Digging Deep into Selected Hebrew Letters
A quick look at most any Hebrew AlefBet chart will show that there are numbers associated with each letter. The numbers 1-9 are assigned to AELF through TAV, 10-90 (by 10s) are assigned to YOD through PEI, and 100-400 (by 100s) are assigned to the last four letters (KOF, RESH, SHIN, and TAV). The associates of letters and numbers can be used as memory aids and show some rather interesting relationships.
In the Passover song, ‘ECHAD MI YODEA’, 6 stands for the number of the orders of the Mishnah). Six is the letter VAV in Hebrew, which can be represented by a hook, and thus figuratively a connection. There were six days of creation before the seventh day of rest. There are six ALEFs in the first verse of the Torah. In a three dimensional world, there are six directions (left, right, up, down, forward, back). There are six letters in the first word of the Torah (BERESHIT spelled with Hebrew letters). The serafim (fiery angels) of the Isaiah 6 vision had six wings. And of course, a star of David has six points.
LAMED has the numeric vlaue of 30. It’s related to the words LAMAD (learn) and LAMED (teach). One must learn before he teaches. In Hebrew grammar, the letter LAMAD can be prefixed to a noun indicating direction, goal, or purpose. The number 30 is associated with the number of days in a month and the woman’s monthly cycle. Numbers 4 counts men who are thirty years old and upward. There were 30 generations from Abraham to the destruction of the First Temple.
The letter AYIN is the number seventy and it literally means “eye” (or spring fountain). There are 70 archetypal nations and languages in Jewish tradition. Seventy ox are sacrificed on Sukot. Psalm 90:10 says “The length of our days is seventy years.” King David himself lived 70 years. There were 70 Jewish souls that descended to Egypt, 70 elders chosen by Moses, and thus 70 sages of the Sanhedrin. There wer 70 years of the Babylonian exile. It is also said that there are 70 faces or facets to Torah. The Baal HaTurim enumerated 70 names of God.
The second last letter of the Hebrew alphabet is SHIN. This letter is associated with two divine names: SHADAI (All-Sufficient) and SHALOM (Peace). In the normal alphabet the SHIN has three “heads”, but in Tefillin, it has four heads. The three heads refers to the three Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), while the four-headed Shin refers to the Matriarchs (Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah). The SHIN as related to “SHEIN” or tooth, which crushes food. The verb in the Shema for teaching your children is SHINANTAM – which implies to teach your children as if grinding food. As the tooth grinds food and makes it digestible for the human body, SHINAN (teaching, inculcating) will do the same for the Torah so that it can be digested by the human mind. The letter SHIN has the numerical value of 300. Benjamin was givien 300 shekels (Gen 45:22). 300 of Gideons men lapped waters with their hands to their mouths (Judges 7:6). King Solomon made 300 small shields of hammered gold (I Kings 10:17).S Samson caught 300 foxes and tied their tails in pairs, fastening torches to their tails, to burn the grain fields of the Philistines.
So you thought learning the alphabet was simple? It can be – but there is much more hidden behind those letters!
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