The Esoteric Nature of The Letter “Alef”

The near-end of the tractate of Niddah describes the spiritual experience of the fetus in the womb. The Talmud says that the fetus knows the entire Torah, but he is born not knowing the Torah because because a Malaakh (angel) slaps the fetus on the mouth which causes him to not know the Torah.

The Maharal explains this via quoting the Midrash from Bereshit Rabbah saying that everything has an angel that is striking it and telling it to grow. The metaphysical side of everyone causes our physical self to grow. Thus, one can deduce this to mean that the angel is causing the baby to grow by learning the Torah via verbal expression when hitting it on the mouth. It’s like saying “Now, you will learn the Torah via speech”.

The first letter of the Hebrew Alefbet is Alef (א). This is pronounced by any open-vowel sound. These are the first sounds that an infant says. The word “Alef” means “master”. This letter represents the singularity – the oneness of G-d. He is one, and His name is one. Hashem is the Master of The Universe. The sound of the Alef is an open sound because it has no constant-like sound at all. The Alef is the original form of speech. The Alef is above the normal structure of words which, in Hebrew, revolve around a patterns of consonants.

Eḥad: The Singularity of Creation

In the Hebrew language, the word Eḥad means “one”. The word אחד is part of the Shema (שמע) and refers to the oneness of Hashem. The spelling of אחד is essential in understanding the word. Pay attention to the order of the letters.

The ח, the eighth letter of the Alefbet, symbolizes the collective entirety of both the physical and metaphysical worlds. The physical world (עולם הזה) and the Seven Levels of Shamayim, when added together, represents the totality of Hashem’s reign.

The ח co-joins the first and last letters of אחד. It doubles the emphasis on the succeeding letter ד – the fourth letter of the Alefbet. The number 8 symbolizes the combination of The Seven Layers of Heavens and Earth are called “Shamayim and Aretz” (שמים וארץ).

The ד in אחד is elongated while one is saying the Shema – denoting the oneness of the four-letter Holy Name. The name “Yehudah” (יהודה) features the holy name but inserts a ד into the shoresh of the holy name of G-d. It means “to exist”. Within the quintessential code of the universe, is the embedding of the four-letter name of G-d, giving us existence. HaShem is the root of all existence. If we see the four-letter name of G-d as a square with one letter on each corner, then His world would merely be a two-dimensional plain. However, the physical space in our universe is in a three-dimensional setting, so it would make sense that the universe was expanded to add the extra dimensions needed in order to fit the great magnitude of עולם הזה. This includes time itself which is the movement of objects in the three-dimensional space that they are in which makes Time a dimension of its own. Time is the essence of movement as it allows for the cycles of movement in the universe to take place or else everything would be eternally static. The Six Days of Creation were a result of the movements of things brought into this world by Hashem. Shabbat represents the day that Hashem did not create things and was thus static. This is why we don’t carry on Shabbat.

The four-sided square could, in fact, be transformed into a three-dimensional unit (a cube). The cube is a six-sided [object]. It gives us two additional dimensions to the universe. This expansion of frames is taking the four-sided squares and multiplying. We now have six different frames through the six days of creation. Thus, we have a universe that is divided into six frames. The עולם הזה was constructed into six intricate frames of time that encapsulate all of existence.

The שמע is our declaration of monotheism where we don’t just acknowledge that the Oneness of Hashem but acknowledge His sole role in the creation of the universe because He’s the source of the creation itself.