Otiyot

Otiyot

The tvytva [Otiyot] exist independent of ink and paper - even independent of words. The Otiyot are mysteriously linked with the creative process of Olam. They are shapes and symbols that exist at the very center - the core - of Olam. They are vessels for light. The vessels are cracked and that... that is how the light gets in (or is it: out). Otiyot are the source of wisdom, of meditation and of fantasy.

There is a legend that they were first ‘seen’ as white fire on black fire.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch wrote commentaries on Otiyot. He explains that much of his commentary is based on (or derived from) the dreams of Pharaoh’s two servants which were explained on one level in a simple (straightforward) manner. But there was a puzzling aspect in that their fates were entwined in their own dream experiences. Yosef provided his “interpretation”, which the Torah refers to as the [vrtp [‘poterot’ - solution(s)] which has as its root the three letters: r-t-p relates to r-u-p... and that has the meaning of “to open”, as with an organic or natural opening. All of this is prelude to our understanding that Hirsch - on whom the Etymological Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew is developed - approached Otiyot carefully.

Otiyot [root: t-t-a] means: cut; penetrate; digging; signing; distinguishing emblem; with; intimately sharing; communicate (p.19) and Hirsch says that the language, the phrase, the word, if analyzed carefully and literally, will provide one with a complete understanding of what the Torah states! (It is important) “that one must scrutinize every word used in the Torah to find its literal meaning in order to fully understand the narrative and legal obligations.”

Beyond that; the Otiyot are the distinguishing emblems, the shapes and symbols that man uses to communicate... to share his ideas intimately... to sign and consign his concepts to another person. They - Otiyot - are the very letters of the Hebrew Alef-Beit which traditions tells us was used by HaShem in the very creation of... everything!

And with that we will look at some of the stories and events which rest upon the meanings of these twenty-two letters. The first of these words comes from our Book of Things - Devarim. There we find the long and ancient poem:

Remember the days of old...

... olvi tvmy rkz

He found him in the wilderness land...

... rbdm wrab vhaemy

He set him upon the high place of the earth

wra ytmb-li vhbkry

That he might eat the yield of the land

yds tbvnt lkayv

The he might suckle honey from the rock

ilcm sbd vhqnyv

And this is where we address the problem of communication in general, not just in translation from one ‘language’ to another or even across great times. How often have each of you found yourself unable to tell others in words, or even to remind ourselves (in words) of our true-deep-unique-thoughts and emotions? Is this the raison d’etre of music and of art? A true emotive-non-verbal communication? In these verses of prose, Moses tried to remind the “children of Jacob” of their history [behind them] and their destiny [ahead of them]. That they will wander not knowing where they will find food and water was, of course, foremost in everyone’s mind and Moses is talking in abstracts - how could his words [created of letters (Otiyot)] communicate to this unruly group of Jews and Gerim?

There is a way of knowing that is only awareness... and what was experienced was not in words; so how can it be remembered and told [let alone making an attempt an re-experiencing] in words? So it is even with religions as they become encrusted with centuries of mindless repetition. Even so, for us, we must never forget our heritage that Moses attempted to communicate - or rather: attempted to get the people to never forget and always to attempt to rediscover. Rediscover what lies buried in our genome and what Jung referred to as the “collective unconscious”.

There is the mystery of words and of the letters that make up those words. There is a story/medrash/legend/tale/rememberance that there are, in actuality, two Torahs [Torahot?] - the one that we read in the ink-black letters on the white background... and the white letters that exist in what we call the “negative spaces” in between. Is that where we find the Otiyot that can communicate directly to our inmost knowing - our da’at and our benah?

Our wilderness is not just this desert in which we are all wandering; it is also a way. A way of being - of existing. And it is no co-incidence that He brought each of us, in our own way, out here because it is here that we just might be able to encounter and understand what our history was and what our destiny is; what the meaning of Sinai is and how we will ever be able to understand the letters and words of Torah - even if for just a moment.

It’s a beginning.