What Does the Letter Mem Tell Us According to the Torah and Kabbalah?

The letter Mem is composed of the letters Kaf and Vav, placed side by side.

The previous letter, Lamed, was made by a Vav "riding" on a Kaf, as we have seen. The letter Mem combines these two elements, but when harmony exists between them, one is not riding on the other. Rather, they are arranged like a train, following one another.

The meaning of the letter Kaf, as we have seen, is creating a pattern, bending material into form, and the meaning of the letter Vav is knowledge. Therefore, while the letter Lamed means learning, the connection between knowledge and action, the meaning of the letter Mem is the stage after there is already harmony between the plan and the action – the stage of creating the essence.

The Gemara in Tractate Shabbat describes the letter Mem in the word 'Memar'. A *memar* is not parallel to speech; it is the unfolding of will into reality. The world was created with ten *memarot*, ten plans ('And Haman said in his heart'. The saying in the heart is sometimes more significant than speech with the mouth; it is the plan, where the planner "concludes the saying"). A *memar* of Hashem is not a theoretical "plan"; it is what brings about execution, creating essence.

The meaning of "memar" is translating an idea into a formula, into words. When Hashem said "Let there be light", He determined the form of reality, and so forth.

The question word "what" pertains to essence, what it is, whether on the practical level when a person does not understand what he sees, or on a conceptual level. What is happening here? What is the "memar" being fulfilled here?

The first word in the Torah that starts with Mem is "mayim" (water), and indeed, water is the most direct representation of essence. When a person sees an object, he must inquire about it, see and check what it is made of, whether it is fragile, how much it weighs. But water has the attribute of transparency, in two senses. They are shapeless and have very stable properties. They are substance whose essence and form are one, and they are also the essence of existence itself – there is no existence of the world or life without the water flowing within the Earth, within our bodies, within plants, and within our food. Hence, the name of the letter Mem is taken from the word *mayim* (the ancient form of the letter Mem is preserved in the alphabet, M. This shape describes the waves of water). When something loses its form, it is expressed by the letter Mem – dissipates, melts, necrosis, *hamarmer*.

Not only the question "what" expresses the essence, but also the combinations of the function letters in Beit, Kaf, Lamed, Mem express wonder about the essence: In what? How much? Why? Within what, as what, and what is the reason (study).

Water is called in the plural because they are shapeless; they are always many, and no drop stands alone. Therefore, the letter Mem always denotes being part of a whole, part of the many. I took "from the fruit of the Earth", taking part of the general whole. The generalization "many" is always the product of some plan, some human "memar". All the fruits of the earth are unified by man's ownership of his property and his custom to harvest the fruits and use them. At the beginning of a word, the Mem is associated with a plan, it points to a part from... whereas at the end of a word it relates the word to the many: One house becomes "houses" – a group of houses belonging to one plan, one city, one owner, one street.

The numerical value of the letter Mem is forty, because the world is composed of ten fundamental *memarot*, multiplied by the four worlds: Emanation, Creation, Formation, and Action, representing the four stages of creation. That is why we also find in every new creation, characterized by the number forty, such as the formation of an embryo in forty days, Moshe's stay on Mount Sinai for forty days and nights, the creation of a new generation in the desert over forty years, as well as standing on the understanding of one's teacher for forty years, and the land resting for forty years.

As we will see with Hashem's help later, the meaning of the letter Shin is series, many details linked together (named after the teeth), and thus the meaning of the word "name", for example, is the connection between this living being and the general world plan, its place and role. And of course this applies to human beings or objects as well. The name "plate" expresses the function of the plate for human beings.

Whereas the meaning of the word "rain" is an object whose plan disconnects from its reality: Gimmel – to mature, disconnect from the growth source. The rain changes its form and its name, sea water becomes vapor, vapor becomes clouds, and clouds turn into rain or snow. Not only the name changes, but the essence and state change. Such a change of state and essence is "realization", turning a dream into reality, turning something spiritual into physical. The name and state of the idea change from being abstract to becoming real and tangible.

The mother is the first source of life. Alef is the beginning, and Mem is the essence. The essence of us all begins with our birth from our mother's womb. And humans in general come from "Mother Earth". The conditional word "if" leans on one side, as if, the start of realizing the idea or deal: if the condition is fulfilled - the deal will be born, the idea will be realized. If not, it will not be created or born.

The connection between the letter Lamed and the letter Mem, as we have seen, is logical order. Lamed is the planning of connecting knowledge with reality, and Mem is the execution; it is the actual birth. But what happens when their order is reversed? We encounter this in the word "melech" (king). The king is just a human being born of a woman, but he transforms into an independent power. He turns back and rules over creation, everything around him, even over his parents. He reverses the natural order and ostensibly rules over what created him. From this comes "malach" (angel), an emissary, representing the king.

The letter Resh symbolizes shattering, separation, and fragmentation, and hence the combination "mar" is rebel against the natural order of forces: a stubborn and rebellious son, rebellion. Authority – is the imposition of force over the natural order that should be, subduing the rebellion.