בס''ד
Q:
Hi Avielah, I have a question. In Ki Tisa we read about the Luchot with the Aseret Dibrot originally written michtav Elohim, the script of HaShem, and then the second version b'yad Moshe. What, if any, do you think the difference of script was - any Midrash you can guide me towards? Thank you, thank you.
A:
Hi, L! Re your question about the first Luchot being written be-ketav Ivrit be-yad Ha-Shem, and the second set of Luchot being written be-ketav Ashurit be-yad Moshe, (or about all the Luchot and original Sifrei Torah written in ketav Ivrit and the switch happening sometime between Matan Torah and Ezra Ha-Sofer) there's lots - mostly in Hebrew:
Sanhedrin 21b-22a notes that this subject is of Tannaitic dispute and that there are three different opinions; Menachot 29b; Shabbat 104a; Teshuvot Ha-Ge'onim (responsum 358, fully quoted by Margolis Ha-Yam to Sanhedrin 21b); RaMBaM's Commentary to Mishnah, Yadaim 2:5; Ha-Mikra Ve-Ha-Mesorah by R' Reuven Margulies; Yerushalmi Megilah 1:9.
Quti'im (Samaritans) still write their Sifrei in ketav Ivrit, and Yemenite Jews up until recently wrote their Sifrei in ketav Ashurit, with only Y-H-V-H written in ketav Ivrit. Since their gradual exposure to the broader Jewish world, they've ended that practice.
There is an academic article at JewishEncyclopedia.com about the Hebrew AlefBet and it's transition, and Omnigot has an interesting page on "Paleo-Hebrew", ie ketav Ivrit.
Hope you like the juicy references - enjoy researching!
Love you :)
Cross-posted on Facebook
Showing posts with label Talmud. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Talmud. Show all posts
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Dotted Letters Example #2b: Be-reyshit/Genesis 19:33, Parshat Va-yeira
בס''ד
Be-reyshit/Genesis 19:33, Parshat Va-yeira relates the time when Lot is drunkenly seduced by his own daughters, after they escape the destruction of Sodom. You can find the verse in the following Chumashim:
Plaut p.132, Cohen p.98, Hertz p.69, Sforno p.99, JPS p.28, Jerusalem p.19, Stone p.90
The root of the word וּבְקוּמָהּ, u-ve'qumahh, is קם. This is translated here as "arose" or "got up". It can also mean to be established or built, to be realized (as in a plan) or to persevere. And this is just what happened. The previous two verses, 19:31-32, read:
Ew.
So why is u-ve'qumahh such an important word? Because not only did each girl rise up after having intercourse with her father, but each girl did indeed realize her plan to establish herself through re-building their family by preserving their father's seed. They would persevere.
קם...קם...קם...
And that is why the scribal oddity in 19:33 is a dot above the second letter Vav in וּבְקוּמָהּ.
The dot tells us of one of Lot's great failings.
Lot's name (לוֹט) means covered, wrapped, concealed, veiled...so you never really knew the true man. He spent his whole life being mentored and supported by holy tzaddiqim Avraham and Sarah, yet when given the choice, he chose a life in Sedom and gAmorah.
Lot is like No'ach, only “relatively righteous” compared with the people around him. He may have been the most righteous person in Sedom, but that sets such a low bar...
Talmud Bavli Nazir 23a and Be-reyshit Rabah 51:8 say that the dotted Vav tells us that Lot was unaware of his elder daughter's lying down but by the time she'd finished with him he was aware of her getting up, and acted as if he wasn't.
Lot was innocent of the first incest incident, but the next night he still knowingly allowed himself to be seduced a second time, by his younger daughter. He knew and he didn't stop it.
This second Vav in וּבְקוּמָהּ is dotted because Vav means “hook”, and it is the letter of connexion. So this being the second Vav in the word and his being guilty of the second inappropriate connexion, it gets a dot to make us aware of this dimension of the story.
Shame on you, Lot. You were responsible to look after your traumatised children, not breed with them. You deserve grandchildren named Ben-Ammi ("son of my people/family") and Mo'av ("from Dad").
Copyright© A. Barclay
Be-reyshit/Genesis 19:33, Parshat Va-yeira relates the time when Lot is drunkenly seduced by his own daughters, after they escape the destruction of Sodom. You can find the verse in the following Chumashim:
Plaut p.132, Cohen p.98, Hertz p.69, Sforno p.99, JPS p.28, Jerusalem p.19, Stone p.90
וַתַּשְׁקֶיןָ אֶת-אֲבִיהֶן יַיִן, בַּלַּיְלָה הוּא; וַתָּבֹא הַבְּכִירָה וַתִּשְׁכַּב אֶת-אָבִיהָ, וְלֹא-יָדַע בְּשִׁכְבָהּ וּבְקוּמָהּ.
And they had their father drink wine that night. And the elder daughter went in, and slept with her father; and he didn't know when she lay down, nor when she got up.
“...ve-lo yada be-shikhvahh u-ve'qumahh.”
The root of the word וּבְקוּמָהּ, u-ve'qumahh, is קם. This is translated here as "arose" or "got up". It can also mean to be established or built, to be realized (as in a plan) or to persevere. And this is just what happened. The previous two verses, 19:31-32, read:
וַתֹּאמֶר הַבְּכִירָה אֶל-הַצְּעִירָה, אָבִינוּ זָקֵן; וְאִישׁ אֵין בָּאָרֶץ לָבוֹא עָלֵינוּ, כְּדֶרֶךְ כָּל-הָאָרֶץ.
And the elder daughter said unto the younger daughter, "Our father is old and there isn't a man in the world to come into us in the way of all the world.
לְכָה נַשְׁקֶה אֶת-אָבִינוּ יַיִן, וְנִשְׁכְּבָה עִמּוֹ; וּנְחַיֶּה מֵאָבִינוּ, זָרַע.
So, let us have our father drink wine, and we'll sleep with him so we can preserve the seed of our father.'
Ew.
So why is u-ve'qumahh such an important word? Because not only did each girl rise up after having intercourse with her father, but each girl did indeed realize her plan to establish herself through re-building their family by preserving their father's seed. They would persevere.
קם...קם...קם...
And that is why the scribal oddity in 19:33 is a dot above the second letter Vav in וּבְקוּמָהּ.
The dot tells us of one of Lot's great failings.
Lot's name (לוֹט) means covered, wrapped, concealed, veiled...so you never really knew the true man. He spent his whole life being mentored and supported by holy tzaddiqim Avraham and Sarah, yet when given the choice, he chose a life in Sedom and gAmorah.
Lot is like No'ach, only “relatively righteous” compared with the people around him. He may have been the most righteous person in Sedom, but that sets such a low bar...
Talmud Bavli Nazir 23a and Be-reyshit Rabah 51:8 say that the dotted Vav tells us that Lot was unaware of his elder daughter's lying down but by the time she'd finished with him he was aware of her getting up, and acted as if he wasn't.
Lot was innocent of the first incest incident, but the next night he still knowingly allowed himself to be seduced a second time, by his younger daughter. He knew and he didn't stop it.
This second Vav in וּבְקוּמָהּ is dotted because Vav means “hook”, and it is the letter of connexion. So this being the second Vav in the word and his being guilty of the second inappropriate connexion, it gets a dot to make us aware of this dimension of the story.
Shame on you, Lot. You were responsible to look after your traumatised children, not breed with them. You deserve grandchildren named Ben-Ammi ("son of my people/family") and Mo'av ("from Dad").
Copyright© A. Barclay
Monday, October 19, 2009
Parashat No'ach: Intercessory Prayer
בס''ד
Although there are several peculiar scribal oddities found in this week's Torah portion (according to Yemenite tradition, Sefer Taggin, the Machzor Vitri and various other sources and opinions), they generally have not been written into Sifrei Torah for some time now - a few hundred years. So instead I'd like to say a word about the origins of intercessory prayer in Judaism. I'll write about these ancient, disappearing "visual midrash" later, when I've done more research.
The first human intercessor according to Torah was No'ach ben Lemekh (לֶמֶך), known to the English speaking world as Noah, who built the ark. No'ach's name is generally spelled נֹחַ, but spelled with a letter Vav (ו) in Modern Hebrew, no'ach נוֹחַ means comfortable; taking it easy. נָח, nach, means to rest or relax. In Hebrew grammar it also indicates a mute letter; it doesn't say anything.
As with all people of the Bible, Noa'ch's father Lemekh's name is in fact a role. If we translate his name, לֶמֶךְ, into colloquial Modern Hebrew, it can mean a fool, schlemiel, or a clumsy person. The root letters Mem-Khaf (מך) mean "impoverished" in Biblical Hebrew. So his name, No'ach ben Lemekh, could be interpreted to mean Comfort son of the Foolish Pauper.
