Mystical Significance of Hebrew Letters free essay sample

Letters, alphabets, and numbers all play a invaluable role in all of society. Whether it is for school, business, or everyday things we can all agree that every character of every culture is important in its own simple way. But what if these characters meant and are used to show something deeper than just the material world. The mystical meanings of the characters in the Kabbalah will be the main topic of discussion in this paper. We will go through brief explanations of all 22. These explanations will consist of a short description of what they mean spiritually and then some normal facts such as what number it is. So first is Alef (× ). Alef is the Hebrew number for one. It symbolizes the water and can be found in the passage where it talks about the first day of creation. Now the way Alef is formed, the top mark is supposed to symbolize closeness with God while the bottom is showing a bitterness of the lowly man. We will write a custom essay sample on Mystical Significance of Hebrew Letters or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Next is the letter Beit which is the number two in Hebrew (ב). Beit refers to the word house, as in God’s house. Much of the mystic letter of the letter refers to God’s House and how we should be honored to enter. Beit can also translate to â€Å"passion† or â€Å"desire†. This can show that we desire or have a passion to live with God in happiness. The third letter Gimel (×’) is the Hebrew letter for three. It also symbolizes a rich man chasing after a poor man in order to give him charity/reward him. In the mystic sense reward and punishment are meant for the same end. But it is interesting because running is the biggest physical expression we have of freedom and choice. The next and fourth letter is Dalet ד)) which is the number four. This letter is essentially reversed from the last one. That is the poor man receives the reward/charity that the rich man offers. Also there is a connection between both dalet and beit, that is that dalet is the door to beit. Very Interesting how these letters interact with one another Next we have the fifth letter Hei ( ×”) which is the number 5, as you can see I am going in order so I will take out this sentence now from now on. Hei’s  character is interesting in that all three lines have a separate meaning. The Top line represents thought, the right vertical line represent speech, and the left like represents actions. Thought being the most important but it is connected to speech which shows they are connected. But at the same time action is not connected so action is separate from thought and speech. The sixth letter is Vav ( ו), this letter is different in that it represent the number fifty. The letter vav shows that the line to create it is meant as a way of differentiating realities. The line is supposed to take on two dimensions, a external and a internal. Part of the creation force is supposedly comes from these two dimensions. The seventh letter is Zayin ( ×â€") which means â€Å"The Woman of Valor†. Unfortunately there isn’t much to discuss here that would be easy to understand. I can’t really pick anything out except that it means the number 7 so ill move onto the next letter. The eighth letter is Chet ( ×â€") which means â€Å"life† in a simplistic sense. Chet symbolizes two levels of life. The first meaning is â€Å"essential life† which is the state in which God is always in. The second meaning is â€Å"Life Enliven† which is the Lord’s creative power. It also is the letter for the number eight. The Ninth letter is tov ( ט) the number nine. But it also symbolizes the mother and nine months in which she carries her child, also the concealed good. While we have many different way to say thing are beautiful, pretty, and attractive. In the Hebrew alphabet tov represents to most modest of all beauty. While it would be fun and interesting to continue to list and explain all the different letters I believe that it would be repetitive and boring. So with that I would like to take some time and just generally discuss the Hebrew alphabet. It is thought that the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, if studied and thought upon, can show signs that point to life improving truths. The 22 consonants of the Hebrew alphabet were also thought to have been the building blocks of the cosmos. So it is pretty easy to how important the alphabet is. In a more mystic sense words are thought to  sustain the universe and help preserve it. As we can see, to the Kabbalah view the alphabet plays a huge role in their divine and mystical aspects. It was interesting and I advise that everyone continues reading the meanings of the letters. I honestly envy the Hebrew alphabet to have so much to learn from just their alphabet. Works Cited http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Grammar/Unit_One/Aleph-Bet/aleph-bet.html http://www.templesanjose.org/JudaismInfo/tradition/Kabbalah/alephbet.pdf