Hebrew Letters – The Alef Bet of Creation

This is the first of a series of classes teaching the essence of the letters of the Alef Bet. This essence will include teachings of the four aspects of the letters of Creation. This means we will deal with the Trope – the cantillation marks, The shape, The Sound, The vowels, The gematria, The letter substitutions known as Notariken, The Astrology relationships, and many other attributes of the letters. This series of classes will take at least 26 weeks and probably more.

The more one learns about the letters the more one will find the teachings of Kabbalah will manifest in their lives. This is not logical since in our world of separation we perceive things separately. One metaphor that will assist you in dealing with this process is the movie the Matrix. Remember the scenes where the computer code would appear as the walls or background of the scene. This is actually the way our world does work. The letter sequences are how we perceive physical matter. When someone sees an illusion instead of the truth the sequences were corrupted by the negative system. This is really what the war between good and evil is all about. An example of this is when people become fat from eating too much food. On one level this is dealing with not controlling our desires and reactions. On another level the food should never cause harm to a human being – one of the Kings of Creation – one of the Controllers of Creation. In order for food to allow someone to become fat the letter sequence must be changed by the negative system and the human's normal immune system must be limited by their actions in order to cause the human pain, discomfort, and chaos. These are all metaphors for the mechanics of the physical worlds.

If you want to really learn about the letters start with the hand out of the letters with their root vowels and the mp3 recording of the sounds. The purpose of these handouts and recordings is homework for my students. THIS IS NOT BUSY WORK. IT HAS A SPECIFIC GOAL WHICH I WILL NOT EXPLAIN YET. As both the Zohar and Talmud teach the reward is according to the effort. Hope you make the effort. The choice is yours. All I will say is in my opinion the effort is worth doing.


A good start to relating to the letters comes from the teachings of Rabbi Avraham Kook. He was the Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi in Israel during the First World War (which he spent in England unable to return to Israel. He also was instrumental in causing the Balfour Declaration) and the in between war years. Here is the translation of some of his writings related to the Letters and the Wonders of the Divine names. This comes from the Kabbalaonline website in Tsfat.

The Hebrew letters are a mystical treasure chest of consciousness.

Wonders of Divine Names

From the teachings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohein Kook

Vision comes from greatness of concept.

Letters, in thought, go forth and materialize, coming from a distant world, from a world filled with thought, awareness, light and clarification - from a world that, due to its abundant knowledge, is to us complete hiddeness.

The letters come and approach us, descending towards us, level after level….

The letters come and approach us, descending towards us, level after level, until we become conscious of them via the voice of thought. Then words are formed, sentences born - a world filled with discourses forms in our minds.

And this world that descended from its Existence [Atzilut] to its Creation [Beriya], penetrates towards its Formation [Yetzira], pressing upon every tool of expression – and they Actualize [Asiya] their task, lips fluttering. And then a voice speaks: "It is a wonder; and it will be wondrous."

The letters, in their revelation, are concentrated in the centers of consciousness, taking with them all the Treasure of Life that is within expanded consciousness, spreading forth in its abundant light supernal radiance, which doesn't have clarified orientation or defined symbol.

The letter is filled with power, effecting awesome things….

Thus, the letter is filled with power, effecting awesome things, as it goes on its path, as it connects in its source, as is poured forth within it all the abundance of life within the treasure chest of consciousness, which is everlasting.

These are the wonders of [Divine] Names, founders of Life, tamers of [supernal] forces, flashes of existence that the supernal heights don’t shine forth, [even in its] abundance of strength. And there are none to explain the hidden-ness of Your Name.

[Adapted from Orot HaKodesh by Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaKohein Kook, Vol.1, 103, pg. 117.]

I suggest you return to this section of the hand out as you read and learn more of the letters. It will help you relate to the wisdom in these teachings.

The rest of this class will be from a commentary on the Miskynon Elyon by Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum of the www.azamra.org website. It is his introduction to the translation of the Miskynon Elyon by the Ramchal – Rabbi Chaim Luzatto. This sefer is an explanation of the vision of Ezekiel of the Third Temple. Since the Temple is a manifestation of the universe and the Torah which is the blue print of the letters it necessarily includes a beginning level understanding of the letters. Hope you agree and enjoy this commentary. There is much to contemplate within this discussion.