Maybe because he was taught to make do, and accept even bad situations, No'ach never became an activist. He didn't develop the sensitivity required to notice when something wrong is happening and to do something about it. He never disturbed the status quo. He was always comforable. He didn't say anything.
We find No'ach's story recorded in the Torah in Sefer Be-reyshit/Genesis 6:9-9:29 Parashat No'ach. We learn that everyone on the planet has just gone too far, they are irredeemable, that they have filled the world with violence (the word Scripture uses for "violence" is חמס, Hamas). We also learn this from chapter 6 verse 9:
No'ach ish tzedeq tamim hayah be-dorotav. He was a sincerely righteous man in his generation. And that is the key. He was righteous only compared to all the degenerates around him. He was not empirically righteous, only relatively righteous. No'ach didn't even know that there was a problem until G@d came to him to say He was going to destroy all flesh because it had corrupted itself.
And what was No'ach's reaction to this news? Did he act surprised? The Torah doesn't say. Did he argue with G@d to try to intercede like Avraham would? The Torah doesn't say. All we are told is that Noach obeyed G@d's command to build the תֵּבָה teyvah (ark). So he did exactly what he was told, and nothing more.
But that's all G@d needed to save the world...
No'ach doesn't intercede until Be-reyshit/Genesis 8:20-22, when he builds the altar and makes the sacrifice. Only then is G@d appeased.
Noah's Sacrifice and G@d's Response: What worked?
The word used to describe a burnt offering type of sacrifice is עוֹלָה, olah, "that which rises or ascends". The root עלה means to rise, ascend or go up, to increase, advance, to mount or get up onto, and to immigrate to Israel (because it is the highest point of the world, spiritually).
This very first sacrifice recorded in the Torah, which became the basis of our Temple worship in Jerusalem which, except for the hide, must be consumed entirely by fire on the altar. No part of them may be eaten by the worshipper, whereas both priest and worshipper partake of the sacrifices known as זְבַּחים zevachim (see Devarim/Deuteronomy 12:27). This olah goes up to G@d while the zevach stays with the priest and worshipper. This teaches us that we must ascend to G@d to intercede.
No'ach builds an altar and brings rising, intercessory burnt offerings on his own initiative. We don't know how he prepared or what he said, if anything, but he didn't stop attempting the intercession when G@d responds in the positive. The outcome of No'ach's intercession is G@d's promise to never wipe out virtually all life again using nature as a tool, provided that we accept His re-ordering of the new society (ie., when He gives permission to eat meat but puts a blood prohibition on it, and prohibits murder). For prosperity he puts a rainbow in the sky to seal the covenant. Now that the Earth has been purged of its evil, sacrifice symbolizes the restoration of harmony between G@d and humankind.
What can we learn from these stories about the qualities an intercessor needs?
Obedience to and acceptance of G@d. To be (comparatively) righteous/blameless. I say comparatively because Noach was only "righteous in his generation", so perhaps he was the best of what was left on earth, but not ideal - the only thing G@d had to work with, so He did His best with what He had.
You will note that he did not intercede on the Earth's behalf when G@d told him He would destroy everything. He waited until after the horror had been executed on all beings except those who had inhabited is teyvah to ask G@d to never do that again and thank Him for making an exception for him and his family. He may have cloistered himself and his family from the Earth's lawlessness, but he simply withdrew from the world and did not try to change it. Therefore, G@d had to intervene.
We can learn from this that we have a responsibility to be activists, ie., we cannot stand by the blood of our brother...G@d wants us to participate in struggling with our own tendencies and to bring about Tiqun Olam *with* Him...this is why I agree with Rebbe Yochanan's interpretation of No'ach's story rather than Reish Lakish's (Talmud Bavli Sanhedrin 108a). HAD Noach been better than average, he could have fought to corruption, but because he was a beynoni, a weak or easily influenced person, he could only cloister himself and remain in his integrity that way.
So what does it mean to "walk with G@d" (Be-reyshit/Genesis 5:24; 6:9)?
To shape the agency of your own salvation (ie., build your own ark rather than wait for G@d to save you through Divine intervention)...and what qualities can you find in yourself which No'ach used? Voluntary offering/negotiating. Occasional submission...
At the end of the day, we shouldn't be too hard on poor old No'ach. What more can we expect from the world's first intercessor? If nobody has yet acted as one, then Noach has only his own instincts to follow and no example...
Sources:
Many thanks to Rabbi Ruth Gan Kagan for inspiring this piece during our learning together in 2005.
R' Chaim Potok in JPS's Eytz Chayim: Torah & Commentary
Talmud Bavli Sanhedrin 108a
The Five Books of Moses: A New Translation with Introductions, Commentary, and Notes by Everett Fox
Although there are several peculiar scribal oddities found in this week's Torah portion (according to Yemenite tradition, Sefer Taggin, the Machzor Vitri and various other sources and opinions), they generally have not been written into Sifrei Torah for some time now - a few hundred years. So instead I'd like to say a word about the origins of intercessory prayer in Judaism. I'll write about these ancient, disappearing "visual midrash" later, when I've done more research.
The first human intercessor according to Torah was No'ach ben Lemekh (לֶמֶך), known to the English speaking world as Noah, who built the ark. No'ach's name is generally spelled נֹחַ, but spelled with a letter Vav (ו) in Modern Hebrew, no'ach נוֹחַ means comfortable; taking it easy. נָח, nach, means to rest or relax. In Hebrew grammar it also indicates a mute letter; it doesn't say anything.
As with all people of the Bible, Noa'ch's father Lemekh's name is in fact a role. If we translate his name, לֶמֶךְ, into colloquial Modern Hebrew, it can mean a fool, schlemiel, or a clumsy person. The root letters Mem-Khaf (מך) mean "impoverished" in Biblical Hebrew. So his name, No'ach ben Lemekh, could be interpreted to mean Comfort son of the Foolish Pauper.
Maybe because he was taught to make do, and accept even bad situations, No'ach never became an activist. He didn't develop the sensitivity required to notice when something wrong is happening and to do something about it. He never disturbed the status quo. He was always comforable. He didn't say anything.
We find No'ach's story recorded in the Torah in Sefer Be-reyshit/Genesis 6:9-9:29 Parashat No'ach. We learn that everyone on the planet has just gone too far, they are irredeemable, that they have filled the world with violence (the word Scripture uses for "violence" is חמס, Hamas). We also learn this from chapter 6 verse 9:
אֵלֶּה, תּוֹלְדֹת נֹחַ--נֹחַ אִישׁ צַדִּיק תָּמִים הָיָה, בְּדֹרֹתָיו: אֶת-הָאֱלֹהִים, הִתְהַלֶּךְ-נֹחַ.
These are the generations of No'ach. No'ach was a just man and perfect/whole-hearted in his generations; No'ach walked with G@d.
No'ach ish tzedeq tamim hayah be-dorotav. He was a sincerely righteous man in his generation. And that is the key. He was righteous only compared to all the degenerates around him. He was not empirically righteous, only relatively righteous. No'ach didn't even know that there was a problem until G@d came to him to say He was going to destroy all flesh because it had corrupted itself.
And what was No'ach's reaction to this news? Did he act surprised? The Torah doesn't say. Did he argue with G@d to try to intercede like Avraham would? The Torah doesn't say. All we are told is that Noach obeyed G@d's command to build the תֵּבָה teyvah (ark). So he did exactly what he was told, and nothing more.
But that's all G@d needed to save the world...
No'ach doesn't intercede until Be-reyshit/Genesis 8:20-22, when he builds the altar and makes the sacrifice. Only then is G@d appeased.
כ וַיִּבֶן נֹחַ מִזְבֵּחַ, לַיהוָה; וַיִּקַּח מִכֹּל הַבְּהֵמָה הַטְּהֹרָה, וּמִכֹּל הָעוֹף הַטָּהוֹר, וַיַּעַל עֹלֹת, בַּמִּזְבֵּחַ. 20
And No'ach built an altar to Ad@nai and took from every ritually pure beast, and of every ritually pure bird, and offered burnt/rising offerings on the altar.
כא וַיָּרַח יְהוָה, אֶת-רֵיחַ הַנִּיחֹחַ, וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל-לִבּוֹ לֹא-אֹסִף לְקַלֵּל עוֹד אֶת-הָאֲדָמָה בַּעֲבוּר הָאָדָם, כִּי יֵצֶר לֵב הָאָדָם רַע מִנְּעֻרָיו; וְלֹא-אֹסִף עוֹד לְהַכּוֹת אֶת-כָּל-חַי, כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשִׂיתִי. 21
And Ad@nai smelled the fragrant scent and Ad@nai said in His heart: 'I won't curse the earth again for humanity's sake; because the instinctive tendency of humanity's heart is broken from youth; and never again will I strike down every living thing, as I've done.
