The desire to have children is pretty well hardwired into the human psyche. It takes a lot to override that instinct. Can you imagine being so forlorn and lost that you negate the possibility to procreate? But we are there now, thanks to Trump Derangement.
After Election Day, Planned Parenthood reported a 760% increase in IUD appointments, and a 1200% increase in vasectomies. Laurie Pohutsky, a Democratic state representative from Michigan announced that she underwent a voluntary sterilization procedure as a result of the election. And, of course, transgender surgery also usually results in the inability to have children.
To permanently sterilize yourself is to abandon all hope for the future – because you don’t believe there is any point in bringing new life into the world. Only someone who is certain that there is no future worth living in will negate even the possibility to make babies.
By contrast, religions that celebrate life are religions that cling to hope – of a future that is better than the present (and certainly much better than the past). It is because of hope that people will invest in the future.
Religion is more than the name of a deity, or specific rituals. Faith speaks to our entire way of thinking, the way we select and assess inputs and the filters we apply when we make decisions. And the faith of liberals has sunk to such a depth of accumulated bat-guano that the only certainty they embrace is certain death with nothing to live for.
The hopeless TDS mental illness offers only hopelessness and despair, a death-spiral in every way. This is in sharp contrast to both traditional Christianity and Judaism. Indeed, it may well be that hope is the single most important defining characteristic of both religions: a belief that the future can and will be better (whether in this world or the next).
The Hebrew word for “hope” is kaveh, and it is part of the liturgy and even Modern Israeli nationalism (cities are named after hope, as is the national anthem). But in the Torah, the word is not generally used this way.
Instead, kaveh and its essence, mikveh, are more elemental, because the word is intimately connected to the basic precursor of life: water. Here are the verses:
God said, “Let the water below the sky be gathered (kaveh) into one area, that the dry land may appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth and called the gathering (mikveh) of waters Seas. And God saw that this was good. (Gen. 1:9-10)
I hope (kaveh) for Your deliverance, O G-d! (Gen. 49:18) [this is a foreshadowing of the splitting of the sea, as discussed here]
And G-d said to Moses, “Say to Aaron: Take your rod and hold out your arm over the waters of Egypt—its rivers, its canals, its ponds, all its gatherings (mikveh) of water—that they may turn to blood; there shall be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and stone.” (Ex. 7:19)
These verses show that this word, that we today think of as meaning “hope,” actually refers to the very first steps toward creating and nurturing life. Gathering the waters allowed dry land – and life – to appear. Ground water similarly was the only source of critical water in Egypt.
And the last use of this word in the text is found discussing spiritual life and growth in addition to physical life.
However, a spring or cistern (mikveh) in which water is collected shall be pure [capable of elevation]. (Lev. 11:36)
The arc of this word is complete. The word for “Hope” is the building block around which G-d creates the world – he pools the waters. Removing the impediment allows life to proceed.
In Egypt, the same kaveh sustains life. People need to drink, after all.
But the grand story arc in the Torah is mostly about our states of mind. Spiritually, it is kaveh, hope, that allows the people to procreate despite the oppression of slavery in Egypt, because we anticipate deliverance.
And lastly, the spiritual meaning of a mikveh is that we use it to reset ourselves, to wash away the past and stride once more into the future. It is the mikveh, the essence of hope, that makes it possible for us to elevate ourselves toward holy and productive relationships with each other and with G-d.
This word – this very concept – are integral to any society that thrills at the opportunity to delight in their grandchildren.