Letters of Creation

A letter is an Ot, a "sign". When we write for everyday purposes, the letters on the page are "signs" indicating the successive sounds making up the words with which we communicate our meaning. But when a chemist writes the letters of a chemical formula, what is important is not the pronunciation of the letters but rather how they are used to signify different elements and compounds. Everyone knows that the lines and shapes making up the letters and numbers in chemical formulae are not the elements or compounds themselves. They are "signs" that point to certain aspects of physical matter, helping us understand and sometimes manipulate them.

The letters of the Aleph Beit are of course used in simple written communication to signify how to pronounce and read the words of some message. But as written in the Torah, the letters of Aleph Beit are not merely signs as to how to read the scriptures in order to derive practical lessons to apply in our lives. While the Torah is certainly a communication to humanity on our level, it is at the same time a revelation of Godly power that goes far beyond us. The Torah is made up of words that read as a message teaching us wisdom, understanding and a path in life. At the same time these words are divine Names that are the "power formula" of all creation. The ink letters written on the parchment in our Torah scrolls are "signs" expressing and helping us understand, relate to and even manipulate the elemental powers that create and sustain the universe.

These elemental powers of creation are the "Letters of Creation", the twenty-two letters of the Aleph Beit as explained by Abraham in Sefer Yetzirah. Each of the twenty-two Letters of Creation is a precise degree, level or kind of Godly power or "light" capable of combining and interacting with all the other elemental powers so as to produce infinite numbers of different "formulae" giving rise to all the different phenomena of creation on all levels. Since all these powers are different levels, degrees or "measures" of Godly light, it is understandable why each of the letters of the Aleph Beit has its own distinct numerical value or Gematria.

The Letters of Creation are themselves the "vessels" of which the Kabbalah speaks, through which the light and power of the Sefirot are revealed. The Hebrew word for "vessel", Kli, has a connotation of measure. A cup holding a given measure of liquid is one kind of vessel. A given combination of letters is also a "vessel" that "holds" and channels a given measure of power. By themselves, the individual letters are "broken vessels" that can accomplish very little. But when these elemental powers of creation combine and interact in highly specific configurations or "formulae", they have the power to serve as instruments of Godly creation and blessing.

chanoch's Commentary

Each letter is a vessel. When the letters are combined into words there is a new vessel created. When the letters are powered by the vowels and different vowels there are two or more vessels created which are measures of the word vessel. When the letters are substituted for other letters there is new vessels created which are measures of the original word vessel which is the first time the word appears in the Torah. This is from which or where the rules of gematria and notariken and other Kabbalistic methods are developed. If one truly recognizes the power of this section one will realize that every word is actually included in every other letter. This is how we become co creators with the Creator. This system is overwhelming beautiful.

Divine Names

The different configurations of letters making up the words of the Torah are all "Names". The Kabbalah sees the entire Torah as a fabric of mathematically and semantically interconnected "Names" and "Names of names" woven around certain underlying "generic" Names of God. The different Names signify different divine powers and attributes, Sefirot and Partzufim, that actually exert their influence through the Names themselves. It is through these "Names" that the "lights" - the Sefirot and Partzufim - send Shefa into the creation.

The principle divine Names explicitly revealed in the Torah are:

YHVH, יהוה the "essential" Name of God (Shem HaEtzem), known as the Name of Four Letters or Tetragrammaton, which may not be pronounced and is referred to as HaShem, "The Name", or HaVaYaH (a rearrangement of the four letters, denoting the Source of all Existence). This Name is the root of all other Names and is especially associated with the Sefirah of Tiferet, Perfect Beauty and Harmony, and with the Partzuf of Zeir Anpin, "The Small Face"

YAH, יה "God", associated with Chochmah, Wisdom, and the Partzuf of Abba, Father.

EHYH אהיה (Exodus 3:14), "I will be", associated with Binah, Understanding, and the Partzuf of Imma, Mother.

EL, אל literally "Power", associated with Chesed, Kindness.

ELOHIM, אלהים literally "The Powers", denoting the unified Source of all the revealed powers in the universe, associated with Gevurah, Strength, and also with Malchut, Kingly Power.

YHVH TZEVA'OT יהוה צבות and ELOHIM TZEVA'OT, אלהים צבות "God of Hosts", associated respectively with the Sefirot of Netzach, Victory, and Hod, Splendor.

SHADDAI, שדי "The Eternal", associated with Yesod, Foundation.