כב עֹד, כָּל-יְמֵי הָאָרֶץ: זֶרַע וְקָצִיר וְקֹר וָחֹם וְקַיִץ וָחֹרֶף, וְיוֹם וָלַיְלָה--לֹא יִשְׁבֹּתוּ. 22
For eternity, all the days of the Earth, sowing and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night will never end.'
Noah's Sacrifice and G@d's Response: What worked?
The word used to describe a burnt offering type of sacrifice is עוֹלָה, olah, "that which rises or ascends". The root עלה means to rise, ascend or go up, to increase, advance, to mount or get up onto, and to immigrate to Israel (because it is the highest point of the world, spiritually).
This very first sacrifice recorded in the Torah, which became the basis of our Temple worship in Jerusalem which, except for the hide, must be consumed entirely by fire on the altar. No part of them may be eaten by the worshipper, whereas both priest and worshipper partake of the sacrifices known as זְבַּחים zevachim (see Devarim/Deuteronomy 12:27). This olah goes up to G@d while the zevach stays with the priest and worshipper. This teaches us that we must ascend to G@d to intercede.
No'ach builds an altar and brings rising, intercessory burnt offerings on his own initiative. We don't know how he prepared or what he said, if anything, but he didn't stop attempting the intercession when G@d responds in the positive. The outcome of No'ach's intercession is G@d's promise to never wipe out virtually all life again using nature as a tool, provided that we accept His re-ordering of the new society (ie., when He gives permission to eat meat but puts a blood prohibition on it, and prohibits murder). For prosperity he puts a rainbow in the sky to seal the covenant. Now that the Earth has been purged of its evil, sacrifice symbolizes the restoration of harmony between G@d and humankind.
What can we learn from these stories about the qualities an intercessor needs?
Obedience to and acceptance of G@d. To be (comparatively) righteous/blameless. I say comparatively because Noach was only "righteous in his generation", so perhaps he was the best of what was left on earth, but not ideal - the only thing G@d had to work with, so He did His best with what He had.
You will note that he did not intercede on the Earth's behalf when G@d told him He would destroy everything. He waited until after the horror had been executed on all beings except those who had inhabited is teyvah to ask G@d to never do that again and thank Him for making an exception for him and his family. He may have cloistered himself and his family from the Earth's lawlessness, but he simply withdrew from the world and did not try to change it. Therefore, G@d had to intervene.
We can learn from this that we have a responsibility to be activists, ie., we cannot stand by the blood of our brother...G@d wants us to participate in struggling with our own tendencies and to bring about Tiqun Olam *with* Him...this is why I agree with Rebbe Yochanan's interpretation of No'ach's story rather than Reish Lakish's (Talmud Bavli Sanhedrin 108a). HAD Noach been better than average, he could have fought to corruption, but because he was a beynoni, a weak or easily influenced person, he could only cloister himself and remain in his integrity that way.
So what does it mean to "walk with G@d" (Be-reyshit/Genesis 5:24; 6:9)?
To shape the agency of your own salvation (ie., build your own ark rather than wait for G@d to save you through Divine intervention)...and what qualities can you find in yourself which No'ach used? Voluntary offering/negotiating. Occasional submission...
At the end of the day, we shouldn't be too hard on poor old No'ach. What more can we expect from the world's first intercessor? If nobody has yet acted as one, then Noach has only his own instincts to follow and no example...
Sources:
Many thanks to Rabbi Ruth Gan Kagan for inspiring this piece during our learning together in 2005.
R' Chaim Potok in JPS's Eytz Chayim: Torah & Commentary
Talmud Bavli Sanhedrin 108a
The Five Books of Moses: A New Translation with Introductions, Commentary, and Notes by Everett Fox
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Small Letter Hey in בְּהִבָּרְאָם Parashat Bereyshit
בס''ד
This letter Hey balances out the enlarged Hey which can be found in Parashat Ha'azinu, Devarim/Deuteronomy 32:6. You can read more about that here.
Parashat Bereshit, Bereshit/Genesis 2:4 reads:
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:
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.
Copyright © A. Barclay
This letter Hey balances out the enlarged Hey which can be found in Parashat Ha'azinu, Devarim/Deuteronomy 32:6. You can read more about that here.
Parashat Bereshit, Bereshit/Genesis 2:4 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.
Copyright © A. Barclay
Monday, October 12, 2009
Oy gib mir a heym vu di bufloksn geyn - Enlarged Letter Bet in Parashat Be-reyshit
בס''ד
That would be Yiddish for "Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam..."
Thanks to Marie Jaffee for her translation and hat-tip to Rebecca Boggs for her transliteration.
I'd like to talk about home in this post in relation to this week's Parsha, Be-reyshit! Yes, this Shabbat we being the cycle of reading the Torah all over again. We got a preview on Simchat Torah, which was yesterday, Sunday, when we read the very end of the scroll and then rolled it back to the beginning again to read some more! This week we're getting back to The Garden.
Sefer Be-reyshit parashat Be-reyshit/the Book of Genesis 1:1 begins thus:
בְּרֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ.
Be-reyshit bara Eloqim et ha-shamayim ve-et ha-aretz:
"At the beginning of G@D's creating of the heavens and the earth:"
The first letter, Bet (ב) should sport 4 crowns, called taggin or ketarim (unless you are Yemenite). These represent the Four Winds, the holy breath of G@d with which the entirety of Time and Space were brought into being.
As with many, but not all, sefarim/holy books, the first letter is often enlarged. However, here also is an example of an action taken from the next world, by G@D. The act of creation warrants a large Bet. According to Rabbi Chayim Dovid Halevy, z"l, a great Kabbalist and the former Chief Sefardi Rabbi of Tel Aviv, any time we see an enlarged letter anywhere in our canon (TaNa"KH), we are to understand that G@d has disturbed the staus quo with great חסד chesed, kindness, and אהבה ahavah, love.
Because the letter Bet carries the gematrial value of 2, it reveals to us the Divine creative mother-father energy within it, beginning the whole universe.
So, why was the world created with the letter Bet?
Just as Bet is closed on three sides and open only in front, so you are not permitted to investigate what is above (the Heavens) and what is below (the deep), what is before (the six days of creation) and what is (to happen) after (the world’s existence) - you are permitted only from the time the world was created and thereafter (the world we live in) [Genesis Rabbah 1:10. This may refer either to space or to time, or to both space and time. See Tosafot on Talmud Bavli Hag 11b, s.v. yakhol].
Some say that the Torah begins with the letter Bet to make the statement that the force that G@d used to initiate Creation was בינה Binah - with feminine understanding the world was created. . “For you shall call Understanding a Mother.” so says The Bahir. Binah means processed wisdom or deductive reasoning
Binah is in the world of יצירה Yetzirah, the formative dimension of "just Being". IS-ness. The letter Bet also begins בריאה B'riyah, the world of knowledge whose world is creative. Note that בריאה B'riyah and בְּרֵאשִׁית Be-reyshit have the same shoresh, root. For more on this, see http://inner.org/sefirot/sefbinah.htm
Reish Lakish taught that The Holy One made a deal with the rest of Creation, that if Israel accepts the Torah, you will continue to exist; if not, I will return you to nothingness (Shabbat 88a). How do we know this? Because the first word in the Torah, בְּרֵאשִׁית Be-reyshit, is an acronym: "Ba-rishonah Ra'ah Eloqim Shey'qab'lu Yisra'el Torah" - "From the start, G@D saw that Israel would accept the Torah" (Ba'al Ha-Turim).
In Judaism, G@d has many names, allowing us to attempt to express all the holy qualities of the Creator. One of those names begins with a letter Bet. בת קול Bat Qol, which literally means "Daughter of a Voice", but can also mean "Voice from Heaven", "echo", "Divine inspiration" or even "prophesy".
Just as with a ketubah, the traditional Jewish wedding contract, we begin this with a letter Bet which is often enlarged (but not always - that depends on the calligrapher). But we may have a similar situation here that requires a large Bet in a ketubah for the same reasons as in a Torah.
Many Jewish couples today enter their first marriage without their virginity (both literal and symbolic). There have been intimate relationships and home-building exercises, most often with people who now dwell in the past. Assuming these experiences have been dealt with, grown from and their lessons integrated into wisdom, there is no need to revisit them after the marriage begins.
All that came before, like lovers, homes, experiences, relationships...were only to bring each member of the wedding couple to this point and need only be included in the wedded relationship in their appropriate place. It's not that they get wiped away, or made to magically disappear. But from that large Bet which begins the building of this new, committed home, like the large Bet, the Bayit or "home" for all of Creation, we walk forward together and leave the rest behind.
...where seldom is heard a discouraging word...
That would be Yiddish for "Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam..."
Thanks to Marie Jaffee for her translation and hat-tip to Rebecca Boggs for her transliteration.
