Page 35 - Coincidences in the Bible and in Biblical Hebrew

COINCIDENCES IN THE BIBLE AND IN BIBLICAL HEBREW
14 14 COINCIDENCES IN THE BIBLE AND IN BIBLICAL HEBREW

To demonstrate how each letter acquires its unique meaning, let us explore

two letters of the Hebrew alphabet: the alef (the first letter) and the hei (the fifth
letter, corresponding to the English H). Later, we will examine a combination of
two other letters (corresponding to the English P and R), and show how their
individual meanings confer meanings upon various Hebrew words in whose roots
they appear.

The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet (corresponding to the English A) is

named alef. It has a numerical value of 1 and signifies (justifiably, given its ordinal
position) “God.” The numerical value attached to the alef (1) is also understand-
able, given the importance Judaism assigns to the oneness of God. Thus, the first of

the Ten Commandments states, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exod.
20:3 and Deut. 5:7). Furthermore, a Jew is expected to say in his or her prayer
twice a day, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, The Lord is One” (Deut. 6:4).

In the Bible, the first word in which alef appears as the first letter means God

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(Elohim). Furthermore, the name of the letter, alef, resembles the word Aluf
(derived from the same root as alef), one of the names the Bible uses for God (for
example, Jer. 3:4; Prov. 2:17, 16:28).
As preached by Rabbi Akiva, the structure of the alef, א, also indicates its
meaning. The letter is seen as the two letters yod (the tenth letter in the Hebrew
alphabet) connected by vav (the sixth letter in the Hebrew alphabet). The sum up
of the numerical values of these three letters (10 + 10 + 6 = 26) is the same as that
of the Divine Name, Jehovah.

Finally, it turns out that not only the value of the first letter in the Hebrew
alphabet is one. Adding together the numerical values of all the letters in its name
(alef), one obtains, duly:

111 = (80 = ף) + (30 = ל) + (1 = א)

The second letter we introduce as an example is the ה, named hei, and given
the numerical value of 5 (this is also its ordinal position in the Hebrew alphabet;
refer to Table 1.1). The hei stands in the Bible (and also in the Hebrew language)
for “fertility,” or “pregnancy,” and this is the meaning that the letter confers
upon various words in which it appears. This will now be demonstrated by a few
examples.
Most nouns and adjectives in Hebrew are either masculine or feminine. If one
wishes to transform the meaning of a word from masculine to feminine, this is
frequently done by adding the letter hei to the noun (or adjective). Thus, a boy
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5
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is yeled and a girl is yaldah. A man is ish, and a woman Ishah. A wise man is