Gathering Together; Tikvah

One of the themes brought up in the rally yesterday was Tikva in speeches and in song, commonly defined as hope or string or a line.

In the bracha of our Amidah for Mashiach; אֶת־צֶֽמַח דָּוִד, The sprout of David, we link his ability to flourish, and the exalting of his light with Hashem’s Salvation to having this “Hope”  in Hashem’s Yehushua, as it says:  כִּי לִישׁוּעָתְ֒ךָ קִוִּינוּ כָּל הַיּוֹם וּמְצַפִּים לִישׁוּעָה.

We find this word in many of our prayers, and in our Torah, sometimes articulated as “Kavei”, or “Kivisi”, or Kave etc..

I would like to understand what this word mean with more depth in order to practice this act of לִישׁוּעָתְ֒ךָ קִוִּינוּ כָּל הַיּוֹם as we say we do in our Tefillah.

The first time this word appears in Torah is in Bereishis, when the Torah states:

וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים יִקָּווּ הַמַּיִם מִתַּחַת הַשָּׁמַיִם אֶל־מָקוֹם אֶחָד וְתֵרָאֶה הַיַּבָּשָׁה וַיְהִי־כֵן, Hashem said, “Let the water below the sky be gathered into one area, that the dry land may appear.” And it was so.

The second time this word appears in the Torah is the verse that follows:

וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לַיַּבָּשָׁה אֶרֶץ וּלְמִקְוֵה הַמַּיִם קָרָא יַמִּים וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים כִּי־טוֹב, Hashem called the dry land Earth and called the gathering of waters Seas. And Hashem saw that this was good.

We now are introduced to another word with the same root word known as מִקְוֵה.

Rashi and Ibn Ezra state that the word יִקָּווּ means, gathering. ^[1] Rashi also says that the reason the second verse identifies the water as “waters” in plural is to teach us that the taste of fish which comes up from the sea at Acco is not the same as the taste of fish which comes up from the sea at Aspamia.^[2]

The Ibn Ezra states that the meaning of yikkavu is, יתחברו,   let them come together. ^[3]

He also mentions how this pasuk is actually related to a previous act of making the רָקִיעַ, the firmament as the firmament did not yet come into being until there was dry land.

The Mishna Yoma teaches us about Mikveh:  “The (Mikveh), the ritual bath of Israel is Hashem ” (Yeremiahu 17:13). Just as a ritual bath purifies the impure, so too, the Holy One, Blessed is He, purifies Israel. And we are taught by the Kav Hayashar that every Jew must have in mind to be a vessel to be prepared to receive the kedusha and taharah from the world; to receive the same light of Rachamim to merit Life (Chaim), Chesed, and for Klal Yisrael to not suffer any mishap and then Hashem should speedily take us out of darkness into light.

To sum up:

• The word Kivinu contains the idea of gathering, and connecting; the result of the gathering together is a Mikveh.

• The gathering of the waters includes ones that produce different tastes of fish coming from different bodies of water.

• To be a person that can access and connect/ unify/ gather Hashem’s Light, one must have in mind to be a vessel to receive Hashem’s Kedusha in the world, to activate the light of Rachamim for the  zechus of Chaim, Chesed and protection of Klal Yisrael suffering any mishap and for Hashem to speedily take us out of darkness into light.

Using this idea of Kivinu defined as gathered together, unified, friendship etc..  Yesterday we had an opportunity to experience a taste of Klal Yisrael coming together with a common goal.  A common goal of fulfilling the Mitzvah of : לֹא־תֵלֵךְ רָכִיל בְּעַמֶּיךָ לֹא תַעֲמֹד עַל־דַּם רֵעֶךָ אֲנִי יְהוָה, not standing against the blood of our fellow; when our brothers and sisters have been slaughtered and still held captive by our enemies.

It seems to me that when we as Klal Yisrael unify; Kieesh Echad B’lev Echad it is a process of purification; in which Hashem can sprinkle His Water to allow the completion of the firmament , meaning the water necessary to allow the seed of Mashiach to be expressed and flourish. This purification serves as a protection from the suffering of Klal Yisrael, and stirs the Light of Rachamim to shine on the Klal Yisrael, for us to come out of the darkness.

I think we can take the sense of Achdus, friendship as a nation; Am Yirael and to actually combining the different tasting fish, from the different seas and make into the greatest body of water to nourish the earth with Hashem’s Light, Hashem’s Purity to complete the process of Mashiach and the revelation of Hashem’s Unity.  We can also do this when learning Torah and finding ways to appreciate different approaches to Torah and unifying them.  We can have this in mind when joining a Chaburah.

We can also daven in such a way, connecting to all!

If we can find ways to take the sense we got yesterday, rising above all differences for the sense of responsibility of one to another Jew, as a gathering  together as one in our davening, for a rebuilt Yerushalayim, for the Name of Hashem in our Avodah it will help the revelation of Hashem’ Unity and I think this is what it means to practice לִישׁוּעָתְ֒ךָ קִוִּינוּ כָּל הַיּוֹם, for Your Salvation we gathered together as one, all day [relentlessly].

May the efforts of yesterday be lifted up to Hashem, The Only Power, the Only Source of salvation, for a speeding up of Hashem’s Revelation of His Unity in the world.

 

 

^[1] Rashi  states in his commentary on this verse how the water was spread upon the face of all the earth, and Hashem now gathered the waters together into a great body of water called an ocean, greater than all other bodies of water.

 

^[2]j Rashi based on Medrash Rabba on Bereishis, 1:9-10

^[3] He relates this to a pasuk in Yirmiyahu: בָּעֵת הַהִיא יִקְרְאוּ לִירוּשָׁלַ͏ִם כִּסֵּא יְהֹוָה וְנִקְווּ אֵלֶיהָ כׇל־הַגּוֹיִם לְשֵׁם יְהֹוָה לִירוּשָׁלָ͏ִם וְלֹא־יֵלְכוּ עוֹד אַחֲרֵי שְׁרִרוּת לִבָּם הָרָע, At that time, they shall call Jerusalem “Hashem’s Throne,” and all nations shall assemble there, in the name of Hashem, at Yerushalayim. They shall no longer follow the willfulness of their evil hearts.