I'd like to talk about home in this post in relation to this week's Parsha, Be-reyshit! Yes, this Shabbat we being the cycle of reading the Torah all over again. We got a preview on Simchat Torah, which was yesterday, Sunday, when we read the very end of the scroll and then rolled it back to the beginning again to read some more! This week we're getting back to The Garden.
Sefer Be-reyshit parashat Be-reyshit/the Book of Genesis 1:1 begins thus:
בְּרֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ.
Be-reyshit bara Eloqim et ha-shamayim ve-et ha-aretz:
"At the beginning of G@D's creating of the heavens and the earth:"
The first letter, Bet (ב) should sport 4 crowns, called taggin or ketarim (unless you are Yemenite). These represent the Four Winds, the holy breath of G@d with which the entirety of Time and Space were brought into being.
As with many, but not all, sefarim/holy books, the first letter is often enlarged. However, here also is an example of an action taken from the next world, by G@D. The act of creation warrants a large Bet. According to Rabbi Chayim Dovid Halevy, z"l, a great Kabbalist and the former Chief Sefardi Rabbi of Tel Aviv, any time we see an enlarged letter anywhere in our canon (TaNa"KH), we are to understand that G@d has disturbed the staus quo with great חסד chesed, kindness, and אהבה ahavah, love.
Because the letter Bet carries the gematrial value of 2, it reveals to us the Divine creative mother-father energy within it, beginning the whole universe.
So, why was the world created with the letter Bet?
Just as Bet is closed on three sides and open only in front, so you are not permitted to investigate what is above (the Heavens) and what is below (the deep), what is before (the six days of creation) and what is (to happen) after (the world’s existence) - you are permitted only from the time the world was created and thereafter (the world we live in) [Genesis Rabbah 1:10. This may refer either to space or to time, or to both space and time. See Tosafot on Talmud Bavli Hag 11b, s.v. yakhol].
Some say that the Torah begins with the letter Bet to make the statement that the force that G@d used to initiate Creation was בינה Binah - with feminine understanding the world was created. . “For you shall call Understanding a Mother.” so says The Bahir. Binah means processed wisdom or deductive reasoning
Binah is in the world of יצירה Yetzirah, the formative dimension of "just Being". IS-ness. The letter Bet also begins בריאה B'riyah, the world of knowledge whose world is creative. Note that בריאה B'riyah and בְּרֵאשִׁית Be-reyshit have the same shoresh, root. For more on this, see http://inner.org/sefirot/sefbinah.htm
Reish Lakish taught that The Holy One made a deal with the rest of Creation, that if Israel accepts the Torah, you will continue to exist; if not, I will return you to nothingness (Shabbat 88a). How do we know this? Because the first word in the Torah, בְּרֵאשִׁית Be-reyshit, is an acronym: "Ba-rishonah Ra'ah Eloqim Shey'qab'lu Yisra'el Torah" - "From the start, G@D saw that Israel would accept the Torah" (Ba'al Ha-Turim).
In Judaism, G@d has many names, allowing us to attempt to express all the holy qualities of the Creator. One of those names begins with a letter Bet. בת קול Bat Qol, which literally means "Daughter of a Voice", but can also mean "Voice from Heaven", "echo", "Divine inspiration" or even "prophesy".
Just as with a ketubah, the traditional Jewish wedding contract, we begin this with a letter Bet which is often enlarged (but not always - that depends on the calligrapher). But we may have a similar situation here that requires a large Bet in a ketubah for the same reasons as in a Torah.
Many Jewish couples today enter their first marriage without their virginity (both literal and symbolic). There have been intimate relationships and home-building exercises, most often with people who now dwell in the past. Assuming these experiences have been dealt with, grown from and their lessons integrated into wisdom, there is no need to revisit them after the marriage begins.
All that came before, like lovers, homes, experiences, relationships...were only to bring each member of the wedding couple to this point and need only be included in the wedded relationship in their appropriate place. It's not that they get wiped away, or made to magically disappear. But from that large Bet which begins the building of this new, committed home, like the large Bet, the Bayit or "home" for all of Creation, we walk forward together and leave the rest behind.
...where seldom is heard a discouraging word...
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
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?
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:
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
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
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Parshat Nitzavim - Enlarged Letter Lamed in וַיַּשְׁלִכֵם
בס''ד
This week's Parashah, Nitzavim, runs from Devarim/Deuteronomy 29:9 - 30:20. What I'd like to show you in Devarim 29:27 is the enlarged letter Lamed in the word וַיַּשְׁלִכֵם - va-yash'likheym, which means "and throw them out". This word has the same shoresh/root (שלכ) as tashlikh, what we do the afternoon First Day Rosh Ha-Shanah with our sins.
Now, what is this verse talking about? Who is "them"?
"Them", unfortunately, is us. The Jewish People. The context of the pasuq/verse is this: just as we're preparing to enter the Land of Israel, the Eretz Ha-Qodesh, for the first time since Ya'aqov and our people left it so many generation previoulsy, G@d is foretelling of a future generation consisting of our descendants who rise up, along with foreigners from a distant land, and that they shall see the punishment directed against the Land (Israel), and the plague with which G@d has struck it...
A loose translation of the pasuqim/verses leading up to verse 27 read as follows:
29:23 "All the nations will ask, 'Why did G@d do this to the Land? What was the reason for this great display of anger?'"
29:24 "They shall answer, 'It is because they (the Jews) abandoned the covenant that G@d, L@rd of their ancestors, made with them when He brought them out of Egypt.'"
29:25 "and went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods that they knew not, and that He had not allotted to them;"
29:26 "therefore the anger of the L@RD was kindled against this Land, to bring upon it all the curse that is written in this book;"
So we're being warned that even though we have finally merited national and individual redemption from G@D, and are about to come home, like being on the brink of our wedding night, that in the future our descendants will be exiled because they will turn away from The Holy One and give their focus away. How sad.
So...why the word Sh-L-Kh? And why the letter Lamed?
The pictographic shape of Lamed is that of a goad - that's an instrument with which we coax animals to go in the direction we want, rather than the direction that they want. Sort of a non-electric cattle prod. So here we see that Ha-Shem is goading us away from the direction we would choose to go and instead take the better path which G@d wants for us.
The shoresh/root of "Lamed" (למד) is talmud or limmud, to learn or teach. And this is a big teaching, as my Holy/wholly good friend Chayim Rothschild Lev once said to me about this. What is the teaching?
R' Chayim Dovid Ha-Levy, z"l, the former Chief Sefardi Rabbi of Tel Aviv, was a great scholar, posek & Kabbalist. He said that anytime we see an enlarged letter in our writings, that is a place where G@d takes over the direction. That Ha-Shem steps out of the status quo and is proactive about something, always with great kindness and benevolence.
Example: the enlarged letter Bet which begins the Torah. Be-reyshit bara Eloqim...
So how is cursing our Holy Land of Israel so that we're forced to flee into exile an act of kindness?
The rabbis in Talmud Bavli Masechet Sofrim argue that this word should be read as lakhem, to you (plural), implying that G@d will be a personal G@d to the individual exiled Jews even after we're vomited out of the Land. Why is this relevant? Because in the ancient religions of the Fertile Crescent the gods and idols were very much tied to the local area where they were worshipped, and were only believed to have power in their own neighbourhood, so to speak. But we wouldn't have to worry, because wherever G@d scattered us, the Holy presence of the Shekhinah would be there too.
So this image of The Holy One driving us out is a violent one, but remember that Lamed is a goad, not a whip, it doesn't just punish, it coaxes. We would be taught a very hard lesson by our exile from our home, the Land of Israel, but only because we had first exiled G@d from our hearts.
Talmud Bavli Yoma 29a refers to 22 saintly women in our history, each with a quality which represents a letter of the Hebrew alefbet. The letter Lamed is the symbol of Devorah (Haftarah Beshallach, Shofetim/Judges 4:4-5:31). Who was Devorah? She was named after Rivqah's wet nurse, who died at the same time as Rivqah (Be-reyshit/Genesis 35:8 Par'shat Va-yishlakh) and was buried in that area.
And what did Devorah do?
She judged us and decided questions of law for the whole nation - a posek, or poseket. She was considered to have been a vessel for the ru'ach nevu'ah/spirit of prophesy. She also goaded Baraq - who was commanded by G@d to go to war with Sisera. Ha-Shem guaranteed Baraq would be victorious and yet he, feeling unworthy of such a miracle, refused to go to war unless Devorah accompanied him.
Baraq felt that only her merit would guarantee his success. Devorah's response:
"I will go with you, but the path you have chosen to go will not be for your glory. Ha-Shem will deliver Sisera into the hand of woman." Silly Baraq. You always get second best when you deviate from what G@d asks you to do.
In Devorah's song, Shofetim/Judges 5:1 - 31, she sings of how when the people of Israel devote themselves to Ha-Shem, they travel safely, the land blossoms and there was no war made against us. But when we forget G@d, we experience calamity.
