KUF and a GROUP ab25

by Hebrewletters SL

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Price

$800

Dimensions

8.000 x 10.000 inches

Title

KUF and a GROUP ab25

Artist

Hebrewletters SL

Medium

Painting - Watercolor On Watercolor Paper

Description

KUF and a GROUP ab25

In this painting ALL 22 of the Hebrew letters are represented.
The Rabbis of the Talmud regarded the letters as the basic elements of the universe, much as we think of oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and carbon (From the teachings of Mitchell Chefitz, author The Seventh Telling. , The Thiry-third Hour, The Curse of Blessings, White Fire and Blood Covenant).

The word ‘Et’ consists of the letters ALEPH and TAV, which include between them all the letters, as being the first and last of the alphabet (Zohar. 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino. 11:15b).
Rabbi Dov Ber, the ‘Maggid of Mezritch,’ and a follower of the Baal Shem Tov, explains in Or Torah, the secret of the verse ‘Bereshit Bara Eloheim Et’ - IN A BEGINNING GOD CREATED ET. These are the first words of Torah - Genesis 1:1 - in a beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ET is a word that is not translatable into English. It is like a marker that says - "a definite direct object is next." Thus there needs to be an ET before THE heavens and THE earth. If there was no ‘the’, there would not need to be an ET. But Dov Ber points out a deeper meaning. ET is spelled - Aleph Tav. Aleph Tav is an abbreviation for the ALPHA-BET. Aleph is the first letter of the ALPHABET and Tav the last. So in a beginning God created the ALPHA-BET. And God did this before creating the heavens and the earth. God used the letters, the building blocks, to create the world.

R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the Alter Rebbe of Chabad explains that if the letters were to depart even for an instant, all of creation would become absolute nothingness (Zalman, Shneur. 1981. "Igeret Hateshuvah. Shaar Hayichud.” Tanya. Brooklyn: Kihot. 289).

Some of you may read these words and laugh. Silly stories. But I challenge you to spend 5 minutes a day thinking about the letters. Perhaps you could practice drawing one letter for about a minute and think about it of 4 minutes. See if you can do this every day for a few weeks. And watch what happens. They letters are ALIVE!!!!


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. KUF is also associated with KADOSH – HOLY (Kushner, Lawrence. 1990. The Book of Letters: Sefer Otiyot. Woodstock: Jewish Lights Publishing. 67).

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 Resh 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 letter whose regular form descends below the "floor" of the letters (Ginsburgh, Yitzchak. 1990. The Hebrew Letters. Jerusalem: Gai Einei. 283).
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 Each letter has 2 possible sounds. BGD KPT.
and 12 elementals - Hey Vav Zayin Chet Zayin Tet Yud Zayin Lamed Nun Samech Ayin Tsade Kuf.

Kuf is one of the elementals.
God made the Kuf king over laughter.
With the Kuf he formed
Pices in the universe,
Adar in the year,
and the spleen in the in the soul, male and female.
(Kushner, Lawrence. 1990. The Book of Letters: Sefer Otiyot. Woodstock: Jewish Lights Publishing. 218).

“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 Resh (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, says: 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).

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.

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.

Uploaded

May 14th, 2019

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