Parashat Ha'azinu #2 - Enlarged Letter Hey (ה)

בס''ד


The letter Hey of Ha-le-Ad@nai in parashat Ha'azinu, Devarim/Deuteronomy 32:6 is a standard letter written enlarged according to Midrash Rabbah Aqim. This parasha is almost always read on Shabbat Shuvah, during the Ten Days of Repentance, and it is taught that Hey represents repentance. Why?

הַ לְיְהוָה, תִּגְמְלוּ-זֹאת-- עַם נָבָל, וְלֹא חָכָם: הֲלוֹא-הוּא אָבִיךָ קָּנֶךָ, הוּא עָשְׂךָ וַיְכֹנְנֶךָ.
Is this how you repay Ad@nai, O foolish and unwise people? Isn't He your Father who has gotten you? Hasn't He made you and established you?

This Hey is also special in that it's not just the prefix of the definite article ("the"), as the letter Hey at the beginning of a word can be, but it's to be treated as a separate word and therefore should be spaced (Talmud Yerushalmi Megilah 1)

The Ba'al Ha-Turim teaches that this Hey is an indictment against Am Yisra'el, the Jewish People, being so ungrateful to G@d. He had generously gifted us with the original self-help book (Torah), not for His sake but for the sake of our own self-improvement and growth through service. Our Sages taught that the Torah was given to us only to purify the people. The enlarged Hey is referring to the five books of the Torah, as Hey has a gematria of 5.

This Hey also balances out the diminished Hey which can be found in parashat Be-reshit Be-reshit/Genesis 2:4. This pasuq/verse reads:

אֵלֶּה תוֹלְדוֹת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהָאָרֶץ, בְּהִבָּרְאָם: בְּיוֹם, עֲשׂוֹת יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים--אֶרֶץ וְשָׁמָיִם.
These are the generations of the Heaven and the Earth, when they were created in the day that Ad@nai, G@d, made Earth and Heaven.

The letter Hey of בְּהִבָּרְאָם be-hibaram, "when they were created", is written smaller than all the other letters. So we have a small Hey at the very beginning of the Torah, and a large Hey at the end. And when we read from the end and then cycle back to the beginning again on Simchat Torah, we meet both Heys on the same day.

The world was created with the letter Hey. How do we know this? Because we can read be-hibaram, "when they were created", as be-HEY-baram, "with Hey He created them". These are the generations of the Heaven and the Earth, with Hey they were created.

We also know this by Hey's shape: it reeks of teshuvah, repentance. There are two ways we see this: The Gemara in Menachot 29b tells us that this world is like the letter Hey - very easy to fall out the bottom (sin). But G@d has left a little space which we can climb up to, and squeeze through, to "get back to the Garden". That is teshuvah.

Menachot 29b also teaches that this letter Hey is G@d's sacred breath - as in Tehilim/Psalms 33:6:

בִּדְבַר יְהוָה, שָׁמַיִם נַעֲשׂוּ; וּבְרוּחַ פִּיו, כָּל-צְבָאָם.
By the utterance of Ad@nai the heavens were made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.

What is the sound of Hey? Exhale. That's it. Just like G@d blowing this holy breath of spirit into humankind, speaking all of Creation into existence, the letter Hey shows us G@d's creative power.


The other way is this: Hey is in fact made up of two other letters - Dalet and Yud. Dalet (דלת = door) is the doorway to G@d, to teshuvah, while Yud (יד = hand) is our own will to transform ourselves and getting closer to G@d by pushing open that door...


Both Rashi and the Lubavitcher Rebbe indicate that there is a question and a response (teshuvah) here. The little Hey in Genesis requires and anticipates the large Hey in Deuteronomy. Also, as we accepted, then transgressed the Torah (again Hey, as there are five books to the Torah and the number for Hey is five), we were given an extra gift from G@d to fix everything with. Teshuvah.


This is a new thing in the Universe, the Fifth Element, if you will. Since G@d made Creation to have four elements, four directions, et cetera, Teshuvah is the "fifth dimension". It is with this tool that we repair our lives and the World around us. And it comes straight from G@d.

This enlarged Hey being five also shows us G@d's open hand (five fingers) open to receive our repentance and generously forgive.

We only have Ten Days between Rosh Ha-Shanah and Yom Kipur. Please, let's use it.