ADONAI, אדני "My Lord", associated with the lowest Sefirah, Malchut, Kingly Power, and with the Partzuf of Nukva, or Shechinah.

chanoch's Commentary

This is not a fixed list. This is not a complete list. It is actually doing you all a disservice to look at this list. Add to the list the Names within the 72 Names that are important to you. Add to this list Names like MAKOM - Place. And many other Names which are actually attributes of God. Names like the word for Love, Caring, Happy, and Joy. These are all attributes of God which are Names of God.

Miluim

Besides these Names, many others are embedded in the biblical text in hidden ciphers or alluded to in other ways. A highly significant category of Names in Mishkney Elyon and Kabbalah generally is that of Miluim, literally "fillings". Each of the letters of the Aleph Beit not only has its "simple" form, the individual letter as it appears when written in a word; each letter also has its name, made up of itself and one or two other specific letters with which it combines to form the unique power-configuration that is the essence of the letter in question. For example, the letter Yud is represented in the Torah scroll as a simple dot י, yet the full name of the letter is spelled out with the letters Yud Vav Dalet יוד. The "filling" letters (in this case the Vav and the Dalet) are integral parts of the "formula" that gives the letter its power.

When the full name of each of the constituent letters of a Divine Name is written out, this is called a Milui, "filling" or "expansion" of that Name. For example, the simple letters of the divine Name EL are Aleph (=1) and Lamed (= 30), having the combined numerical value of 31. Spelling out in full the names of the letters Aleph אלף and Lamed למד gives us the Milui of EL, אלף למד: Aleph (=1) + Lamed (=30) + Peh (=80) + Lamed (=30) + Mem (=40) + Dalet (=4) = 185. The manifestation of the letters that were previously "hidden" gives the Milui expanded power, as reflected in its total numerical value. This power was present in potential in the "simple" letters of the Name since the "hidden" letters making up the full names of the "simple letters" are integral parts of those letters. When the "simple" letters are "filled" with their constituent letters in the Milui, this potential power is actually manifested.

Because of the great power of Hey and Vav, two of the letters of the Essential Name, they are capable of being "filled" with different letters. Thus the Hey can be spelled in full either as Hey Yud הי, Hey Aleph הא or Hey Hey הה, while the Vav can be spelled either as Vav Yud Vav ויו, Vav Aleph Vav ואו or Vav Vav וו.

This means that Names containing the letters Hey and Vav, such as the Essential Name and that of EHYH, can be "expanded" in various ways. Each of the different expansions is bound up with a particular Sefirah or Partzuf or aspect thereof. The four main expansions of the Essential Name of YHVH are:

The expansion of 72 ע"ב, so called because this is the numerical value of the sum of all the letters contained in this expansion: here the Hey's and Vav are filled with Yud's יוד הי ויו הי. This expansion is associated with the Partzuf of Abba, Father.

The expansion of 63 ס"ג, where the Hey's are filled with Yud's but the Vav is filled with an Aleph יוד הי ואו הי, associated with Imma, Mother.

The expansion of 45 מ"ה, where the Hey's and Vav are all filled with Aleph's יוד הא ואו הא, associated with Zeir Anpin, the "Small Face".

The expansion of 52 ב"ן, where the Hey's are filled with Hey and the Vav is spelled simply יוד הה וו הה. This expansion is associated with Nukva, the Female aspect.

Union

The ultimate goal of creation is the complete revelation of God on all levels. In this rectified state, Giver and Receiver are perfectly aligned. The movement of creation towards this rectified state is characterized by various kinds of "joining" and "pairing" of the various Partzufim, some of which are more involved in "giving", while others are more associated with "receiving".

The supreme example of creative interaction, giving and receiving, is when Man and Wife align and join together in holy union - Yichud - to parent a child who will unite in one being essential qualities of both. They accomplish this through Chibur, חבור joining together, and Zivug זבוג , cooperative interaction.

chanoch's Commentary

This is the first time i have looked at these two words in Hebrew. The gematria relationship is very revealing and informative. Chibur is 216 which is the Hebrew word Aryeh or Lion which represents the Children of Israel. It is also the number of letters in the 72 Names. Zivug has a gematria of 18 which is well known to be the number of "Life". Yichud has a gematria of 28 which is the same gematria of Coach which means strength and or power.

Returning to the translation.

