A British Jew, a prominent intellectual, is informed that he will be knighted. The queen’s officials prepare him and other knights-to-be for the ceremony. He is informed that when he stands before the queen, he is to recite certain Latin words just before being knighted.

On the day of the ceremony, the man is very nervous, and when he approaches the queen, he forgets the Latin words. Seconds tick by. Finally, the only non-English words he can access pour forth: “Mah nishtanah ha-layla hazeh mi-col ha-laylot!” The queen, confused, turns to her officer and asks, “Why is this knight different from all other knights?”[1]

* * *

Parshas Tzav: ‘Mem’ Stands For Moshiach

“Command Aaron and his sons, and tell them, this is the Torah of the olah sacrifice. This is the olah upon the flame, upon the altar. All night shall it burn until the morning.”[2]

The letter Mem in the word mokdah, “flame”, is small. The Rebbe Menachem Mendel of Kotzk explains that this small Mem means that the fire of Torah-study must be kept within the heart of the student and not shown outwardly.[3] In other words, be humble; don’t make a demonstration of your learning.

Two questions come to mind regarding the explanation above:

1.) What is the connection between the letter Mem and the study of Torah?

2.) In this generation, many of us have not had the opportunity to study Torah in depth–we may not have had an experience of the “fire of Torah-study”. How is the Kotzker’s teaching applicable to us, and what spiritual encouragement can we derive from the small Mem of mokdah?

LETTER MEM
Design: There are two kinds of Mem. The common Mem has an open shape: . This hints at the openly revealed teachings of Torah, the ‘body’ of the Torah. The ‘final Mem’, found at the end of a word, has a closed shape: . This hints at the secret teachings of the Torah, the ‘soul’ of the Torah–the teachings of Kabalah and Chassidus.[4]

Gematria: Mem = 40, alluding to ‘the Torah that was given in forty days’.[5]

Meaning: Mem means mayim, ‘water’. As the Talmud explains, “The only real water is Torah.”

THE SMALL MEM
Keeping in mind this connection between the letter Mem and Torah, we could interpret a small Mem to mean ‘one who studies little Torah’. A person might think that since they’re involved in business and they have little time for Torah study, they might as well not study at all. Therefore, the Torah inserts a small Mem to teach us that even if a person studies Torah for a few moments, G-d considers it as if he is bringing a sacrifice to the altar and this sacrifice will burn all night until the morning. Even a few minutes of Torah each day will help sustain us during the ‘night’ of this difficult exile until the morning star, the coming of the Moshiach.

MEM AND PASSOVER
During an ordinary year, the portion of Tzav is read on the Shabbos before Passover.[6] The Shelah haKadosh says that when a holy day falls on the week of a certain Torah portion, there must be a connection. What’s the connection between the Mem and Passover?

The letter Mem is prevalent around this holy day. At the Seders, we sing the Mah Nishtanah, we eat matzah and maror; we recall how Moshe took the Jews out of Mitzrayim [7] after the ten makos; we might contemplate Miriam’s prophetic Song of the Sea.[8]

OPEN OR CLOSED
Mem has additional meanings: the open Mem represents exile; the closed, ‘final’ Mem represents the end of days and the final Redemption, as demonstrated in the following passages. The prophet Nechemiah states, “The walls of Jerusalem–they are breached.”[9] In this passage, the word heim, ‘they are’, is unique to the entire Tanach,[10] in that it ends with an open Mem. This Mem draws our attention to the breaching of our holy walls–the concept of exile. A similar anomaly occurs in the Book of Isaiah: “To increase the rulership and the peace…”[11] Here, in the word l’marbeh, ‘to increase’, is the only place in Tanach where there is a closed Mem before the end of a word. This Mem draws our attention to the increasing influence of Divine kingship and peace, the concept of Redemption.

Furthermore, the closed Mem alludes to the fact that the whole world will be encompassed by the Spirit of G-d, and the Mem, which has been breached, will be repaired. The mission of humanity is to close any gaps where G-dliness may be missing in each of the four corners of the world.[12] Jews accomplish this by learning and living G-d’s Torah, while Noahides accomplish this by fulfilling the seven laws of Noah and giving charity. Maimonides says in his final legal teaching: “The preoccupation of the entire world will be to know G-d… The entire world will be filled with the knowledge of G-d, as the waters cover the sea bed.”[13] These are the waters of Torah.

When this is accomplished, then the small Mem in ‘mokdah‘ will expand into the Mem of Moshiach.

MEAL OF MOSHIACH
During the Passover Seder, we fill four cups of wine. In the late afternoon of the last day of the week of Passover, we fill four cups of wine as well. This final meal is called “the Meal of the Moshiach”, a feast instituted by the Baal Shem Tov. With the four cups of the Seder we fill any gaps, any lack of G-dliness, in the four corners of the world. During the Meal of the Moshiach, we celebrate the completion of this task, the closed Mem of the Final Redemption.[14]

A STORY [15]
The Chidushei Harim, Rabbi Yitzchak Meir of Ger, quoted the tzaddik and Vizier of Granada, Shmuel HaNagid (993-1056 CE): “When the Moshiach comes to redeem the Jewish people, they will greet him with a bottle of strong whiskey, implying that we, the Jewish people, overcame all the hardships of exile by drinking an intoxicant.”

“However,” commented the Chidushei Harim, “I believe that they will greet Moshiach with a Rebbe, showing that it was through his love, fortitude, and persistence that we were able to overcome all the difficulties of the birth pangs of Moshiach.”

ACTION: Visualize for a moment the gap in the open Mem () becoming closed (). At the Seder, as you drink each of the four cups of wine, repeat this visualization.

FOOTNOTES
[1] Based on a selection from Jewish Humor by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin
[2] Leviticus, 6:2
[3] Iturei Torah on the above verse
[4] In our days however, it is a mitzvah to reveal the concealed Torah.
[5] The Zohar says that the word terumah, ‘tithe’, can be read as two words: ‘Torah-Mem‘
[6] And within a month of Passover on a leap-year.
[7] “Mitzrayim” may be broken up into two words: meitzar and yam. Meitzar, which means limitation and constraint, begins with an open Mem, representing exile. Yam, ending with a closed Mem, means sea. When the Jews left Egypt–maytzar and passed through the Sea of Reeds–the yam, they knew they were redeemed.
[8] See Sefer HaSichos 5749, p. 332-333.
[9] Nechemiah, 2:13
[10] TaNaCh is an acronym for Torah, Neviim (Prophets), and Chesuvim (Writings)
[11] Isaiah, 9:7
[12] See Letters of Light, Chapter on letter Beis.
[13] Each of the last three words of this verse end with a closed Mem, indicating the concept of Redemption.
[14] Sefer HaMaamarim Meluket, Vol. 3, “Vahechrim 5749“, footnote 18.
[15] From Si’ach Sarfei Kodesh, quoted in U’Mayvi Go’el, p. 261.