Mem (Framed 12×16)

Mem, the thirteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet has the numeric value of forty. There were forty days of the flood, forty seah is the minimum quantity of water required for a kosher mikveh, forty days of Israel waiting for Moses to descend with the Torah, forty years of wandering in the Desert, and forty cubits – the height of the entrance to the Sanctuary of the Temple. The Sages teach that this entrance represents G-d’s message to the Jewish People: “Open to Me an opening as the point of a needle, and I will open to you an opening as wide as the great entrance to the Temple Hall.

Mem stems from the word Mayim (water), and the letter’s form symbolizes a flowing stream. The closed, final Mem represents an underground spring. The final Mem represents Moshiach, the final redemption.