We have Letters - but this is not a Mail Call

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The Universe of the Words

or as the book translates it:

The Wisdom in the Hebrew Alphabet

by

Rabbi Michael L. Munk

אותיות

Otiyot

Words

And from the three-letter root we find the meaning:

Symbols

Our Tradition teaches

that the Holy One

Baruch Hu

created the World

and all therein

with a single letter.

Hei

ה

Hei is not even so much as a soft breath.

A breathing out.

And a Universe was created.

Let us explore some of the fantastic worlds within worlds in the

Universe of the Words.

The scribe, or sofer, as he is called, [and it was only within the past 24 to 30 months that it was only a ‘he’ who was a sofer] was the person who was qualified to write the STaM letters which we find in the Sefer, the Torah, Tefillin and the Mezuzah [ergo: STaM]. Oh yes, anyone who had the talent to do so could create Hebrew Calligraphic works of art and could take liberties with the shapes, sizes and form of the Hebrew letters; and, of course, everything that is written or printed in Modern Hebrew is available to just about anyone with the skill to write. So for our inquiry, we will limit ourselves to the STaM Alef-Beit.

By a simple definition, a sofer is a copyist, but in their religious role in Judaism they are much, much more. Besides Torah scrolls, Tefillin, and Mezuzot, scribes are also necessary for the writing of Megillot (scrolls of the Song of Songs, Book of Ruth, Book of Esther, Ecclesiastes, and Book of Lamentations), Nevi'im (the books of the prophets, used for reading the haftarah), and for Gittin - divorce documents. And is is simply a way to ease into the proscribed world of Hebrew Words.

For example, you have probably seen (if you have looked at a Torah Scroll closely) that some of the letters have little “thingies” on their tops. Those are called taggets. The do not occur on every letter. They are prescribes to occur in particular places. Sometimes you will see just one (a: “tag” - say: tahg) on a letter but usually you will find three. I have seen five on letters in one scroll and even a real bloom of seven on one letter!

This is an enlarged view of the second letter in the alef-beit. Appropriately enough, it is the “Beit” and where you see the number (4) pointing, you will see the “tag” with a small “crown” on its top. In this case you will see sever other items which occupy the sofer’s time. The Letter Beit is made of 3 parts. The size of the letter is 3X3 kulmusim. The space in the middle of the Beit should be exactly equal the width of the top and bottom lines, which is just one kulmus. The Beit should have a small heel coming out of its back on the bottom (6), so that it is clearly distinguished that it is a Beit and not a Chof. It should also have a single Tag (pronounced tahg) on top of its head on the left side. A Tag is a single, short line, which usually will have a "crown" at the top. This Tag should not be on the very end of the left side, nor be made too large, or it can cause a number of different problems. The numbers here all relate the to “laws” concerning the proper way to write this letter. Some of the numbers are missing as those particular requirements do not apply to this particular letter. I should also mention that this form is of the shape which is used in an Ashkenazi “script” (to use an easily understood word).

My explanations are based on my readings of

Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Berger’s discussions and details of the Alef-Beit

as well as from Rabbi Munk’s book (above)

and The Book of Letters, a Mystical Alef-bait by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner.

The second letter is usually referred to as a “house” [Bayit or בית] and has, as you well know, a dot in the center (not indicated above) and that is called a dagesh. In this case it refers to or represents the one who lives within the house. On the top of the letter there are two little points pointing in different directions - behind (to the right) and upward (on the left). Right now we are within the Beit Ha-Midrash. The house of Study. Later when we daven, we will be in the Beit Ha-Mikdash. When we enjoy our schmoozing during the Oneg, we will be in the Beit Ha-Kenesset.

The Beit is also a symbol of Blessing and Creation. It has a Duality and it has a Plurality.

We see this in- ברוך בראשית and in the numeral two (2).

As written by

Bais Yosef

f

...from a Sephardic Torah

האוריות לתורה הן כמו היסוד לבנין רי בחיי

The letters are to the Torah as the foundation is to a building. __R’Bechaye, IV, 25

For us, as Jews, the Hebrew alphabet is part of our normal day, in prayer, Torah, study and other activities which are Jewish related events and activities. Without knowledge of this we would not have the foundation to further our da’at or our binah. Our knowledge and understanding; which we need to further our learning. That, of course, is a life-long adventure. But I am venturing into this area of study because (I find it to be personally fascinating) it is a subject that most people do not know too much about. While I have spend a considerable time in the study of the Alef-Beit, I will be the first to recognize that there is much beyond my ken. For example, I was surprised when I learnt that the Kabbalist have a dictum which relates the letters to human beings in that the letters themselves also have a Guf, a Ruakh, and a N’shamah. גוף רוח ונשמה ָAnd there is a Talmudic passage (Shabbos 104a) in which we learn that the Kabbalists learn lesson on the Alef-Beit dating back many centuries. Kabbalah aside, we see there is much to learn from the letters of Lashon HaKodesh.

For this time we will conclude with the Maharah. He made a connection between the ב of plurality with the ב of blessing and ב of Creation. He, the Maharal teaches, made a Blessing (which is Creation itself) in which opposites (duality) [must] work together to achieve a harmonious interaction and beneficial purpose (another Creation and another blessing).

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We are just…

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