This enlarged Lamed prophesies the coming of Devorah ha-Neviyah. Just to remind us about being very careful of the path that we choose.
Copyright © A. Barclay
This week's Parashah, Nitzavim, runs from Devarim/Deuteronomy 29:9 - 30:20. What I'd like to show you in Devarim 29:27 is the enlarged letter Lamed in the word וַיַּשְׁלִכֵם - va-yash'likheym, which means "and throw them out". This word has the same shoresh/root (שלכ) as tashlikh, what we do the afternoon First Day Rosh Ha-Shanah with our sins.
וַיִּתְּשֵׁם יְהוָה מֵעַל אַדְמָתָם, בְּאַף וּבְחֵמָה וּבְקֶצֶף גָּדוֹל; וַיַּשְׁלִכֵם אֶל-אֶרֶץ אַחֶרֶת, כַּיּוֹם הַזֶּה.
and the G@D rooted them out of their land in anger, and in rage, and with great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is until today.
Now, what is this verse talking about? Who is "them"?
"Them", unfortunately, is us. The Jewish People. The context of the pasuq/verse is this: just as we're preparing to enter the Land of Israel, the Eretz Ha-Qodesh, for the first time since Ya'aqov and our people left it so many generation previoulsy, G@d is foretelling of a future generation consisting of our descendants who rise up, along with foreigners from a distant land, and that they shall see the punishment directed against the Land (Israel), and the plague with which G@d has struck it...
A loose translation of the pasuqim/verses leading up to verse 27 read as follows:
29:23 "All the nations will ask, 'Why did G@d do this to the Land? What was the reason for this great display of anger?'"
29:24 "They shall answer, 'It is because they (the Jews) abandoned the covenant that G@d, L@rd of their ancestors, made with them when He brought them out of Egypt.'"
29:25 "and went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods that they knew not, and that He had not allotted to them;"
29:26 "therefore the anger of the L@RD was kindled against this Land, to bring upon it all the curse that is written in this book;"
So we're being warned that even though we have finally merited national and individual redemption from G@D, and are about to come home, like being on the brink of our wedding night, that in the future our descendants will be exiled because they will turn away from The Holy One and give their focus away. How sad.
So...why the word Sh-L-Kh? And why the letter Lamed?
The pictographic shape of Lamed is that of a goad - that's an instrument with which we coax animals to go in the direction we want, rather than the direction that they want. Sort of a non-electric cattle prod. So here we see that Ha-Shem is goading us away from the direction we would choose to go and instead take the better path which G@d wants for us.
The shoresh/root of "Lamed" (למד) is talmud or limmud, to learn or teach. And this is a big teaching, as my Holy/wholly good friend Chayim Rothschild Lev once said to me about this. What is the teaching?
R' Chayim Dovid Ha-Levy, z"l, the former Chief Sefardi Rabbi of Tel Aviv, was a great scholar, posek & Kabbalist. He said that anytime we see an enlarged letter in our writings, that is a place where G@d takes over the direction. That Ha-Shem steps out of the status quo and is proactive about something, always with great kindness and benevolence.
Example: the enlarged letter Bet which begins the Torah. Be-reyshit bara Eloqim...
So how is cursing our Holy Land of Israel so that we're forced to flee into exile an act of kindness?
The rabbis in Talmud Bavli Masechet Sofrim argue that this word should be read as lakhem, to you (plural), implying that G@d will be a personal G@d to the individual exiled Jews even after we're vomited out of the Land. Why is this relevant? Because in the ancient religions of the Fertile Crescent the gods and idols were very much tied to the local area where they were worshipped, and were only believed to have power in their own neighbourhood, so to speak. But we wouldn't have to worry, because wherever G@d scattered us, the Holy presence of the Shekhinah would be there too.
So this image of The Holy One driving us out is a violent one, but remember that Lamed is a goad, not a whip, it doesn't just punish, it coaxes. We would be taught a very hard lesson by our exile from our home, the Land of Israel, but only because we had first exiled G@d from our hearts.
Talmud Bavli Yoma 29a refers to 22 saintly women in our history, each with a quality which represents a letter of the Hebrew alefbet. The letter Lamed is the symbol of Devorah (Haftarah Beshallach, Shofetim/Judges 4:4-5:31). Who was Devorah? She was named after Rivqah's wet nurse, who died at the same time as Rivqah (Be-reyshit/Genesis 35:8 Par'shat Va-yishlakh) and was buried in that area.
And what did Devorah do?
She judged us and decided questions of law for the whole nation - a posek, or poseket. She was considered to have been a vessel for the ru'ach nevu'ah/spirit of prophesy. She also goaded Baraq - who was commanded by G@d to go to war with Sisera. Ha-Shem guaranteed Baraq would be victorious and yet he, feeling unworthy of such a miracle, refused to go to war unless Devorah accompanied him.
Baraq felt that only her merit would guarantee his success. Devorah's response:
"I will go with you, but the path you have chosen to go will not be for your glory. Ha-Shem will deliver Sisera into the hand of woman." Silly Baraq. You always get second best when you deviate from what G@d asks you to do.
In Devorah's song, Shofetim/Judges 5:1 - 31, she sings of how when the people of Israel devote themselves to Ha-Shem, they travel safely, the land blossoms and there was no war made against us. But when we forget G@d, we experience calamity.
This enlarged Lamed prophesies the coming of Devorah ha-Neviyah. Just to remind us about being very careful of the path that we choose.
Copyright © A. Barclay
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Full Moon of Elul - יָרֵחַ מָלֵא אלול
בס''ד
BS"D
Today is the 13th day of the Jewish month of Elul (אלול). The yare'ach maley, full moon, is just around the corner. This month of introspection, of turning and returning to The Holy One, is almost half over, when the waxing moon will swell to her fullest, then wane through the days leading us to Rosh Ha-Shanah, the Jewish New Year, the anniversary of the Creation of people.
To remind us that another New Year is coming and to awaken our yearning for teshuvah, repentance, each Elul morning except Shabbat my husband and I have prayed in our lush garden facing east, to Jerusalem, then blown the shofar on our back patio. We recite Tehilim/Psalm 27. We are truly blessed.
קידוש לבנה Qidush Levanah is the monthly sanctification of the moon, called levanah or yare'ach in Hebrew. According to various traditional sources, one must perform this ritual either the first moment one sees the moon in its new phase, or before the tenth day of the lunar month, or by the full moon at the latest. And always at night.
Talmud Bavli Sanhedrin 42a gifts us with the words to bless this Heavenly body, although Ashkenazi and Sefardi customs differ. In essence we are praising The Holy One for for such marvelous creations, including the miracle of the moon's monthly rebirth. We see this as a symbol of G@d's promise to redeem all the Jewish People and to make us complete once more in the Land of Israel.
The gematria, numerological value, of Elul is 67. When one add this number to the gematrial of yare'ach, which is 218, we get 285. And what is 285 the number of?
רוח נדיבה - ru'ach nadivah - a charitable, generous open-hearted willing or ready spirit or essence. A giving, open-handed attitude. And guess what? It's feminine.
So when you bless the moon of Elul tonight or tomorrow, remember that The Holy One is waiting with open arms to warmly welcome you back for a New Year.
And say a shehechiyanu.
Copyright © A. Barclay
BS"D
Today is the 13th day of the Jewish month of Elul (אלול). The yare'ach maley, full moon, is just around the corner. This month of introspection, of turning and returning to The Holy One, is almost half over, when the waxing moon will swell to her fullest, then wane through the days leading us to Rosh Ha-Shanah, the Jewish New Year, the anniversary of the Creation of people.
To remind us that another New Year is coming and to awaken our yearning for teshuvah, repentance, each Elul morning except Shabbat my husband and I have prayed in our lush garden facing east, to Jerusalem, then blown the shofar on our back patio. We recite Tehilim/Psalm 27. We are truly blessed.
קידוש לבנה Qidush Levanah is the monthly sanctification of the moon, called levanah or yare'ach in Hebrew. According to various traditional sources, one must perform this ritual either the first moment one sees the moon in its new phase, or before the tenth day of the lunar month, or by the full moon at the latest. And always at night.
Talmud Bavli Sanhedrin 42a gifts us with the words to bless this Heavenly body, although Ashkenazi and Sefardi customs differ. In essence we are praising The Holy One for for such marvelous creations, including the miracle of the moon's monthly rebirth. We see this as a symbol of G@d's promise to redeem all the Jewish People and to make us complete once more in the Land of Israel.
The gematria, numerological value, of Elul is 67. When one add this number to the gematrial of yare'ach, which is 218, we get 285. And what is 285 the number of?
רוח נדיבה - ru'ach nadivah - a charitable, generous open-hearted willing or ready spirit or essence. A giving, open-handed attitude. And guess what? It's feminine.
