In its form REISH is similar to DALET which has an upturned right corner, symbolising one's realisation of utter dependence on God. REISH can also be a symbol of utter poverty in which man is deprived spiritually as well as materially because he fails to acknowledge his relationship to the Creator. He is weighed down by the consequences of his poverty until he can turn to God. The word REISH means 'head' or 'beginning'. The letters of the Aleph-Beit have four 'beginnings': ALEPH is the first of all the letters, REISH means 'beginning', YUD is the point by which the writing of each letter begins, HEI is the breath by which the pronunciation of each letter begins, and also a symbol of God's Breath or Spirit by which He created the Universe through His Word. These four letters combine to form the word 'lion', the first of the four sacred animals of the vision of the Divine Chariot of Ezechiel. The wings and the lion in the painting refer to this. In another way, REISH is the centre. Its numerical value is 200, halfway between ALEPH=1 and the last letter, TAV=400. Its centrality is a reminder to us of the centrality of the heart: not only at the physical centre of the body, but at the centre of our spiritual life. It is only when we can bow our head and turn towards the heart that we can experience true knowledge of God through love. This deep knowledge can only be communicated to our fellow human beings by subjugating intellectual and theoretical knowledge to the intuitive knowledge through the heart, enabling us to speak to the hearts of other people with the power of personal experience. Scripture refers to Issachar, son of Jacob and Leah, and the father of the ninth tribe of Israel, as the wisest of all the tribes in the knowledge of Torah. His tribe numbered 200 heads in the Sanhedrin, the council of the sages interpreting the Law. Issachar's knowledge of the "understanding of times" means that he understood the cycles of birth and death, pregnancy and the cyclical nature of natural events. The fruits of the earth on the painting refer to this "understanding of the times", the understanding of processes that take place in our lives both as individuals and as communities. The pomegranate is the symbol of fertility, the grapes from which wine is made symbolise spiritual transformation, apples are about knowledge and I use the pear as a symbol of femininity. The feminine aspects of spirituality have been neglected, but are essential for balanced development, this is why I included the pear. The first commandment is represented by the letter DALET, commanding us to believe in the One God. The second Commandment is represented by REISH, prohibiting the worship of strange, other gods. When Israel turned away from God and worshipped the Golden Calf, God commanded Moses to descend from Mount Sinai. The word for DESCEND is the interchange of the two letters, putting REISH before DALET. Moses was destined to serve God's people, and he could not stay with God on Mount Sinai, which can represent Heaven, while Israel turned away from God. In the upper right corner of the painting the head of the Golden Calf is a reminder to us to adhere to the One True God. REISH in its smooth bending over can warn us against bending too easily to the influences of the world and failing to cling to God's Laws. This implies following another leader, returning to Egypt, a symbol of slavery to sin.