By Rabbi Harry Zeitlin – 

Reflection on the Root OHR: “I’ve explored the Kedusha, holiness, of the individual Hebrew letters. One thing I’ve learned is that each letter is engineered, uniquely, to transmit infinite-while-still-unique Ohr, spiritual energy.

This life-energy is contained/expressed through several modes, including the sound the letter makes, its Hebrew name, what it means, and its numeric value. The name of each Hebrew letter is a word that has semantic meaning, for example ב, Bet, means “house” and ד, Dalet, means “door”. Hebrew letters also function as numbers, which yield additional meaning, as does the shape of each letter.

Additionally, since every letter can be generated from the smallest, point-like letter, י, Yud (which is the first letter of God’s Name, and thus represents that aspect of Him), each letter also contains various permutations and combinations of the Divine Names. Unseen in a Torah scroll (but visible in printed Hebrew), are the Nekudot, literally points, but functioning as vowels and the Ta’amim, musical notes (also known as trop marks), and these also contribute meaning beyond the actual sounds and melodies, and the tagim, upside-down root-like embellishments that appear on only a few letters.

Another level of meaning is generated by making anagrams of the letters that spell out the name of each letter. (Coincidentally, these are contained in a small book titled Otiot d’Rabbi Akiva, the letters of Rabbi Akiva). We’re also taught that more energy/meaning resides in the blank white spaces surrounding each letter than in the letter itself! And all of these letters combine not only sound and semantic meaning; they also have spiritual life-energy as they form into words by weaving all these previously mentioned energies into a single “fabric”.

Finally, here’s an insight that came during Pesach. I realized that an acceptable kavvanah might well be that as my eyes wash over the stream of letters which make up each of our daily tefillot, prayer services, even if I’m not able to focus consciously on meaning at any level, my neshama, soul, is bathed in exactly the energy I require at that instant. Even when I’m not even aware of the meanings of my words and sentences, and I have to admit that’s the case all too often, I am still interacting deeply with God. And, after all, that’s the whole point.”

Rabbi Harry Zeitlin is teacher of Talmud, Kaballah, Halacha and Chassidut. He has Orthodox smicha and teaches across the Jewish spectrum, including the Aleph (Renewal) Ordination Program as well as Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Renewal synagogues world-wide. His teachers include Rabbis Shloime Twersky zt”l, Avraham Lapin zt”l, Chaim Zimmerman zt”l, Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Nissan Applebaum and David Friedman. In additional to his Torah studies and teaching, Rabbi Zeitlin is also an internationally exhibited and collected artist (photography) and musician (improvisational guitar).

About Rabbi Zeitlin