So when you bless the moon of Elul tonight or tomorrow, remember that The Holy One is waiting with open arms to warmly welcome you back for a New Year.
And say a shehechiyanu.
Copyright © A. Barclay
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Megillat Ruth: Enlarged Letter Nun - מגילת רות: נ' רבתי
BS"D
Some time back my good friend Simon Montagu wrote to me about the connection between the enlarged letter Nun in Parshat Ki Tisa (Sh'mot/Exodus 34:7) נצר and the enlarged Nun in Ruth 3:13 לִינִי הַלַּיְלָה:
"Hhesed is of course one of the main themes of Ruth," he commented, "and so is the origins of the Mashiahh, so I'm sure the connection is there."
I answered that, among many other things, the letter Nun symbolizes downfall with simultaneous salvation, fruitfulness, and faithfulness leading to Moshiach, all of which apply to Ruth.
This voort, this d'var Torah, is inspired by and dedicated to Simon, with much gratitude.
So here goes:
In the Book of/Megilat Ruth chapter three we find an intimate scenario between our protagonist/heroine Ruth, the Moabite convert to Judaism widowed by her Israelite husband, and the only man who can provide her with a secure future, her dead husband's relative, Bo'az.
According to Jastrow, her Moabite name was Ruth (רות), because "she looked at (approved of) the words of her mother-in-law" (Naomi). This name has the same root letters - Reysh-Tav - as a Talmudic word for "pity, relief, mercy, to treat favourably", ratui (רתוי).
Bo'az's root name (בֹּעַז), on the other hand, can mean עַז ('az): strong, mighty or intense; or עֹז ('oz): courage, daring, might or strength. When we think of people's names in TaNaKh as their roles, their purpose for living, then we clearly see here that Ruth needs help from a reliable source to lift her out of her quandry. Both she and Bo'az understand this. They complete each other by giving the opportunity to fulfil their life's purpose through the other.
As we read chapter three and see Ruth's dead husband's mother advising her to enhance her physical charms, then secretly join Bo'az alone, we prepare for a seduction. It's not clear whether this indeed happened at this point - opinions disagree as to whether their physical relationship was consummated now or after their wedding - but Ruth did leave quite an impression on Bo'az, as we read in verse thirteen:
Notice the enlarged letter Nun in the word "linger", ליני, lini. I ask myself three questons: Why an enlarged letter, why the letter Nun in particular, and why in the word "linger"?
Why an Enlarged Letter?
Rabbi Chaim David Halevy (1924/5-1998), Kabbalist and former Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, writes in his Quntres Torah Min Hashamayim (Booklet of Heavenly Torah) that each time a letter is written enlarged in TaNaKh, this shows us G@d extending Divine benevolence, doing an extra deed of loving-kindness, of chesed (חסד) for us.
Why the letter Nun?
The gematria/numerological value of the letter Nun is fifty. According to Rav Yitzchak Ginsburgh, the number 50 and the letter Nun represent the Shekhinah (G@d's Divine Feminine Presence), who is the originatrix of each soul of Israel.
We count fifty days of the Omer between Pesach and Shavu'ot, which is when we read Megilat Ruth. We read it on this day because it documents the יִחוּס yichus, pedigree, of David Ha-melekh, who was born and niftar on Shavu'ot (Shulchan Arukh with Mishnah Berurah 490:9; Shaarei Teshuvah 494:3). The souls of Israel are kings and the children of kings. The heir to this throne is Moshiach, beginning with King David (a Moshiach, just not the Moshiach), the great-grandchild of Ruth and Bo'az, and ending with our final redemption still to come, she-yibane Beit Ha-Miqdash bimheyra be-yameynu.
Nun also symbolizes the receiving vessel of this soul of Moshiach, and the ne'eman נאמן or Faithful One. Nun is the fourteenth letter of the Alefbet, which equals "David" - דוד – as the letter Dalet (ד) is worth four and Vav (ו) worth six, so 8+6=14.
Nun, last but not least, stands for neshamah נשמה, the third of five levels to the soul. This level of soul directly perceives the Shekhinah.
Why the word "Linger"?
The final clue hides, rather obviously, in what Bo'az says:
"Linger tonight", or "Linger this night", as הלילה ha-lailah means. Bo'az may have been inviting Ruth to remain close to him that night, but he was also inviting another force to linger with them. Rabbi Chaninah writes in the Babylonian Talmud tractate Niddah 16b that “The name of the angel in charge of conception is Lailah”.
The story of Lailah can be found in Midrash Tanhuma-Yelamedeynu, Pekudei 3, first published in (Istanbul, not) Constantinople in 1522.
Lailah, one of the only female angels, serves the sacred task of bringing the seeds and the soul together and then plants it in the womb. She is the souls' midwife. It is she who illuminates the womb so that the infant can see from one end of time/space/Creation to the other, and it is she who teaches unborn Jewish children the entire Torah, and the history of our souls.
When it's our time to be born, Lailah cuts the illumination and brings us forth into the world. The instant we emerge, she lightly presses her index finger to our upper lips, saying “Shhh,” and this makes us forget everything we learned in utero, so we make our first cry. Notice that the knowledge is still present, just forgotten, like the Jungian idea of Collective Unconscious. This is our explanation also for our philtrum, the vertical indentation between our nose and lips.
סִיּוּם
This enlarged Nun is the neshamah, the soul, of Moshiach patiently waiting to be conceived by the couple destined to bring it into the world. The soul of Adam Qadmon, which will animate Ruth and Bo'az's great-grandson David, and will transmigrate to our future Messiah.
Bo'az and Ruth have opened their hearts to each other through the chesed חסד, loving-kindness they've paid one another throught to narrative, and as they turn their destinies to enter the Divine Flow which is the will of G@d, they are inviting the angel Lailah to guide the soul of Moshiach present with them on that threshing-floor down through their union.
לילאה טוב
Lailah tov
Sources:
Jastrow's Dictionary of the Targumim, Talmud Babli, Yerushalmi, and Midrashic Literature
Talmud Bavli Masekhet Niddah 16b and 30b
Midrash Tanhuma-Yelamedeynu Pequdey 3
Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg
Zohar
Anaf Yosef on Talmud Bavli Masekhet Niddah 30b
---
Cross-posted on Facebook
Copyright A. Barclay
Some time back my good friend Simon Montagu wrote to me about the connection between the enlarged letter Nun in Parshat Ki Tisa (Sh'mot/Exodus 34:7) נצר and the enlarged Nun in Ruth 3:13 לִינִי הַלַּיְלָה:
"Hhesed is of course one of the main themes of Ruth," he commented, "and so is the origins of the Mashiahh, so I'm sure the connection is there."
I answered that, among many other things, the letter Nun symbolizes downfall with simultaneous salvation, fruitfulness, and faithfulness leading to Moshiach, all of which apply to Ruth.
This voort, this d'var Torah, is inspired by and dedicated to Simon, with much gratitude.
So here goes:
In the Book of/Megilat Ruth chapter three we find an intimate scenario between our protagonist/heroine Ruth, the Moabite convert to Judaism widowed by her Israelite husband, and the only man who can provide her with a secure future, her dead husband's relative, Bo'az.
According to Jastrow, her Moabite name was Ruth (רות), because "she looked at (approved of) the words of her mother-in-law" (Naomi). This name has the same root letters - Reysh-Tav - as a Talmudic word for "pity, relief, mercy, to treat favourably", ratui (רתוי).
Bo'az's root name (בֹּעַז), on the other hand, can mean עַז ('az): strong, mighty or intense; or עֹז ('oz): courage, daring, might or strength. When we think of people's names in TaNaKh as their roles, their purpose for living, then we clearly see here that Ruth needs help from a reliable source to lift her out of her quandry. Both she and Bo'az understand this. They complete each other by giving the opportunity to fulfil their life's purpose through the other.
As we read chapter three and see Ruth's dead husband's mother advising her to enhance her physical charms, then secretly join Bo'az alone, we prepare for a seduction. It's not clear whether this indeed happened at this point - opinions disagree as to whether their physical relationship was consummated now or after their wedding - but Ruth did leave quite an impression on Bo'az, as we read in verse thirteen:
לִינִי הַלַּיְלָה, וְהָיָה בַבֹּקֶר אִם-יִגְאָלֵךְ טוֹב יִגְאָל, וְאִם-לֹא יַחְפֹּץ לְגָאֳלֵךְ וּגְאַלְתִּיךְ אָנֹכִי, חַי-יְהוָה; שִׁכְבִי, עַד-הַבֹּקֶר.
Linger tonight, and tomorrow morning if he will redeem you, good. Let him redeem you; but if he's unwilling to redeem you, then I will, as the L@RD lives. Lie down until the morning.'
Notice the enlarged letter Nun in the word "linger", ליני, lini. I ask myself three questons: Why an enlarged letter, why the letter Nun in particular, and why in the word "linger"?