Copyright © A. Barclay

Shabbat Ha-Gadol - The Small Letter Mem in Parshat Tzav

BS"D


Parshat Tzav Sefer Va-Yiqra/Leviticus 6:2 reads:

צַו אֶת-אַהֲרֹן וְאֶת-בָּנָיו לֵאמֹר, זֹאת תּוֹרַת הָעֹלָה: הִוא הָעֹלָה עַל מוֹקְדָה עַל-הַמִּזְבֵּחַ כָּל-הַלַּיְלָה, עַד-הַבֹּקֶר, וְאֵשׁ הַמִּזְבֵּחַ, תּוּקַד בּוֹ.

Tzav et-Aharon v’et-banav leymod zot Torah ha’olah hi ha’olah al moqdah al-hamizbey’ach kal-halailah ad-haboqer v’eysh hamizbey’ach tuqad bo:

“Command Aharon and his sons, saying: This is the instruction for the offering-up - that is what rises up on the firewood on the altar all night, until daybreak, while the fire of the altar is kept blazing on it:”

In this pasuq/verse, the Torah tells us the sacrifice should remain on the altar all night. The word for firewood (or furnace), moqdah (מוֹקְדָה), is written in the Torah beginning with a small letter Mem.

This Mem teaches us that the fervor we must cultivate is not the open, flaming kind, but the white heat of the centre of the brand. The centre of the Earth.

Chasidut begs the question: “When does a person’s Torah study rise (olah- עֹלָה - to ascend or be offered up), to Heaven?
Answer: When it “burns upon the fire” - when the Torah is studied with a fiery enthusiasm.

However, the Mem of the word moqdah, is written smaller than the other letters. This teaches that the main part of the “flame” should remain within, and not draw attention to itself. ((Otzar Chayim))

Some people like to show off – they make sure they act very pious in front of others, to get attention, respect…whatever they are seeking from the public. This is false zeal, which isn’t about G@d, it’s about the ego – which means there is no service at all, these acts being completely hollow.

The Kotzker Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk (1787-1859), said,

“Do mitzvot in private & aveyras (sins) in public. Why? It‘s easy for a person to exhibit religious observance in public. Most people hide when sinning, because of shame. Solution? Sin in front of friends - it will reduce the number of sins. Serve G@d sincerely, and to insure sincerity, just to do it between yourself and G-d.”

He also said that emulating the small Mem teaches us to behave with intensely religious enthusiasm while fulfilling a Divine command. The kohanim (priests) ensuring the fire on the altar remained burning all night teaches us that concerted, firey focus on the One will see us through the darkest of times. and concealing it within us modestly so that the full extent of our love for the Creator is known only to us and the Holy One.

Just as a married couple does not display their whole relationship for all to see, so the most genuinely passionate firey service of Ha-Shem must be a focused effort. The Mem is small because it has been concentrated, like a diamond. Like the heart.

There also may be a hint that this Mem is written small because it burned upon the small, gold altar in the Temple. That altar represents the human heart.
Don’t forget that under the charcoal and under the ash there is always a coal - and that coal burns hotter but more quietly that a bonfire. Sometimes it’s appropriate to serve G@d like a bonfire, but most often like a coal. This small Mem is the coal.

Another interpretation of this small Mem is a warning to Ba’alei Teshuvah: Jews who return to Judaism often do so to an extreme, embracing the most stringent practices and limited views of Torah extrapolation. If you do your Jewishness like the small, constant coal rather than like a consuming, blazing fury, your personal altar will never be left bare, your offerings to G@d having been quickly burned up. Spent. Done.

The Kotzker Rebbe also teaches us that the midah (מִדָּה - character trait) of temimut (תְּמִימוּת - serving G@d in honest simplicity) must be total. At the same time, the midah of hisla’havut (שַׁלְהֶבֶות - zealotry to which the burning fire hints) must be contained. You may spiritually burn only inside, keeping it between you and G@d.

Further to this, the Gemara in Shabbat 30b, which tells us how Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and his son Rebbe Elazar, after emerging from the cave where they had hidden themselves from the Roman occupiers for twelve years, instantly incinerated everything they laid eyes on, judging the people too harshly. The Gemara goes on to say how G@d instructed them to go back to their cave until they had learned how to restrain their hisla’havut and keep it to themselves.

