Secrets of the Hebrew Alphabet

222 Pages·2016·11.9 MB·English

by  Daniela Abravanel

Daniela Abravanel
The Secrets of the
Hebrew Alphabet
Translation: Kay Wallace
Cover: Amritagraphic
First digital edition September 2015, ISBN 978-88-97951-42-1
published by
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CONTENTS
Introduction
Ch. 1 - Alef
Intuition of Divine Oneness within multiplicity
Rediscovering the Creator with every breath
Adam’s mission
The ability to make associations and the Kabbalah
Ch. 2 - Bet
The perception of the deceptive plurality of creation
Bet, bayit: “house”
Blessing: the flow of Divine emanation
Ben and bat: children
Ch. 3 - Gimel
Animals: archetypes for divine messages
Gerim: “converts”
Ch. 4 - Dalet
Poverty and spiritual development
Dofek: “pulse”
Ch. 5 - Hei
Unambiguous communication
Hei, the gift of clear and pure communication
Using speech to repair emotions and transform enemies into friends
Speech of gratitude
Ch. 6 - Vav
The perception of the Divine in the natural world
Contemplation of nature
The body and health in the month of Iyar
Health as a process of renewed creation
Ch. 7 - Zayin
Discovering the correct rhythm of Yin and Yang
Memory and time: central aspects of Jewish life
Zayin, the Seven Noahide Laws
Ch. 8 - Chet
The feminine principle and the role of women in redemption
The “teachings of life” are transmitted through breastfeeding
The mikveh, love, and sexuality
Sun and moon, action and contemplation
Disease and “missing the target”
Ch. 9 - Tet
And God saw that it was good
God hidden in nature
Ch. 10 - Yud
The smallest people
The paradox of Israel
Who really are the people of Israel?
Yofi: “beauty”
Ch. 11 - Kaf
Physical force, the expression of Divine energy
Kelayot and kaved, kidneys and liver
Kaved: “liver”
Energy of love
Ch. 12 - Lamed
The art of loving
Ch. 13 - Mem
Water
The mikveh, conversion of the soul
The mikveh and women
Ch. 14 - Nun
The art of “falling” in the spiritual quest
The sign of Scorpio: returning to the essence in order to heal oneself of
obsession
Loving tests
Ch. 15 - Samech
The month of Kislev and the miracle of Chanukah
“Dreaming” with the month of Kislev and the letter samech
Ch. 16 - Ayin
Wisdom: the cure for anger
The “fountain of wisdom,” cure for anger and pride
Etzem: “bone”, “essence”
The Seventy Nations
Ch. 17 - Peh
Talmud and The Oral Tradition
The contrast between Greek culture and the oral Torah
Study and melody
Ch. 18 - Tzadik
Food as nourishment for the soul
Fasting in ancient and modern times
Eating and prophecy
Tzadik, the sign of Aquarius and the messianic era
Ch. 19 - Kuf
Kabbalah: the crown of the king
Kuf and descent into the depths
The sense of laughter
The Temple in Jerusalem, and the ketoret ha’besamim (“spice incense”)
The evil throne for good
Holiness and separation of the Jewish people: the “double bind”
Ch. 20 - Resh
The head as protection from evil
Evil and noise
Images of the mind
Ch. 21 - Shin
The element of fire
Joy
Ch. 22 - Tav
Tefillah: service of the heart
Approaching God
Teshuvah: return to the real essence
Prayer and desires
Teshuva: “return”
Tikun: “reparation”, “transformation”
Appendix 1 - Author and contributors
Daniela Abravanel, Author
Tobia Ravà
Frank Lalou
Josh Baum
Appendix 2 - Biographies of contemporary Torah teachers
Appendix 3 - A suggested meditation
Appendix 4 - Glossary
Appendix 5 - Bibliography
1. Classical Jewish texts
2. Modern works
INTRODUCTION
The Oral Tradition1 teaches that the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet
are vessels that channel God’s powerful spiritual energy for creating the world.
In other words, when the commandments “Let there be light, and there was
light…; Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters…; Let there be lights
in the firmament…,”2 were uttered, God permutated the individual letters of the
Hebrew alphabet. These letters are the “bricks” of creation that translate Divine
will into reality. However, the creation process did not only occur in the past.
God is continually creating and thereby intimately involved with the world every
moment.
We can clarify this concept by noting that the Hebrew word davar means both
“word” and “thing”. The same term for “thing” is used for the “word that created
