The Hebrew Letters

THE STORY OF THE HEBREW LETTERS

    The Letters were always a source of fascination and inspiration to sages, mystics, artists, scientists and many others. The search for their meaning as Signs and Wonders continues through all times. Today, they appear with their full practical potential to be used as tools of personal change. By redeeming the stories of our lives, we redeem the world.

        Each and every language has sounds and shapes, but it is very rare that some seekers of truth spend their entire lives contemplating this ancient biblical language and came to understand that these Letters are images and symbols which speak to the mind through the eyes — images for palpable things, symbols for mental ones. Moreover, images and symbols with magical creative powers which exist, like an energetic grid or a web, behind and above the language itself. These geometric characters that have the pictorial algebra of the sciences and the arts were understood to simply create our world and maintain its existence. Our amazing sages discovered that this language conceals an organic built-in construct which aims to keep an ongoing flexibility of the biblical text’s meaning — one that can fit and guide the spiritual needs of any period in historical timeline for both the individual and community.

        The follower of biblical text indirectly is directed to live a way of life filled with alertness and awareness. Filled with holiness. It naturally expands his or her consciousness. Therefore Hebrew earns the name ‘Holy-Language’ and ‘The Language of Truth’ (see more in my book “The Truth about the Hebrew Language”). Yet, we live in times where the word ‘holy’ is just starting to be understood and experienced. This spiritual work with the Letters is exploring these quests, deepening them and giving them a contemporary context. When we are available to be touched by it, we change and our lives are transformed.

        The Hebrew language, being one of the oldest languages in the known world, is based on roots, meaning a whole family of words, relating to each other or even opposite to each other, derives from each root. If Alef is One (echad in Hebrew, wachad in Arabic), she is also what the number One means: unity, wholeness, infinite, and surprisingly, love (ahavah/ אהבה. All of these meanings are derived from her root name. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Imagine what each and every Letter in this language contributes — a whole world of meanings. Therefore, the Letters are known as “signs and wonders”, “tools of creation.” So the language, like any other story in the Bible, is a story that exists on four levels known to us as well.

        Today, many are being led to contemplate the Letters anew and discover by experience their spiritual gifts and Zoharic depth. So, let us review some linguistic aspects.

        The first letter in Hebrew is Alef; in Greek, it is Alpha, and in Arabic, Alief. Alef does not have a sound; it is all sounds or no sounds, it is the highest sound and the lowest, it is the sound of breath before the actual recognizable sound. It is there when we open our mouth to utter something… It is a breath. In Hebrew, the word for breath is neshama which also means “soul.” It is very clear from the language, yet unknown to most people. Why is Alef so unusual? Because Alef as the first grand “sound” of all sounds, the “do” of the octave of Creation, is the foundation of how the world works. In Hebrew, the name Alef (אלף) is defined as: chief, head, intimate friend/husband, lord, leader, champion and master. To ensure this truth, Alef has the numerical value of one! One is the unity of all. Each Hebrew Letter has a numerical value. The language has another mysterious hidden language behind it — a language of numbers. There are many schools of thought based on yet another amazing phenomenon of Hebrew.

        This language, being one of the oldest languages in the known world, is based on roots, meaning families of words, relating to each other in meaning or even containing opposite meanings of the same word (turning any translation into relative and temporary text). If Alef is One (echad in Hebrew, wachad in Arabic), she is also what the number One means: unity, wholeness, infinite, and surprisingly, love (ahavah/ אהבה). All of these meanings are derived from her root name. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Imagine what each and every Letter in this language contributes — a whole world of meanings and connections we have never seen before. Therefore, the Letters are known as “signs and wonders” and seen as tools of creation. So the language, like any other story in the Bible, is a story that exists on four levels known to us as well.

        Interestingly, science today is becoming a messenger of what Kabbalah has been teaching openly or secretly for millennia. This is the significance of Letter Alef: That all is connected in, as Einstein noticed, in “spooky” ways — even atoms that were separated from each other and have no logical reason to relate. Was it a secret? Perhaps. To those who did not seek it. To the Kabbalists and other seekers of truth, and many “uneducated” people, it was always a reality. An experiential one.

        The insights I received connect two opposite aspects of the Letters: Their spiritual characters as tools of creation or signs and wonders, and the practical aspect, which offers spiritual guidance in the world of deeds and actions. Thus the Letters are a spiritual guide in both personal levels seeking inspiration and consultation, and the level of the collective need for wholeness and harmony in the community life and the life of the world.

        This wisdom, “mother consciousness” brought by biblical Abraham and Sarah, Moses and his sister Miriam, gave birth to many other schools of thought and traditions. Judaism can, therefore, be looked at not as a religion, but an underground force of awakening that aligns us with the Infinite/ein sof – that which does not have a name and cannot totally be grasped by the human mind. Therefore, the Hebrew language is a universal language – a language which carries a new message of Wholeness especially for our time – a time of paradigm shift.

        Again, this does not mean that there are no other languages or soul-level consciousness with which to perceive reality, to grow, to practice and learn, and be in the world. But this particular story, of this particular language, was designed in its core to address and serve an organic need of the human soul, the longing for Awakening, the wish to include all people and to serve all people. For that reason, it is instrumental and will continue to exist. Against all odds. Therefore it is called both in my book and the website a ‘mysterious universal language’. The vibrations of this language are still spreading, waiting to be known, and still waiting to lead, guide and serve. “We have been waiting for it”, was the answer I received from Reb. Zalman Shacter, founder of the Jewish Renewal Movement when I told him how I received those insights. What no longer serves or is needed in the Divine plan, eventually changes or disappears.

        Interestingly, science today is becoming a messenger of what Kabbalah has been teaching openly or secretly for millennia. This is the significance of Letter Alef: That all is connected in, as Einstein noticed, “spooky” ways — even atoms that were separated from each other and have no logical reason to relate. Was it a secret? Perhaps. To those who did not seek it. To the Kabbalists and other seekers of truth, and many “uneducated” people, it was always a reality. An experiential one.

        People say to me, “Yes, but ‘factually’ there were languages older than Hebrew. Like Aramaic, or other Semitic languages. My answer is: “We need to see the bigger picture. If we understand these 22 sound vibrations concealed in geometrical shapes, and their amazing significance right there in the first verse of Genesis, we will see that they have a role to play in the on- going creation of the world, in the maintenance of the world, and in its fulfillment of the aim of existence; of change and development towards wholeness and even holiness.

        Let’s look at the meaning of Alef as “intimate friend.” Here is the secret of all secrets: Alef, as the first tool of creation, is the breath – the breath of the Creator which was infused into the first human being called Adam. Meaning the creation of human beings is based on the foundation of this intimate relationship. This is what the Divine is waiting patiently for us to understand. It’s in the name given to Moses: “I Am that I Am”, or “I Will Be What I Will Be.” Imagine the name: “I Will Patiently Wait for You.” Imagine that He is the Lover, and we are the Beloved. This idea is fully expressed in a small book in the Bible not many speak about, called The Song of Songs. This eight-chapter book was called “the holy of holies” by one of the most well-known converted Jews, from second century BCA, Rabbi Akiba.

        People say to me:” I disagree with you but can you say more…?” This is an encouraging beginning.

        If we are called to witness the Divine on earth by the power of speech, we can understand why the Letters are considered by sages through all generations to be of cardinal value, and why God creates them right from the start, even before heaven and earth. They are indeed the first fruit which arrives from the Divine Wisdom, and with them all the rest unfolds and unfolds without a beginning or an end.

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