HEBREW LETTERS
THE ALEPH BEIT – אב
The Aleph Beit was already in use at the time of King Solomon, about 3000 years ago.
The English word alphabet is derived from the Hebrew, Aleph Beit, אב, the first two letters.
Each of the twenty-two Hebrew letters has a form, a name and a number.
There are no vowels in the Herew alphabet, the Aleph Beit אב
When referring to the deeper meaning of each Hebrew letter we refer to them as autiot – ותיותא
Kabballah informs us that the entire cosmos was created from the 22 consonants of the autiot.
There are an infinite number of possible combinations of 22 Hebrew letters. (Mathematically expressed as 22!)
We know from modern astrophysicists that the cosmos is infinite, and continues to expand and create at a rate faster than the speed of light, and cannot be measured.
The autiot are seen as “signs” that point to deeper spiritual meanings and divine truths.
From the ספר יצירה (Sefer Yetzirah), The Book of Creation, attributed to Abraham and translated by Areah Kaplan in modern times, we learn that the autiot are manifestations of Divine patterns of energy.
The ancient Kabbalists’ declared,
“Twenty-two foundation letters: He ordained them. He hewed them. He combined them. He weighed them. He interchanged them. And He created with them the whole creation and everything to be created the future”.
א
The first letter, Aleph, 1
Sound:
Aleph is the only Hebrew letter that has no sound in a word.
Yet, from Aleph arises the entire Aleph Beit of sound and meaning.
Form:
The diagonal line in Aleph connects and unifies God, the hand that gives life, with humanity, the hand that
receives life. A Yod י above the diagonal, and a Yod י below the diagonal.
Worlds:
Aleph connects the energy of the nonphysical world, Keter, with the energy of the physical world, Malkut.
Aleph is the ultimate beginning.
Soul:
The soul is represented by the Yod י above the diagonal in Aleph א
Divinity:
Aleph represents man as created in the image of God. We are the Ultimate All from the Ultimate No-thing.
0 to 1
ב
The second letter, Bet, 2
Beit is God’s dwelling place in Malkut.
Beit signifies number 2, duality, male and female, spiritual and physical souls, and home, Bayit – בית dwelling place.
It is also the first word in the Torah, B’rashith בראשית.
Throughout our existence in physicality, we live in dwelling places. We begin in the womb. Our souls reside in the fetus. We exit the womb to begin our journey in the earth, Malkut.
Form:
Beit, ב is composed of three connected Vavs, ו in a square shape but open only on the left, the way forward.
Our sages teach us that the shape, as the first letter of the first word in the Torah signifies that
we cannot know the beginning!
Worlds:
Beit, ב is a feminine energy and represents Gevurah in the Tree of Life. Gevurah imbues us with the power to restrain from the desire for selfish behavior.
Soul:
The open end of Beit, ב also signifies the soul’s journey to find completion. Upon completion, the open side of Beit, ב will be closed with a fourth vav, ו.
Divinity:
We are in the 6th millennial.
All will be revealed in the seventh Millennial. It will be a time of universal peace, spiritual enlightenment,
and
the return of all Jews to Israel.
The Mashiach is a time, an epoch,
not a person,
not a messiah.
Not Rabbi Joshua, Jesus.
Clearly, we are not close to the seventh Millennial.
We do not know when the Messianic age will arrive.
The third letter, Gimmel, 3
The letter Gimmel ג is derived from the word gimel, giving.
Form:
Gimel, ג is composed of two shapes, a vav, ו representing the leg, and a Yod ׳, the foot of a man running.
Our sages teach us that the shape signifies a rich man running to assist a poor man.
In the Torah, Gimel is drawn with a third shape and three crowns called “tagin”.
The third shape and the tagin represent the highest levels of God’s presence and the depth of Torah. God told Moses that the meaning would be revealed to Rabbi Akiva, who lived in the first century.
Rabbi Akiva was executed by the Romans before he revealed the meaning.
From the word “crowns” we can deduce that the third shape and the tagin refer to the first three sephirot, Keter, Chockmah and Binah.
Worlds:
Gimel, ג is a masculine energy and represents Chokmah in the Tree of Life. Chokmah imbues us with the desire to nurture, to assist and to give to others who may be less fortunate.
Soul:
Gimel, ג, the act of nurturing another is intended to assist the receiver in establishing independence.
“Bestow kindness on your servant, I shall live”. King David, Psalm 119.
ד
The fourth letter, Dalet, 4
The letter Dalet, ד is a door or doorway to the soul. Dalet represents the selflessness of the soul.
Form:
Dalet, ד is a right-angle form. Physically, Dalet representing the ego of man, vav, ו, bent over, in supplication to his soul.
Worlds:
In the level of worlds, Dalet represents the conscious effort to nullify ones ego and ones pysicality in order to understand that we exist as “Something from Nothing”. We contiue to exist as a soul, as a spark from God.
Soul:
We contiue to exist as a souls, as sparks from God. Each physical existance is a miniscule moment in time. In the kabbahlistic tradition, we are required to be willing to sacrifice our lives in phyisicality for our people.
Divinity:
In Kabbalah, Judaic souls are merged with God in absolute selflessness, referred to as the Collective Consciousness.
ה
The fifth letter, Heh, 5
The fifth Hebrew letter Heh (ה), is pronounced like the English ‘h’.
Heh (ה) represents thought, speech and action.
The number five, symbolizes;
five fingers, five senses and the five levels of the soul.
Form:
Heh (ה) is formed by a Dalet ד and a Vav, ו.
Worlds:
Heh ה represents the five levels of the soul.
In descending order:
Yichida, יחידה the original emanator, God.
Neshama נשמה the intellect, wisdom and understanding
Hayah, חיה the emotions.
Ruach, רוח the etheric soul.
Nefesh, נפש action in physicality.
Soul:
Each of the five worlds is a complete Tree of Life, each one a soul level. One above the other.
Yichida, יחידה is the first and the highest level of the soul. It represents the original emanator,
God, the Creator,
and transcends everything that is.
Yichida, יחידה is described as being
“The spark from God above”
The sages inform us that there are
10 Tree of Life layers, one above the other, each tree comprising 10 Sephirot. This is extraordinarily complex
and beyond the understanding of man’s intellect.
The multi levels of the soul, as represented by the layers of the Trees of Life are receptacles.
Yichida, יחידה is the Emanator, the spark.
Divinity:
The Torah comprises the 5 books of Moses. The Torah is the explicit expression of God’s will for the
Judaic people.
The Torah is Light in the darkness. The word Light appears 5 times in the Torah, on the first day of creation.
The Judaic purpose in physicality is to find Light through the actions of righteousness.
The Judaic mission is to be “a light unto the nations”.
אור לגוים