The Five Doubled Letters and the Hidden Sign of Redemption

Rabbi Eliezer says: Five letters were doubled [the five Hebrew letters that take a final form], and all of them carry the language of redemption. Kaf doubled (the open and the final kaf), for our father Abraham was redeemed from Ur of the Chaldeans, as it is said, "Go forth (lekh lekha) from your land" (Genesis 12:1). Mem doubled, for through it our father Isaac was redeemed from the hand of the Philistines, as it is said, "Go from us (lekh me-immanu), for you have become far mightier than we" (Genesis 26:16). Nun doubled, for through it our father Jacob was redeemed from the hand of Esau, as it is said, "Deliver me, I pray (hatzileni na), from the hand of my brother" (Genesis 32:12). Pe doubled, for through it Israel was redeemed from Egypt, as it is said, "I have surely remembered (pakod pakadti)" (Exodus 3:16). Tzadi doubled, for through it the Holy One, blessed be He, is destined to redeem Israel at the end of the fourth kingdom, as it is said, "Behold, a man whose name is Branch (Tzemach), and he shall branch out from beneath him" (Zechariah 6:12). And all of them were handed down to our father Abraham, and he handed them to Isaac, and Isaac to Jacob, and Jacob to Joseph, and Joseph to his brothers, for he said to them, "God will surely remember (pakod yifkod) you" (Genesis 50:24). And Asher son of Jacob handed the secret of redemption to Serah his daughter. When Moses and Aaron came to the elders of Israel and performed signs before their eyes, the elders of Israel went to Serah daughter of Asher and said to her, "A certain man has come and performed such-and-such signs before our eyes." She said to them, "There is nothing of substance in these signs." They said to her, "But he said, 'I have surely remembered (pakod pakadti) you.'" She said to them, "He is the man who has come to redeem Israel, for thus I heard from my father: pe-pe [the doubled pe of pakod pakadti]." Immediately, "the people believed" (Exodus 4:31).