Tsimtsum

by Hebrewletters SL

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Price

$900

Dimensions

9.500 x 11.000 inches

Title

Tsimtsum

Artist

Hebrewletters SL

Medium

Painting - Watercolor On Watercolor Paper

Description

TSIMTSUM is from the Hebrew, meaning CONTRACTION, RESTRICTION (Alcalay, R. The Complete Hebrew English Dictionary. Jerusalem: Massada. 2190).
TSIMTSUM , in kabbalah, means GOD’S SELF CONTRACTION TO ALLOW ROOM FOR CREATION (Alcalay, R. The Complete Hebrew English Dictionary. Jerusalem: Massada. 2190).

Kabbalah - The concept of TSIMTSUM is a 16th century kabbalistic explanation of how God, if infinite and omnipresent, could form a material world. God contracted Itself into Itself [TSIMTSUM] to bring into being a vacuum in which to create something OTHER than Itself. This voluntary contraction on the part of God, Ain sof, is an act that allows creation to come into existence. Without this act, there would have been no universe (Ponce, Charles. 1973. Kabbalah: An introduction and Illumination for the World Today.Wheaton: Theosophical Publishing House. 181).

The Hebrew letters featured in this painting are Tsade Mem Tsade Vav Mem Sophit. Taken together they spell TSIMTSUM.

Each of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet has a special meaning and a story to tell. Here are a few short ones about the letters in this painting.



TSADE is the 18th letter, sounds like T and S pronounced at the same time, is constructed of 2 letters - an elongated and curved or bent Nun on the left and a Yud on the right. Tsade is associated with the word TSEDEK, RIGHTEOUS (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1979. Tr. The Bahir. York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 22).

Tsade is one of 7 letters which may be adorned with TAGIN, or little crowns, in the Torah, Tefillin or Mezzuzah scroll. These are called the SHAYNAYZ GAYTZ letters [Shin, Ayin, Tet, Nun, Zayin, Gimmel, and Tsade] Each one of these letters contains a Zayin. A TAG is composed of 3 strokes which themselves look like little Zayins.
There is a wonderful story in Talmud, which describes Moses ascending to Heaven to find God occupied in affixing TAGGIN to the letters of Torah: Rab Judah said in the name of Rab, When Moses ascended on high he found the Holy One, blessed be He, engaged in affixing coronets to the letters. [These are the Taggin, i.e., three small strokes written on top of the letters ‘Shatnayz Gaytz’ in the form of a crown (Menachoth 29b).

I am the sign of the righteous (Zadikim) and of Thyself who art called righteous, as it is written, “For the Lord is righteous, he loves righteousness” (Psalms 11:7; Zohar. 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino. 1:2b).

Tsade is one of 5 letters: [Caf Mem Nun Pey Tsade] that have 2 forms - the regular [bent] form used in the beginning and middle of a word and the FINAL FORM,- SOFIT, used as the last letter of a word (Shabbat 4a).


A bent Tsade and a straight Tsade: the righteous [tzadek] is bent [in this world]; the righteous is straightened [in the next world]. But that is identical with the faithful bent [and] the faithful straightened [righteous when bent, righteous when straight]?-The Writ added humility to his humility; hence [we learn that] the Torah was given under great submissiveness. (Shabbat 104a).

[The writing of the letters] must be ‘kethibah tammah’ [perfect writing]; thus one must not write the… the Gimel as a Tsade or the Tsade as a Gimel (Shabbat 103b).

There are many ways to meditate in the Tsade. The Tsade gives great hugs. One can sit in the curve on the bottom and rock back and forth. But if one stands where the Nun and the Yud meet, the Tsade will grip one securely at the waist with the tops of the Nun and the Yud; and one can see forever.





VAV is the 6th letter, has a numerical value of 6, is constructed of a single vertical line, means HOOK and makes a sound like the V in Victory. When used as a vowel, Vav can sound like a long `o’ or a long `u.’ Translated it means AND. It is the GREAT CONNECTOR. Vav appears in the Four Letter name of God - Yud Hey Vav Hey.
“VAV is the sound if beiing joined. And VAV is a the sound of and. One and another” (Kushner, Lawrence. 1990. The Book of Letters: Sefer Otiyot.Woodstock: Jewish Lights Publishing. 35).

The 6 Sephirot represented by the Vav are - Chesed, Gevura, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1979. Tr. The Bahir. York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 146-172).

What does the letter VAV resemble? It is alluded to in the verse “He spreads out light like a garment” (Psalms 104:5). For VAV is nothing other than six directions [ east, west, north south, up and down]? (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1979. Tr. The Bahir. York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 30).

The first word in Torah is Bereshit which t means IN A BEGINNING. If you divide Bereshit into bara and sheet it means HE CREATED SIX [sheet is 6 in Aramaic] Six what? The 6 days in which creation was completed? (Zohar . 1984 Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino. 1:3b. 13).

When used as a vowel, Vav can sound like a long `o’ or a long `u.’ Translated it means AND. It is the GREAT CONNECTOR. Vav appears in the Four Letter name of God - Yud Hey Vav Hey
“VAV is the sound if beiing joined. And VAV is a the sound of and. One and another” (Kushner, Lawrence. 1990. The Book of Letters: Sefer Otiyot.Woodstock: Jewish Lights Publishing. 35).

In meditation, the Vav is a place where you can leave your body in order to descend to a deeper place.



MEM is the 13th letter of the Hebrew alphabet , has a numerical value of 40, makes a sound like the M in Middle. But according to the ancient kabbalistic text ‘Sefer Yetzirah,’ the MEM hummmmmms! Mem is composed of a Caf (20) and a Vav (6) = 26, which have the same GEMATRIA as the Four letter name of God, Yud (10) Hey(5) Vav (6) Hey (5) = 26, the holiest of God's Names.
Mem is usually associated with the word mayim - WATER or Eemah - MOTHER.

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 final Mem, Mem sophit, 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).

The Mem is one of the 5 letters [Caf Mem Nun Pey Tsade] that have 2 forms - the regular [bent] form used in the beginning and middle of a word and the FINAL FORM, ‘Sofit’, used as the last letter of a word (Shabbat 4a).
One form is used in the beginning and the middle of a word - the open Mem. The other form is at the end of the word - the closed Mem. According to Talmud, the open Mem represents revealed teaching and the closed Mem represents concealed teaching (Shabbat 104a).

It must be ‘kethibah tammah’ [perfect writing]; the Mem as a Samech or the Mem as a Mem, closed [letters] open or open letters closed (Shabbat 103b).

Sometimes when I meditate with this letter, the Mem acts like sort of a submarine for me. At other times I can breathe under water. Nice. Let me know how you do.

Uploaded

January 18th, 2019

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