The Power of the Hebrew Letters

The Sepher Yetzirah states that the clue to the basic structure of creation is the twenty two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. For Jewish mystics, the Hebrew language has always corresponded physically the things it designated. Merely writing a Hebrew letter could produce a unifying effect on mind and body, putting one in touch with the ‘higher’ world. Imitating G-d, so to speak, the Kabbalist ‘created’ him or herself anew by calling into being his or herself deepest spiritual potential through manipulating letters – the ground, form, and sound of the physical universe, the tools with which G-d had created the world.

Hebrew letters serve as a spiritual language. They can be compared to music. Just as musical notes are combined by a composer to make musical harmonies, so the combining of Hebrew letters stimulate a harmonious movement of pure thought in the mind of the meditator. Thinking about nothing but Hebrew letters and their possible combinations, the meditator is in a world of his or her own apart from the sense-world.

There is a legend that the Hebrew letters exist independently on ink and paper. The story is told of Rabbi Hananya ben Teradyon, who was wrapped in a scroll of the Torah and burned at the stake. Moments before his death, his students cried out: “the parchment is burning, but the letters are flying toward the heavens.”

Abigail Sarah Bagraim, Email info@abigailsarah.co.za

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