the thing,” implying that the thing is, in essence, the word that was used by God
to create.
The study of the inner meanings of words and the creative power of the letters
is the heart of the Jewish esoteric tradition, Kabbalah. This book is not intended
to be a linguistic and etymological analysis of the alphabet, but an attempt to
convey the strong connection between the letters and the concepts and values
inherent in the Jewish tradition. Based on the a priori position that a language
reflects the culture and concerns of the people who speak it, the letters of the
Hebrew alphabet are a key to the ethics, values, spiritual obligations, and
metaphysical aspirations of the Jewish people.
The power of the letters resonates deeply with the human soul. Biblical
Hebrew is precisely structured, reflecting its Divine origin, which determines
each letter’s meaning, shape, numerical value, and position in the alphabet. A
corollary to this principle is the halachic3 rule that each letter in a Torah scroll,
mezuzah4, and tefillin5 must be perfectly written. No letter may be omitted or
improperly written, and its individual integrity may not be compromised by
being allowed to touch another letter. The same holds true for words. Any
missing, extra, or damaged word invalidates the entire scroll, until it is corrected.
If a Torah scroll cannot be corrected, it is buried in a Jewish cemetery, next to
the tomb of a tzadik, a righteous man.
The strong relationship between letters and human beings is the heart of the
Kabbalistic practice of “reading” the mezuzah (the Torah parchment affixed at
the doors of every Jewish home) in order to determine the reasons for problems
that the family is experiencing. According to the events occurring in the home,
some letters of the mezuzah may be erased or damaged by ink deterioration. In
addition, a missing letter, due to a scribe’s error, can have a dramatic impact on
the life of the family. For this reason, scribes must approach their task with
utmost honesty and integrity. Often the scribe will immerse himself in a mikveh
(ritual purification pool) in order to purify his thoughts before writing the
ineffable name of God (yudhei-vav-hei).
The dialogue between the text and the reader is also the basis of the Oral
Tradition. In the Oral Tradition, a personal interpretation of the written text is
developed according to many factors. The choice of the vowel that accompanies
the consonants gives different meanings to the word. In addition, the study of the
symbolism, form, numerical value,6 and teachings linked to each letter has been
fundamental for all the masters of the Torah’s Oral Tradition.
The Talmud,7 for instance, states that Betzalel8 knew how to combine the
letters that were used to create heaven and the earth, as it is written: “I have
filled him with the spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, and with
knowledge.”9 From this verse it is clear that even the masters of the Talmud
were fully aware that the energy of Hebrew letters is an aspect of the living,
dynamic, Divine light that penetrates every moment of our lives. Although the
laws regarding the scribes were written thousands of years before the advent of
quantum physics (which postulates that matter absorbs energy), they reflect the
energetic interplay between the letters, the reader, and the writer. Understanding
the mysterious link between Divine wisdom and the knowledge of the letters is
not exclusive to the Kabbalists. By studying the meaning of the Hebrew letters,
each one of us can learn more about the various aspects of Divine light.
The system of analysis and reflection used in this book is mostly based on
teachings from the Oral Tradition (i.e., the Talmud10 and the Midrash11) and on
Kabbalah, particularly the seminal Kabbalistic work Sefer Yetzirah (“The Book
of Formation”). I have also included my personal reflections, which have been
inspired via the process of actually drawing the letters. In fact, according to the
great Kabbalist, Rabbi Abraham Abulafia, one way of understanding the spirit of
the letters is to feel their energy by drawing them on a surface.12
Sefer Yetzirah13 describes how Abraham, too, gained enlightenment from the