Mem

Redemption

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.