In a person's inner spiritual life, the Giver is God and the person or soul, the Receiver, is the "Wife", while the "children" are the person's spiritual achievements and good deeds. Yichud, holy union, comes about when the receiver "joins" him or herself to God. One makes oneself the vessel for Godly light by binding all one's limbs and faculties to His service and filling one's mind and soul with the words of prayer coming from one's mouth into one's ears. When a person makes him or herself a vessel for Godly light on the level of thought, word and action, Shechinah, the Indwelling Presence, is aligned to receive from Melech, the King.

When this unification (Yichud) comes about, the receiving Partzuf of Nukva, the female, is aligned to receive from Zeir Anpin, the male. On the level of the Names of the two Partzufim involved, this union is expressed through the "joining" of the two Divine Names YHVH and ADNY to form new power-combinations. One of the better known examples of how these two names may be "joined together" is through Shiluv, "interweaving" the letters of the two names as in YAHDVNHY or AYDHNVYH, as printed in certain prayer-books. Those who know the meaning of these Shiluvim may visualize and contemplate them at appropriate points in their prayers, thereby unifying the Giver, the Holy One blessed-be-He, and the Receiver, the Shechinah.

chanoch's Commentary

The Shiluv method is much more than unifying the Giver, the Holy One blessed-be-He, and the Receiver, the Shechinah. A Name of anything (whether it is God or a human being or a thing) has its essence in the Hebrew Language. Actually, a name in any language when transliterated into Hebrew letters and then interweaved or Shiluv creates a unification or Yichud on the spiritual level. What this means is that the energy of one word is moved into the essence of the other word. And vice a versa depending on the word that starts the interweaving. Let me give an example. The word Shalom שלום means Peace. When one interweaves my name Chanoch חנוך with Shalom one is injecting Peace directly into my soul. This is because my Name is a metaphor for my soul. Here is the letter sequence that creates this unity. חשנלווךם

Number and Space

It is the Yichud or union of different Partzufim through the joining and connection of their associated Names that "makes" the Heavenly Temple. This will be more understandable if we grasp a very simple point that is the key to the mathematics of Mishkney Elyon. These involve little more than simple addition and multiplication.

The mathematical system of Mishkney Elyon is what in Hebrew is known as Gematria, the "Study of Numbers" (or Torah numerology). The term Gematria is derived from the ancient Greek word for what we call geometry. It is common knowledge that Gematria is the study of the numerical values of the letters and words of the Hebrew Torah. What is not generally realized is that Gematria, like geometry, is also the mathematics of space.

This is alluded to in Sefer Yetzirah, which says that "Two stones build two houses, three stones build six houses, four stones build twenty-four houses." (4:16). The "stones" are the letters of the Aleph Beit, the building blocks of creation. The concept of "stones" or "blocks" is intrinsically three-dimensional (see Sefer Yetzirah translated with a commentary by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan in which he discusses the creation of multi-dimensional realities).

Geometry, the mathematics of space, was initially a practical science employed by ancient architects as they sought to build more ambitious projects. Ramchal in Mishkney Elyon brings kabbalistic Gematria to the level of sacred architectural geometry as he explains how interactions between the Divine Names of the Partzufim, all of which are also numbers, "create" the "space" of the Holy Temple.

Consider an example of how numbers create space: A room that is forty feet in length, twenty feet wide and twenty feet high is "created" by walls of appropriate length and height. In the language of Mishkney Elyon, the floor-space of such a room is created through the "joining" (Chibur) of forty and twenty. Chibur is the Hebrew word for the mathematical relationship expressed by x, the multiplication sign. We would say that the room is 40 by 20, and 20 high, or 40 x 20 x 20. The mathematics of Mishkney Elyon are no more complicated than that.

As Ramchal proceeds with his "tour" of the various areas of the Temple, he shows how each individual Hall, Chamber, Wall, Gate and Courtyard "appears" as a result of the "joining together" of some or all of the letters of various Divine Names. These names correspond to the Sefirot and Partzufim, which are the Middot, "qualities" or "measures". Chibur, "joining" and "multiplication" of the "measures", brings into being three-dimensional "spaces" where the axes of "length", "breadth" and "height" are the three "lines" or "columns" of Chesed, Kindness, Din, Judgment and Rachamim, Mercy and Balance (see Sefer Yetzirah 1:13).