Oznayim la-Torah by Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin says this letter Mem is written small because the greater one is, the more one must humble oneself. ((Rashi’s Berachot 34b sv “Kohen Gadol”))

As my true friend Michal Mivasair says, “The brighter the light, the darker the shadow.”
Shabbat Ha-Gadol Shalom :)


Photo to follow...
Further reading:
R’ Chayim David HaLevy, Asei Lecha Rav (responsa)
R’ Yitzchak Ginsburg...anything
RaMaK, Sefer Pardes Rimonim


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Based on article originally published April 2006 as "Better Late Than Never?" at HREF="http://www.radicaltorah.org/2006/04/08/better-late-than-never/">Radical Torah
Cross-posted on HREF="http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=67792898204Facebook
Copyright A. Barclay

TALMUD BAVLI SHABBAT 104a – תלמוד בבלי שבת קד'א

BS"D


The Sages said to R’ Joshua ben Levi: Today some young children came to the house of study and told us things [about the Hebrew alphabet, which they had just learned] the likes of which had not been said even in the days of Joshua son of Nun:

Alef-Bet [א-ב] means “Learn wisdom (אִלֵּף בִּינָה- ileyf binah).”

Gimel Dalet [ג-ד] means “Be kind to the poor (גְּמוּל דלים– gemul dallim).” Why is the foot of the Gimel [ג] stretched toward the base of the Dalet [ד]? Because it is the way of the benevolent to run after the poor (to help them out).
And why is the foot of the Dalet stretched toward the Gimel? Because the poor must make himself available to the benevolent.
And why is the face of the Dalet aveted from the Gimel? Because help must be given in secrecy, so that the poor will not be humiliated by the presence of the giver.

Hey [ה] and Vav [ו] are two letters that form (part of) the (Ineffable) Name of the Holy One...

Zayin [ז], Chet [ח], Tet [ט], Yud [י], Khaf [כ], Lamed [ל]: If you act thus (as commanded), the Holy One will sustain (זָן – zan) you, be gracious (חֵן – cheyn) to you, show goodness (מטִיב – meytiv) to you, give you a heritage (יְרֻשָּה - yerushah), and bind a crown (כֶּתֶר - keter) about your head in the world-to-come (לעולם הבא - le-olam ha-ba).

The open Mem [מ] and the closed (final) Mem [ם] signify that one utterance (in Scripture) may be open and another may be closed (esoteric) [and inquiry into it may be forbidden].

The bent Nun [נ] and the upright (final) Nun [ן] mean that those who are faithful (נאמן - ne’eman) when bent with suffering (in this world) will be made upright (in the world-to-come).

Samekh [ס] and Ayin [ע] stand for “Uphold the poor (סמוך עֹנִיים – semokh aniyyim).” (Others say: The two letters stand for “Devise {עשה - aseh} mnemonics {סימנים – simmanim} in Scripture and thus commit it to memory.”)

The bent Peh [פ] and the (final) open Peh [ף] signify that there are times when the mouth (peh) should be open and times when it should stay closed.

The bent Tzaddi [צ] and the erect (final) Tzaddi [ץ] signify that while in this world the righteous (צדיק/צודקת - tzaddiq/tzodeqet) is bent down, in the world-to-come s/he will be enabled to stand erect.

Quf [ק] signifies “holy" (קדוש – qadosh). Reysh [ר] signifies “wicked" (רשע – rasha).
Why is the face of the Quf averted from the Reysh? Because The Holy One says, “I cannot bear looking at the wicked.”
And why is the upper tip on the crown over the Quf turned toward the Reysh? Because the Holy One says: If the wicked/rasha repents, I will bind a crown over his/her head like the crown over the Quf.

Shin [ש] stands for “falsehood (שקר - sheqer),” and Tav [ת] for “truth (אמת - emet)”. Why do the letters of sheqer closely follow one another [in the alphabet], while the letters in emet are far apart [the Alef at the beginning of the alphabet, the Mem in the middle and the Tav at the end]? Because falsehoods follow close upon one another, while truth is encountered only at intervals far apart.

And why does sheqer stand on one leg [the long stroke of Quf, the second letter of sheqer, extends below the line, so the word looks as if it is standing on one leg], while emet is made up of letters which have (solid) bricklike bases [both the Alef and the Tav rest on two legs, while the Mem has a horizontal bar at its base]? Because truth stands firmly; falsehood does not.


Alternative Sources:
Otiyot Shel Rabbi Akiva
The Wisdom of the Hebrew Alphabet by Rabbi Michael Munk

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First published March 2005 at Netivat Sofrut
Cross-posted on Facebook
Copyright A. Barclay, all rights reserved.