Why an Enlarged Letter?
Rabbi Chaim David Halevy (1924/5-1998), Kabbalist and former Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, writes in his Quntres Torah Min Hashamayim (Booklet of Heavenly Torah) that each time a letter is written enlarged in TaNaKh, this shows us G@d extending Divine benevolence, doing an extra deed of loving-kindness, of chesed (חסד) for us.
Why the letter Nun?
The gematria/numerological value of the letter Nun is fifty. According to Rav Yitzchak Ginsburgh, the number 50 and the letter Nun represent the Shekhinah (G@d's Divine Feminine Presence), who is the originatrix of each soul of Israel.
We count fifty days of the Omer between Pesach and Shavu'ot, which is when we read Megilat Ruth. We read it on this day because it documents the יִחוּס yichus, pedigree, of David Ha-melekh, who was born and niftar on Shavu'ot (Shulchan Arukh with Mishnah Berurah 490:9; Shaarei Teshuvah 494:3). The souls of Israel are kings and the children of kings. The heir to this throne is Moshiach, beginning with King David (a Moshiach, just not the Moshiach), the great-grandchild of Ruth and Bo'az, and ending with our final redemption still to come, she-yibane Beit Ha-Miqdash bimheyra be-yameynu.
Nun also symbolizes the receiving vessel of this soul of Moshiach, and the ne'eman נאמן or Faithful One. Nun is the fourteenth letter of the Alefbet, which equals "David" - דוד – as the letter Dalet (ד) is worth four and Vav (ו) worth six, so 8+6=14.
Nun, last but not least, stands for neshamah נשמה, the third of five levels to the soul. This level of soul directly perceives the Shekhinah.
Why the word "Linger"?
The final clue hides, rather obviously, in what Bo'az says:
"Linger tonight", or "Linger this night", as הלילה ha-lailah means. Bo'az may have been inviting Ruth to remain close to him that night, but he was also inviting another force to linger with them. Rabbi Chaninah writes in the Babylonian Talmud tractate Niddah 16b that “The name of the angel in charge of conception is Lailah”.
The story of Lailah can be found in Midrash Tanhuma-Yelamedeynu, Pekudei 3, first published in (Istanbul, not) Constantinople in 1522.
Lailah, one of the only female angels, serves the sacred task of bringing the seeds and the soul together and then plants it in the womb. She is the souls' midwife. It is she who illuminates the womb so that the infant can see from one end of time/space/Creation to the other, and it is she who teaches unborn Jewish children the entire Torah, and the history of our souls.
When it's our time to be born, Lailah cuts the illumination and brings us forth into the world. The instant we emerge, she lightly presses her index finger to our upper lips, saying “Shhh,” and this makes us forget everything we learned in utero, so we make our first cry. Notice that the knowledge is still present, just forgotten, like the Jungian idea of Collective Unconscious. This is our explanation also for our philtrum, the vertical indentation between our nose and lips.
סִיּוּם
This enlarged Nun is the neshamah, the soul, of Moshiach patiently waiting to be conceived by the couple destined to bring it into the world. The soul of Adam Qadmon, which will animate Ruth and Bo'az's great-grandson David, and will transmigrate to our future Messiah.
Bo'az and Ruth have opened their hearts to each other through the chesed חסד, loving-kindness they've paid one another throught to narrative, and as they turn their destinies to enter the Divine Flow which is the will of G@d, they are inviting the angel Lailah to guide the soul of Moshiach present with them on that threshing-floor down through their union.
לילאה טוב
Lailah tov
Sources:
Jastrow's Dictionary of the Targumim, Talmud Babli, Yerushalmi, and Midrashic Literature
Talmud Bavli Masekhet Niddah 16b and 30b
Midrash Tanhuma-Yelamedeynu Pequdey 3
Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg
Zohar
Anaf Yosef on Talmud Bavli Masekhet Niddah 30b
---
Cross-posted on Facebook
Copyright A. Barclay
Friday, May 22, 2009
Parshat Ba-midbar: Dotted Letters in the Desert
BS"D
In Sifri there are ten instances where a word or group of words appears where one or all of the letters are dotted in the text. In this week's Torah portion, Ba-Midbar, we find a curious series of dots over the name of Aharon, the High Priest. Ba-midbar/Numbers 3:39 reads:
Ve-Aharon (ואהרן) has five dots, one over each letter. Talmud Bavli Masekhet Sof'rim states that "ten in the Torah are marked by dots", then lists them. The Netziv on Sifri teaches us that if every letter of a word is dotted (as in this case), then this word abandons its usual meaning. We are invited to look deeper into the text, to engage in discussion, thereby entering into relationship and taking ownership of Torah.
So what do we do here, with Aharon? The name of the כהן גדול Kohen Gadol, the High Priest, is not as it seems.
Rabbi Marc-Alain Ouaknin, in his masterpiece The Burnt Book: Reading the Torah, writes:
And why was Aharon not included in that census even though he was a Levite? Rashi writes that Aharon's name is dotted because although he was a Levi, he wasn't included in the Levite census. Why was he not counted?
Rashi goes on: "The tribe of Levi was counted separately from the other tribes of Israel, because it is fit for the legions of a King to be counted separately."
Therefore, Aharon wasn't counted with his own tribe of Levi - but Moshe *was*! Aharon, not only as Kohen Gadol, but also as a person, was so unique, so special that he couldn't be counted or even included in a general census. Aharon was beyond all definition.
And why is the letter Vav (ו) of ve-Aharon dotted? Why "and Aharon" and not just "Aharon"? Why FIVE dots and not four?
According to the Zohar, Aaron was an expert therapist who helped save many relationships. The five dots over "ve- Aharon", alludes to the five levels of חסד chesed (loving-kindness) which he held and shared. Aaron's special role is mentioned in Pirkei Avot: "Hillel said, 'Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace, pursuing peace, loving all of G@d's creations, and bringing them near to the Torah.'"
Aharon brought oneness to our kehilah with peacemaking and kiruv, outreach. His mission is also hinted at in his name: Alef, Hey, Reysh, stand for אהבה רבה, ahavah rabah, or "great love". His name's final letter, Nun Sofit (ן), shows his ability to "draw down" this great love from Shomayim into our kehilah below. Just as the body of the final Nun descends below the line, so Aaron could descend to those of us who had fallen, lift us up and bring us closer to the ahavah rabah of G@d.
The English word "dot" comes from the Greek word for the letter "iota", which in turn comes from the letter Yud. Yud's gematrial value is ten. Five dots multiplied by ten 5 x 10 = 50. The number fifty represents of Shavu'ot, the fiftieth day after Passover, after our long count of the Omer. So Aharon, as the embodiment of loving-kindness, represents the attitude we must adopt to receive Torah on the fiftieth day.
As we draw to a close of our counting of the Omer and prepare to approach our own personal Sinaitic revelations, may we be blessed with Aharon's capacity of deveykut, to truly open with love and kindness to cleave to G@d in the full and joyful way we are each meant to.
---
Sources:
Rashi
Zohar
Midrash Rabbah
Masekhet Sofrim
Nehama Leibowitz's Studies in Bamidbar
Sifrei on Bamidbar
Rabbi Marc-Alain Ouaknin's The Burnt Book: Reading the Torah
Pirkei Avot
Tanya
---
Cross-posted on Facebook
Copyright A. Barclay
"Three times was G-d exiled: in the Name, in the bursting open of the Name, and in the effacing of this bursting open."
- Edmond Jabès (Cairo, 1912 – Paris, 1991) Jewish writer and poet
In Sifri there are ten instances where a word or group of words appears where one or all of the letters are dotted in the text. In this week's Torah portion, Ba-Midbar, we find a curious series of dots over the name of Aharon, the High Priest. Ba-midbar/Numbers 3:39 reads:
כָּל-פְּקוּדֵי הַלְוִיִּם אֲשֶׁר פָּקַד מֹשֶׁה וְאַהֲרֹן, עַל-פִּי יְהוָה--לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם: כָּל-זָכָר מִבֶּן-חֹדֶשׁ וָמַעְלָה, שְׁנַיִם וְעֶשְׂרִים אָלֶף.
All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moshe and Aharon counted at the utterance of the LORD, by their families, all males from a month old and upward, were twenty two thousand.
Ve-Aharon (ואהרן) has five dots, one over each letter. Talmud Bavli Masekhet Sof'rim states that "ten in the Torah are marked by dots", then lists them. The Netziv on Sifri teaches us that if every letter of a word is dotted (as in this case), then this word abandons its usual meaning. We are invited to look deeper into the text, to engage in discussion, thereby entering into relationship and taking ownership of Torah.
So what do we do here, with Aharon? The name of the כהן גדול Kohen Gadol, the High Priest, is not as it seems.