The Temple that Ramchal explains to us in Mishkney Elyon is that seen by Ezekiel in his prophetic vision. The Angel appeared to the Prophet with his "measuring rod" and "linen cord", taking him on what today would be called a "virtual" three-dimensional tour of the entire Temple, showing him every detail and giving him exact measurements. These "measurements" are the Middot, the Sefirot and Partzufim, and their interactions and "joining" create "space". The Temple that Ezekiel saw exists in metaspace, or in the language of religion and Kabbalah, space as it is "above", "in Heaven".

Yet the Sefirot and Partzufim hold sway on all levels of creation, spiritual and physical. Numerical relationships between the various names are capable of being expressed in the form of the finite, physical three-dimensional "Halls", "Chambers", "Gates" and "Courtyards" of the Temple in this world. The Heavenly Temple is thus a hologram that exists on a level beyond space as we know it - "in Heaven" - and as such it is the very blueprint of creation. Yet this same hologram is destined to actually manifest in physical space in the form of the Third Temple on Earth. This will be the tangible embodiment of the holographic pattern.

The key principle governing all the relationships expressed in the holographic Temple is balance between the two "sides": the "right side" of Chesed, kindness and expansiveness, and the "left side" of Din, judgment and contraction. Chesed and Din, "right" and "left", are the Giver and Receiver/Male and Female of the Kabbalah equation. Balancing these two "sides" is the center column of Rachamim, mercy and compassion.

For the goal of creation is that God, Master of Compassion, should be perfectly revealed on all levels so as to "give" all creatures their own unique share of pure goodness. This "giving" requires a state of perfect balance between Giver and Receiver on all levels. This balance is expressed in the form of the Halls and Courtyards of the Temple, which is located in the place where all the roots of creation join together. The Temple and its services are ordered in such a way that Giver and Receiver join "face to face". This way all the "branches" - the souls, angels and other orders and levels of created beings - reconnect with their roots and receive their respective shares of sustaining Shefa from the Creator.

chanoch's Commentary

This section is truly overwhelming. I will discuss it in more detail when the Ramchal describes these aspects in his description with details of Ezekiel's vision of the Temple.

Order

The key to this rectified state of creation is Seder, Order. The Temple buildings and courtyards are ordered in space to provide a properly balanced environment for the interaction between Giver and Receiver. Within this space, the various daily, weekly, monthly and festival services constitute an order in time through which this interaction is continually maintained.

Ramchal explains the inner meaning of the Temple services and their role in bringing Shefa to the souls on their level and to the angels on theirs. All the different ranks and orders have their own designated areas and levels on the Temple Mount and are able to "ascend" to higher levels at specific times in order to receive their portion of Shefa "from the table of the King". The angels "ascend" through the sacrificial offerings on the outer Altar while the souls ascend through the incense offering on the inner Altar.

Ramchal concludes his explanation of the Temple buildings and services with a discussion of the various levels of the Temple Mount and the steps that connect them. This links in with the discussion of Shefa, for it is on these "steps" that the various orders of creation "go up" to actually receive their share.

As the angels in the Heavenly Temple "ascend" to receive their Shefa, they chant, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the God of Hosts" (Isaiah 6:3) and "Blessed be the glory of God from His place" (Ezekiel 3:12). These verses are recited daily at high points in the Jewish prayer services. Ramchal's explanation of the "ascent of the angels" provides important keys to deeper understanding of the prayer services and how they channel Shefa to all the worlds. For the set daily prayers correspond to the Temple services (Berachot 26b) and the "order" or Seder that governs them is embedded in the order of prayers or Siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer-book.

chanoch's Commentary

This section is truly important. This is especially true since many people do not pray in a timely schedule or an orderly schedule. There are many people who do not understand what they are doing in the spiritual frame and the flow of Shefa. This is extremely important. Once the tools of Kabbalah begin to be spread more widely and the depths of this information is taught to many people there will be more and more people increasing this flow Shefa and the process of Creating unity and order in the universe will speed up.

Continuing on the Alef Bet

In the orthodox tradition of education Children learn the Alef Bet at the age of three years old. The ritual is truly unique and special. The three year old is sent off to Cheder the Yiddish word for school. On the first day the letter Alef from the First vers of Vayikra of the Torah is taught to them. They are shown the small Alef in the Torah scroll in this verse and then are taught the sound of the Alef which as we will learn is the intake of breath. When each child is able to make this sound he is given a special Alef which has honey on the letter. He is told to enjoy the honey since the Torah of his life and learning will be as sweet as honey. Do you think has impact on a young child?

