Create an Opening

Noah is told how to build the ark, Tzo-har ta-ah-seh la-tei-vah. Put a window in the ark, an instruction about a specific thing a long time ago. What does this have to do with us? What is the ongoing relationship we have with the ark and window?

The Baal Shem Tov re-imagines (permission comes from "lo bashamayim hi") these two words - tzohar and teivah. Tzohar not only means window, but an illumination, a spark, a radiance, a transformative liminal moment, a transition from dark to light (y'hi ohr). And tevah is not only an ark, but also a "word" (in Rabbinic Hebrew,) and also the letters themselves. These letters are sparks, the building blocks of creation (see the word "et" and "vayomer" above.) So the story is not only about arks and windows, but also about sparks, words and letters that in combination re-enact every moment as a moment of creation. A liminal window is always being opened to let our innermost being, our ecstatic outpouring of devotion, and the letters of our lives ascend. We go from darkness in the world, the world of the flood, to light.
The Baal Shem Tov teaches:
When you focus all your intention on the power of the words you may begin to see the sparks of light that shine within them. The sacred letters of your heart are the chambers into which the Divine pours flowing light. The lights within each letter ignite one another, and new lights within and without are born.
The Maggid of Mezeritch teaches:
The purpose of prayer is to uplift the words, to return them to their source above (a recycling). The world was created by the downward flow of letters. Our task is to form those letters into words and lift them up to their source. If you come to know this dual process your words may be joined to the constant ongoing flow of creation - word to word, breath to breath, thought to thought. The Divine spring is ever flowing: make yourself into a channel to receive the waters from above.
Rabbi Pinchas of Koretz teaches:
People think they pray to the Divine One. But this is not the case. For prayer itself is of the essence of Divinity.
Sources:
The Ba'al Shem Tov teaches, Keter Shem Tov, 47b,
The Maggid of Mezeritch teaches, Or Torah, pages 58b-59a
Rabbi Pinchas of Koretz teaches, Imre Pinchas, page 40
"ET" (Genesis 1:1) comprises the entire alphabet, aleph through tav. See parallel to "I am the Alpha and the Omega." Zohar, Pritzker Edition, volume 1, 1:50b note 1325 and in other places.