Sela
by Hebrewletters SL
Original - Not For Sale
Price
Not Specified
Dimensions
7.000 x 5.000 inches
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Title
Sela
Artist
Hebrewletters SL
Medium
Painting - Watercolor On Watercolor Paper
Description
SELA is a concluding word in Psalms and liturgy; meaning PAUSE, SILENCE, INTERLUDE, ELEVATION of VOICE (Alcalay, R. The Complete Hebrew English Dictionary. Jerusalem: Massada. 1775).
SELA is from the Hebrew, meaning ROCK or BOULDER (Kolatch, Alfred J. 1984. The Complete Dictionary of English and Hebrew First Names Middle Village: Jonathan David. 414).
אַשְׁרֵי יוֹשְׁבֵי בֵיתֶךָ, עוֹד יְהַלְלוּךָ סֶּלָה Ashrei yoshvei veitekha, ode yehalelukha selah
Happy are those who dwell in Your house, may they always praise You, selah! (Psalms 84:4-5).
This portion of Psalm 84 was taken to be used as the first verse in the Psalm 145.
The Hebrew Letters featured in this painting are Samech Lamed Hey. Taken together, and reading from right to left, they spell SELA.
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.
SAMECH is the 15th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, has a numerical value of 60, makes a sound like the S in Sun, is shaped like a circle and means SUPPORT, TO TRUST, TO RELY ON.
Tradition tells us that the engraving of the letters of the 10 commandments went all the way through the tablets – from the front side to the back side. Therefore the Samech, since it is completely closed, should have fallen out. Because it did not, R. Hisda said that it stood there be means of a miracle (Shabbat 104a).
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.
Samech is one of the elementals.
He [God] made the letter Samech king over sleep and he bound a crown to it…
And then He formed
Sagittarius in the Universe
Kisley in the Year
And the Kivah [stomach] in the Soul male and female
Kaplan, Aryeh. 1990. Sefer Yetzirah. The Book of Creation. York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 217).
It must be ‘ketivah tammah [perfect writing]; the Mem as a Samech or the Samech as a Mem, closed [letters] open or open letters closed (Shabbat 103b).
[In the alphabet the letter Samech is followed by the Ayin]. Samech Ayin [means] support [Semach] the poor [aniyim] (Shabbat 104a).
Meditating with the Samech has been an interesting experience for me. I had the notion that the Samech would roll around and generally have a good time. I had been repeatedly surprised to find that the Samech, for me, is very calm. My Samech definitely does not roll around , at least not yet. But it does lie down and I am able to sit in it as though it were an inner tube and float on the ocean. It also becomes a swing and we sway back and forth. Let me know of your experience with the Samech.
Lamed is the 12th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, has a numerical value of 30, makes a sound like the L in Like, Lamed means both TO LEARN and TO TEACH.
The Lamed is the tallest and most majestic of all the letters. Indeed Rashi interprets A TOWER FLYING IN THE AIR (Hagigah 15b) - as applying to the upper stroke of the Lamed. The Lamed is generally considered to be constructed of a Caf (20) with a Vav (6). In this configuration the LAMED has a GEMATRIA of 26 - the same as that of the Yud (10) Hey(5) Vav (6) Hey (5) name of God (Haralick, Robert M. 1995. The Inner Meaning of the Hebrew Letters. Northvale: Jason Aronson. 180)
Since LAMED means LEARNING, it would seem that this would constitute a direct connection between LAMED, LEARNING and GOD.
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.
Lamed is one of the elementals.
He [God] made the letter Lamed king over coition and he bound a crown to it…
And then He formed
Libra in the Universe
Tishrei in the Year
And the gall bladder in the Soul male and female
Kaplan, Aryeh. 1990. Sefer Yetzirah. The Book of Creation. York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 217).
The ‘ziz’ was the name of the headplate worn by the High Priest, (Exodus 28:36). The headplate was a kind of golden plate two fingerbreadths broad, and it stretched round [the forehead] from ear to ear, and upon it was written in two lines ‘ Yud Hey [Divine Name] above and ‘Holy Lamed’ [Holy unto] below (Shabbat 63b).
[Zayyin Chet Tet Yud Kaf Lamed]: [this sequence teaches,] and if thou doest thus, the Holy One, blessed be He, will sustain[ Zan] thee, be gracious [Hen] unto thee, show goodness [Metiv] to thee, give thee a heritage [Yerushah], and bind a crown [Keter] on thee in the world to come (Shabbat 104a).
R. Nehemiah said, ‘In the case of every word which requires a Lamed at the beginning [to indicate direction] Scripture has placed a Hey’ at the end’ (Yevamoth 13b).
Lamed is the second letter of the third word , Eloheim, meaning GOD.
Considering the majesty of this letter, I must admit my meditations are very undignified. I usually ride the Lamed as one would a horse if one were a very bad rider - sitting on the curve and hold onto its neck. Let me know about yours.
HEY is the 5th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has a numerical value of 5, means BEHOLD and is constructed of a Dalet and a Yud, makes a sound like the H in Happy. Hey appears twice in the Yud Hey Vav Hey Name of God.
Hey makes almost a sound. The sound of breathing out. The most effortless sound a soul can make (Kushner, Lawrence. 1990. The Book of Letters: Sefer Otiyot. Woodstock: Jewish Lights Publishing. 32).
The numerical value of the Hey is five, alluding to the five names of the soul Nephesh, Ruach, Neshama, Chaya, Yechidah (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1979. Tr. The Bahir. York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 19).
What is the purpose of the Hey? It is a throne for the Zayin, It is written “for one above the other watches” (Ecclesiastes 5:7) (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1979. Tr. The Bahir. York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 19).
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.
Hey is one of the elementals.
He [God] made the letter Hey king over speech and he bound a crown to it…
And then He formed
Aries in the Universe
Nisan in the Year
And the right foot in the Soul male and female (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1990. Sefer Yetzirah. The Book of Creation. York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 215).
Hey corresponds to Binah in the Sephirot (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1982. Meditation and Kabbalah York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 126).
The word ‘Behebaram’ in Genesis 2:4, is usually translated “When they were created. In the Torah scroll the Hey in this word drew attention to itself by being smaller than the rest of the letters in the scroll. What significance did this have for the word ’Behebaram’? If this word could be translated WITH A Hey HE CREATED THEM, then that would mean that God created this world by means of the Hey. God did this because the Hey is closed on 3 sides and open on the 4th. This allows those who wish to deviate from the right path to get out through the open 4th side. On the left there is a little space between the leg and the roof. That is there to allow anyone who wishes to repent, to return through that small (Menachot 29b).
The heavens “are the totality of twenty-two letters”. The letter Hey produced the heavens to give them life and to water them and the earth
(Zohar 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino. 1:30a).
Hey is the beginning of the Yud Hey Vav Hey meditation. One descends through the Hey, passes through the Vav [sometimes leaving the body safely in the care of the Vav and continues descending through the second Hey. This an extremely powerful meditation.
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October 6th, 2020
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