, when the waters break, are we birthed onto ‘dry land’. This is similar to the Torah’s account of Creation. In the beginning, water covers all. Only later do the waters separate, allowing the earth to emerge as a distinct entity, like a tender child.
===
As water is within us, we yearn to be within it. Entering water can feel like coming home, sinking down into our subconscious mind, or perhaps even unifying with our inner essence.
===
Whether in constant motion or perfect stillness, each body of water elicits a unique response. Some waters awaken, while others soothe. Similarly, some people are overwhelmingly drawn to water, while others are inexplicably repulsed. The great 16th century Kabbalist known as the Arizal speaks of those whose root soul is connected to Hevel / Abel, that their being close to or immersed in water causes them to feel a heightened sense of love and aliveness. Those whose root soul is connected to Kayin / Cain, by contrast, are irrationally frightened by water, especially by the deeper and darker depths.
===
In either case, water is undeniably powerful and should therefore be connected to consciously. Towards this end the Torah contains a multitude of Mitzvos / Divine precepts and practices that put us into sacred contact with water. Primary among them is the practice of immersing in a Mikvah of water.
===
One of the most basic and powerful aspects of the Mikvah is its power to transform and realign one’s state of being. Accordingly, the Torah instructs us to go to the Mikvah when we are out of sync with ourselves, out of balance with our bodies, closed off from other people, shut down to the world, or just vibrating in an erratic pattern. All of these are symptoms or causes of Tumah / impurity, as will be explored. This experience of energetic imbalance is an invitation to immerse our misaligned body-mind, which is 70 percent water, into another larger body of water as a means to re-center, re-calibrate, and re-create a healthy equilibrium. Simply put, the Mikvah is Torah’s primary means to aid us in reclaiming our original state of spiritual and physical purity.
===
As we will learn throughout this text, Mikvah is essential for life, and its power pervades our journey on earth. A person is conceived and begins life after their mother immerses in a Mikvah. Similarly, at the end of their life a person returns to the Mikvah, with the Teharah / purification of the body before burial. In between, there are a multitude of needs and uses for the transformative waters of a Mikvah, as will be explored....
===
TO LEARN MORE, PLEASE SEE:
https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Secrets-of-the-Mikvah/dp/B0C9RZLFR4/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1579540850&sr=8-9