Let us learn another teaching about children and the letters from the Sefer Ahavat Chesed by the Chofetz Chaim a 20th Century Sage who lived in Russia at the time of the Russian Revolution.

The Chesed Primer

SEFER AHAVAS CHESED — Part II Chapter XII

Electricity is a powerful, complex force. One perceives it only in its final manifestation; it can light up a city, make factory machinery hum, empower vast computer networks or just shed a little light on the dinner table. If one wants to understand how electricity really works, one must study the physics, the scientific formulas that express what is really happening within the wires. Chesed is the most powerful force of all. It is the force that runs the world, and like any mighty force, it contains within it many unseen dimensions. The Chofetz Chaim provides a formula that unlocks the mysteries of chesed, revealing its inner dynamics. That key is the alef-beit.

The Talmud (Shabbos 104a) introduces this formula. It relates that small children came into the study hall and introduced concepts so deep that even in the days of Joshua ben Nun — in the generation that directly followed the giving of the Torah — such ideas were not taught. One might wonder what profound wisdom these small children had to teach. Their wisdom, the Talmud says, was precisely the wisdom of little children. They taught the alef-beit: “‘Alef-beit’ stands for ‘alef binah,’ ” they said. “Alef ” means learning, and “binah” means understanding. This refers to the study of Torah.

Let me explain so that the above paragraph and the other paragraphs in this essay are clear for you. Alef is spelled אלף . This word has a few meanings, one of which is teaching. There is an important relationship between a teacher and a student where the teacher teaches and the student learns and this important relationship is in both directions. The teacher becomes the student and the student becomes the teacher. This relationship is actually an exchange of energy on the spiritual level of the part of the Nefesh (animal soul) of each side being transferred to the other.

The word Binah is a Sefirah as we know. We know that it translates as “understanding”. The same letters with different vowels beans build. Part of teaching is to build the student to the level of the teacher.

The next letters in their “lecture” were “gimmel” and “daled,” which stand for “gemol dalim,” meaning “help the poor.” Parenthetically, the Chofetz Chaim explains that this phrase does not mean one should not help a wealthy person in need. It merely recognizes that the poor are more often in need of help, and have fewer resources to turn to. Looking more closely at the “gimmel,” there is a further message. The letter is formed with a “foot” that extends to the right, toward the “daled.” In “gemol dalim,” the help — the “gemol” — is extended toward the poor — the “dalim.” One whose desire is to help the poor will extend himself toward them, seeking out those who need his help rather than waiting for them to appear on his doorstep.

i hope you realized that gomol is the same letters as gimmel with different vowels. These letters are גמל .

The next two letters of the alef-beit — “hey” and “vav” — represent HaShem’s name. The Chofetz Chaim explains this segment of Talmud by referring to another segment (Bava Basra 75b), which says that a time will come when the righteous are called by HaShem’s name; the righteous will overflow with such Godliness that they will actually bear HaShem’s name.

This, says the Chofetz Chaim, explains the sequence of alef-beit that the children expounded. “Alef binah,” if a person commits himself to learning Torah; and “gemol dalim,” if he helps the poor; then he arrives at “hey” and “vav.” HaShem will pronounce His name upon him.

As the Talmud relates, the interpretation given by these small children came as an awakening to those who heard them. “Why didn’t we ever realize this?” they wondered. The Sages explain that the words of children — even when they do not understand completely what they are saying — are sometimes a medium of prophecy. HaShem provided this channel to mitigate the loss of the full power of prophecy, which He removed from His people. By listening carefully to the words of these children, one can comprehend the formula that makes kindness the moving force in HaShem’s Creation.

The path to prophecy is through the Alef Bet. This is taught more completely in the Sefer Yetzirah. We have 40 recordings of the 40 classes I have taught of this information. I hope you listen to them as homework while you are learning about the letters in this class. If you want I will start a new series to correspond to this class so that you can learn them together. Let me know by email if you will attend a Wednesday class at 6 PM which is the time I can schedule this new Sefer Yetzirah classes.

As we go through the letters I would like to add to these teachings of the children. I do not know them and the teachings stop at this point in the Talmud. i suggest you start to meditate on the letters themselves and ask them to assist you so that these teachings can be added to our classes. Write up your meditations and send to me. I will include those that i think might be meaningful to others.