Rabbi Marc-Alain Ouaknin, in his masterpiece The Burnt Book: Reading the Torah, writes:
"Altogether the total count of Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered." The name Aaron is completey dotted. The Midrash explains that Aaron was not included in the counting of those numbered (he counted but was not himself counted). Because of the dotting, Aaron is excluded, effaced.
And why was Aharon not included in that census even though he was a Levite? Rashi writes that Aharon's name is dotted because although he was a Levi, he wasn't included in the Levite census. Why was he not counted?
Rashi goes on: "The tribe of Levi was counted separately from the other tribes of Israel, because it is fit for the legions of a King to be counted separately."
Therefore, Aharon wasn't counted with his own tribe of Levi - but Moshe *was*! Aharon, not only as Kohen Gadol, but also as a person, was so unique, so special that he couldn't be counted or even included in a general census. Aharon was beyond all definition.
And why is the letter Vav (ו) of ve-Aharon dotted? Why "and Aharon" and not just "Aharon"? Why FIVE dots and not four?
According to the Zohar, Aaron was an expert therapist who helped save many relationships. The five dots over "ve- Aharon", alludes to the five levels of חסד chesed (loving-kindness) which he held and shared. Aaron's special role is mentioned in Pirkei Avot: "Hillel said, 'Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace, pursuing peace, loving all of G@d's creations, and bringing them near to the Torah.'"
Aharon brought oneness to our kehilah with peacemaking and kiruv, outreach. His mission is also hinted at in his name: Alef, Hey, Reysh, stand for אהבה רבה, ahavah rabah, or "great love". His name's final letter, Nun Sofit (ן), shows his ability to "draw down" this great love from Shomayim into our kehilah below. Just as the body of the final Nun descends below the line, so Aaron could descend to those of us who had fallen, lift us up and bring us closer to the ahavah rabah of G@d.
The English word "dot" comes from the Greek word for the letter "iota", which in turn comes from the letter Yud. Yud's gematrial value is ten. Five dots multiplied by ten 5 x 10 = 50. The number fifty represents of Shavu'ot, the fiftieth day after Passover, after our long count of the Omer. So Aharon, as the embodiment of loving-kindness, represents the attitude we must adopt to receive Torah on the fiftieth day.
As we draw to a close of our counting of the Omer and prepare to approach our own personal Sinaitic revelations, may we be blessed with Aharon's capacity of deveykut, to truly open with love and kindness to cleave to G@d in the full and joyful way we are each meant to.
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Sources:
Rashi
Zohar
Midrash Rabbah
Masekhet Sofrim
Nehama Leibowitz's Studies in Bamidbar
Sifrei on Bamidbar
Rabbi Marc-Alain Ouaknin's The Burnt Book: Reading the Torah
Pirkei Avot
Tanya
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Cross-posted on Facebook
Copyright A. Barclay
Thursday, February 12, 2009
WOMEN TO EMULATE
The Alef-Bet as the Twenty-two Saintly Women in our history, each with a quality represented by a Hebrew letter inspired by Talmud Bavli Yoma 29a - Table of Correspondences:
1. Alef/א - Sarah - שרה - Genesis 11:29-23:19 – בראשית יא:כט–כד:יט
2. Bet/ב - Riv’qah – רבקה - Genesis 24:15-25:25 – בראשית כד:טו–כה:כה
3. Gimel/ג - Rachel – רחל - Genesis 29:6-35:16 – בראשית כט:ו–לה:יו
4. Dalet/ד - Le’ah – לאה - Genesis 29:16-49:31 – בראשית כט:יו–מט:לא
5. Hey/ה - Yokheved – יוכבד - Exodus 2:1, 6:20 - שמות ב:א, ו:כ; Numbers 26:59 – במדבר כו:נט
6. Vav/ו - Miriyam – מרים - Exodus 2:4-Numbers 20:1 – שמות ב:ד–במדבר כ:א
7. Zayin/ז - Machlah - מחלה - Numbers 27:1-7 – במדבר כז:א–ז
8. Chet/ח - No’ah - נעה - ibid.
9. Tet/ט - Chaglah – חגלה - ibid.
10. Yud/י - Milkah – מלכה - ibid.
11. Khaf/כ - Tirtzah – תרצה - ibid.
12. Lamed/ל - Devorah – דבורה - Judges 4:4-5:1 – שופטים ד:ד–ה:א
13. Mem/מ - Mano’ach’s wife/Shimshon’s mother –אשת מנוח/אם של שמשון - Judges 13:2 - שופטים יג:ב
14. Nun/נ - Chanah – חנה - I Samuel 1:2-2:21 – א שמואל א:ב–ב:כי
15. Samekh/ס -Avigayil – אביגיל - I Samuel 25:3-42 – א שמואל כה:ג–מ:ב
16. Ayin/ע - Woman of Tekoa - אשה מתקוע - II Samuel 14:2-20 – ב שמואל ד:ב–כ
17. Peh/פ - Widow of Tzar’fat - אלמנת צרפת - I Kings 17:9-24 – א מלכים יז:ט–כד
18. Tzadi/צ - the Shunamitess – השונמית - II Kings 4:8-8:6 – ב מלכים ד:ח–ח:ו
19. Quf/ק - Chuldah – חלדה - II Kings 22:14 - ב מלכים כב:יד; II Chronicles 34:24 - ב דברי הימים לד:כד
20. Reysh/ר - Naomi – נעמי - The Book of Ruth – מגילת רות
21. Shin/ש - Yehosheva - יהושבע - II Kings 1:2 - ב מלכים א:ב; II Chronicles 22:11 - ב דברי הימים כב:יא
22. Tav/ת - Queen Esther – אסתר המלכה - The Book of Esther – מגילת אסתר
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Based on article originally published November 2004 at:
http://soferet.blogspot.com/2004/11/bsd-women-to-emulate-alef-bet-as.html
Copyright A. Barclay
1. Alef/א - Sarah - שרה - Genesis 11:29-23:19 – בראשית יא:כט–כד:יט
2. Bet/ב - Riv’qah – רבקה - Genesis 24:15-25:25 – בראשית כד:טו–כה:כה
3. Gimel/ג - Rachel – רחל - Genesis 29:6-35:16 – בראשית כט:ו–לה:יו
4. Dalet/ד - Le’ah – לאה - Genesis 29:16-49:31 – בראשית כט:יו–מט:לא
5. Hey/ה - Yokheved – יוכבד - Exodus 2:1, 6:20 - שמות ב:א, ו:כ; Numbers 26:59 – במדבר כו:נט
6. Vav/ו - Miriyam – מרים - Exodus 2:4-Numbers 20:1 – שמות ב:ד–במדבר כ:א
7. Zayin/ז - Machlah - מחלה - Numbers 27:1-7 – במדבר כז:א–ז
8. Chet/ח - No’ah - נעה - ibid.
9. Tet/ט - Chaglah – חגלה - ibid.
10. Yud/י - Milkah – מלכה - ibid.
11. Khaf/כ - Tirtzah – תרצה - ibid.
12. Lamed/ל - Devorah – דבורה - Judges 4:4-5:1 – שופטים ד:ד–ה:א
13. Mem/מ - Mano’ach’s wife/Shimshon’s mother –אשת מנוח/אם של שמשון - Judges 13:2 - שופטים יג:ב
14. Nun/נ - Chanah – חנה - I Samuel 1:2-2:21 – א שמואל א:ב–ב:כי
15. Samekh/ס -Avigayil – אביגיל - I Samuel 25:3-42 – א שמואל כה:ג–מ:ב
16. Ayin/ע - Woman of Tekoa - אשה מתקוע - II Samuel 14:2-20 – ב שמואל ד:ב–כ
17. Peh/פ - Widow of Tzar’fat - אלמנת צרפת - I Kings 17:9-24 – א מלכים יז:ט–כד
18. Tzadi/צ - the Shunamitess – השונמית - II Kings 4:8-8:6 – ב מלכים ד:ח–ח:ו
19. Quf/ק - Chuldah – חלדה - II Kings 22:14 - ב מלכים כב:יד; II Chronicles 34:24 - ב דברי הימים לד:כד
20. Reysh/ר - Naomi – נעמי - The Book of Ruth – מגילת רות
21. Shin/ש - Yehosheva - יהושבע - II Kings 1:2 - ב מלכים א:ב; II Chronicles 22:11 - ב דברי הימים כב:יא
22. Tav/ת - Queen Esther – אסתר המלכה - The Book of Esther – מגילת אסתר
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Based on article originally published November 2004 at:
http://soferet.blogspot.com/2004/11/bsd-women-to-emulate-alef-bet-as.html
Copyright A. Barclay
Friday, December 26, 2008
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.
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
---
First published March 2005 at Netivat Sofrut
Cross-posted on Facebook
Copyright A. Barclay, all rights reserved.
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