BARAK nm1-36
by Hebrewletters SL
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Price
$500
Dimensions
7.000 x 5.000 inches
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Title
BARAK nm1-36
Artist
Hebrewletters SL
Medium
Painting - Watercolor On Watercolor Paper
Description
BARAK is from the Hebrew, meaning LIGHTNING or GLEAM, SHINE, SPLENDOR (Kolatch, Alfred J. 1984. The Complete Dictionary of English and Hebrew First Names Middle Village: Jonathan David. 32; Sidi, Smadar Shir. 1989. The Complete Book of Hebrew Baby Names. San Francisco: Harper. 31).
Hebrew Bible name - Barak was the son of Abinoam of the tribe of Naftali. He was chosen by the prophetess Deborah to lead the Israelites against the Canaanite general Sisera (Judges 4:6).
The Hebrew Letters featured in this painting are Beit Resh Kuf. Taken together, and reading from right to left, they spell BARAK.
Each of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet has a special meaning and a story to tell.
Here a few brief ones about the letters on this painting.
BEIT is the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, its numerical value is 2,means HOUSE, HOME, CONTAINER and makes a sound like the B in Beautiful.
Midrash -
Torah begins with the letter Beit. It was chosen for this honor because it is closed on top, bottom and on the right. It is open on the left, the direction of the text, to teach us to look forward and not backward, in our daily lives (Freedman, H. and Simon Maurice Tr. 1983 Genesis Rabbah. New York: Soncino 9).
Talmud -
R. Hisda also said: The writing of the Tables could be read from within and without, e.g., nebub [hollow] would be read buban behar, [in the mountain] [as] rahab; saru [they departed] [as] waras. The Rabbis told R. Joshua b. Levi: Children have come to the Beth Hamidrash and said things the like of which was not said even in the days Joshua the son Nun. [Thus:] Aleph Beit means learn wisdom. [Aleph means learn and Beit [Binah] means wisdom] (Shabbat 104a).
When he [a proselyte] went before Hillel, he accepted him as a proselyte. On the first day, he taught him, Aleph Beit Gimel Dalet [the first four letters of the Hebrew alphabet]; the following day he reversed [them, the letters ] to him. ‘But yesterday you did not teach them to me thus,’ he protested. ‘Must you then not rely upon me [As to what the letters are]? Then rely upon me with respect to the Oral [Torah] too’ (Berachot 31a).
[The writing of the letters] must be kethibah tammah [perfect writing]; thus one must not write the… the Beit as a Caf, or the Caf as a Beit (Shabbat 103b).
Zohar -
When the time came to create the world all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet presented themselves to God in reverse order. Each one requested that God place it first in creation. God rejected each one in turn. The Beit then entered and suggested that it be put first since it represented the blessings, Brachot. God agree and thus Beit was put first in the creation of the world (Zohar. 1978. v.1. TR. Harry Sperling and Maurice Simon. London: Soncino. 12).
He who wishes to enter into my presence must first of all pass through that gate. So here the first gate to super-Wisdom is the fear of God; and this is what is meant by reshith (beginning). The letter Beit (=2) indicates two things joined together, namely two points, one shrouded in mystery and one capable of being revealed; and as they are inseparable they therefore are both joined in the single term reshith (beginning), i.e. they are one and not two, and he who takes away the one takes away the other as well (Zohar. 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino. 1:7b).
Rab Hanuna the Venerable said: ‘We find here a reversal of the order of the letters of the Alphabet, the first two words “Bereshith bara - ”in-the-beginning He-created”- commencing with Beit, whereas the two words following, “Eloheim E” -”God the ” -commence with Aleph (Zohar Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino. 1:2b).
Afterwards the letters were distinguished and inscribed in the Scripture-beth in Bereshith bara, and aleph in Elohim eth. Beth is female, aleph male. As Beit created, so aleph produced letters. “The heavens” are the totality of twenty-two letters. (Zohar 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino. 1:30a).
He who wishes to enter into my presence must first of all pass through that gate. So here the first gate to super-Wisdom is the fear of God; and this is what is meant by reshith (beginning). The letter Beit (=2) indicates two things joined together, namely two points, one shrouded in mystery and one capable of being revealed; and as they are inseparable they therefore are both joined in the single term reshith (beginning), i.e. they are one and not two, and he who takes away the one takes away the other as well (Zohar. 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino. 1:7b).
We have been taught that wherever the name Solomon occurs in the Song of Songs, it refers to “the King to whom peace belongs”, while the term “king”, simply, refers to the Female. The lower is contained in the upper, and the mnemonic is that the lower is heir to the upper, so that both are as one, together constituting Beit (=baith house), as it is written, “With wisdom [Beit] a house (Beit) is builded” (Proverbs 24: 3) (Zohar 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino. 1:29a).
The first letter to come to me in meditation was the BEIT. For years I sat in the BEIT as I meditated. It is a safe place.
