Aleph
ALEPH This is the first letter of the Hebrew Aleph-Beit. Its
numerical value is one. It represents God who is one, unique, transcendent
beyond all being. The form of the letter is made of two yuds which represent
the upper and lower waters of creation, as described in Genesis. The upper
yud can also refer to God's transcendence, making us realise that we can never
comprehend Divine Reality, whereas the lower yud refers to God's immanent
presence in all creation, making it possible for us to know Him in some way.
They are joined by the diagonal vav, which represents both the firmament separating
the lower waters from the higher waters, and God, who is the ladder joining
them, giving us the opportunity to reach Him. Four sages who reached the great
heights of mystical union with God arrived at a 'place of pure marble' through
prayer and meditation. The greatest of them, Rabbi Akiva, warned the others
not to say 'water, water' for in this 'place' no lies would be tolerated.
The lie would refer to observing the presence of the two waters coming together
in this 'place', but here, in the presence of God, the paradox of duality.
and all opposites are reconciled, so all is ONE. The lower waters represent
a state of turmoil and an awareness of separation from God. The higher waters
are the state of closeness to God. The writing leading from the stormy waters
is the "Shema, Israel...", (Hear, oh Israel, ... God is One."). The initial
letter Shin is like a ship passing through the stormy waters, taking us safely
towards our goal. The journey leads to the ladder. From the most basic step
of acknowledging the supremacy of the Master of the Universe, who is One,
we can grow in the love and knowledge of God, as if climbing the ladder. At
the highest level of Divine Consciousness, man experiences the Divine Being,
his own self coming from the essence of God, he himself becoming son of God.
The Messiah in this sense can be called the Son of God, and identified with
the Almighty, who graciously becomes our Way to Himself. The Seven Heavens
are alluded to by the seven layers of the upper waters. The large wings spanning
the heavens are the angels, spirits of great love, understanding, and power
to help humanity. The word ALEPH can also be read as ALUPH, meaning master,
and can refer to one who has mastered the knowledge of Torah, or to the Supreme
Master of the Universe. The oxen at the top of the painting remind us that
the word ALEPH can mean "oxen", "thousand", "master" or "teaching". The oxen
symbolize the most basic physical reality, the beginning of consciousness.
The highest form of knowledge through studying the Torah is reached step by
step and is not beyond our capacity. It is taking one step at a time that
the completed journey of a "thousand" steps is achieved. A thousand is ten
times ten times ten, and represents the ten sephirot permeating all dimensions,
i.e. the Divine influence penetrating through all reality. The fish in the
heavenly waters represents the Messiah who brings total Divine consciousness
to humanity. (See NUN, where the symbolism is explained in more detail.)