Resh is the 20th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, has a numerical value of 200, makes a sound like the R in Radiant and means BEGINNING or HEAD. When one spells out the letter Resh in Hebrew, it is Resh Yud Shin. Yud and Shin spell Yesh - THERE IS. The letter Resh means BEGINNING. So it is possible to say that the Resh literally means THERE IS A BEGINNING.
The Resh looks very much like the Dalet. The only difference is that the right angle of the Resh is a rounded 45-degree angle. The horizontal line of the Dalet has a little foot that extends backwards toward the Gimel. Talmud cautions us not to mistakenly write the Dalet as a Resh or the Resh as a Dalet (Shabbat 103b).
“Kuf [stands for] Kadosh [holy]; Resh [for] Rasha [wicked]: why is the face of the Kuf averted from, the Resh? The Holy One, blessed be He, said: I cannot look at the wicked. And why is the crown of the Kuf turned toward the Resh? The Holy One, blessed be He, saith: If he repents, I will bind a crown on him like Mine. And why is the foot of the Kuf suspended? [To show] that if he repents, he can enter and be brought in [to God's favor] through this [opening]. This supports Resh Lakish, for Resh Lakish, said: What is meant by, Surely he scorns the scorners, But he giveth grace unto the lowly If one comes to defile himself, he is given an opening; if one comes to cleanse himself, he is helped” (Shabbat 104a).
One method of meditation is called PERMUTATION. This is simply the process of rearranging the order or sequence of the letters. There are extremely complex systems like those developed by the 13th century kabbalist Abulafia. And then there are simple ones. For instance the Resh is spelled Resh Yud Shin. Yud and Shin spell Yesh - THERE IS. The letter Resh means BEGINNING. So it is possible to say that the Resh literally means THERE IS A BEGINNING.
Yesh also means EXISTENCE, SUBSTANCE, BEING, REALITY. How would these words fit with the word BEGIN? The word ROSH – HEAD is closely associated with the Resh. Rosh is spelled Resh Aleph Shin. But if one spells it Aleph Shin Resh it is Asher. Asher means WEALTH, or Shin Resh is MINISTER. The gematria of these of these 3 letters is 510 which is also the gematria for Yenaten - SHALL BE GIVEN. One can spend a lifetime doing this. This can be called FUN.
KUF is the 19th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, has a numerical value of 100, makes a sound like the K in Kind and means TO SURROUND, TO TOUCH, MONKEY.
Sefer Yetzirah. The Book of Creation divides the Hebrew Letters into 3 categories:
3 mothers - Aleph Mem Shin,
7 doubles - Beit Gimel Dalet Caf Pey Resh Tav
and 12 elementals - Hey Vav Zayin Chet Zayin Tet Zayin Yud Zayin Lamed Nun Samech Ayin Tsade Kuf.
Kuf is one of the elementals.
He [God] made the letter Kuf king over laughter and he bound a crown to it…
And then He formed
Pisces in the Universe
Adar in the Year
And the spleen in the Soul male and female
Kaplan, Aryeh. 1990. Sefer Yetzirah. The Book of Creation. York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 217).
There is some disagreement as to what components make up the Kuf. Munk says that it is constructed of a Caf (20) and a Vav (6). This is very nice because it then has a GEMATRIA of 26 which is the same as the Yud (10) Hey(5) Vav (6) Hey (5) name of God (Munk, Michael. 1983. ‘The Wisdom of the Hebrew Alphabet’. New York: Mesorah. 195). Ginsburgh states that the Kuf is formed by a (Shabbat 104a).above and a Zayin descending below. He also points out that the YUD is the only letter suspended in mid-air. The LAMED is the only one that rises above the "ceiling" of the letters. So too is the KUF unique. It is the only one whose regular form descends below the "FLOOR" of the letters (Ginsburgh, Yitzchak. 1990. The Hebrew Letters. Jerusalem: Gai Einei. 283).
Kuf is the voice of an angel calling kadosh kadosh kadosh “Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts” (Kushner, Lawrence. 1990. The Book of Letters: Sefer Otiyot. Woodstock: Jewish Lights Publishing. 67).
Kuf stands for KADOSH - HOLY. The foot of the Kuf is suspended to show that the person who repents can return to holiness through the opening between the Zayin and the (Shabbat 104a).
“Kuf [stands for] Kadosh [holy]; Resh [for] Rasha’ [wicked]: why is the face of the Kuf averted from, the Resh? The Holy One, blessed be He, said: I cannot look at the wicked. And why is the crown of the Kuf turned toward the Resh? The Holy One, blessed be He, saith: If he repents, I will bind a crown on him like Mine. And why is the foot of the Kuf suspended? [To show] that if he repents, he can enter and be brought in [to God's favor] through this [opening]. This supports Resh Lakish, for Resh Lakish, said: What is meant by, Surely he scorns the scorners, But he giveth grace unto the lowly If one comes to defile himself, he is given an opening; if one comes to cleanse himself, he is helped” (Shabbat 104a).
I am afraid that my meditations with the Kuf are very un-holy. I sit in the Caf, put my feet on the side of the Zayin and steer with the head of the Zayin. It is sort of a combination plane and go-cart for me. Let me know of your experiences with the Kuf.
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August 16th, 2019
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