The Complete Dictionary of English and Hebrew First Names.

Hebrew Bible name - Lot was a son of Haran, grandson of Terah, nephew of Abraham and Nachor and grandfather and father Moab and Benammi. It was the wife of Lot who was turned to salt as Sodom and Gomorrah were being destroyed (Genesis 11:27; Genesis19:26-37).

The Hebrew Letters featured in this piece are Lamed Vav Tet. Taken together, and reading from right to left, they spell LOT.

Each of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet has a special meaning and a story to tell. Here a few brief ones about the letters on this painting.

LAMED is the 12th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has a numerical value of 30. Lamed makes a sound like the L in Like. Lamed means both TO LEARN and TO TEACH. The Lamed is the tallest and most majestic of all the letters. Indeed Rashi interprets A TOWER FLYING IN THE AIR (Hagigah 15b) - as applying to the upper stroke of the Lamed.
The Lamed is generally considered to be constructed of a Caf (20) with a Vav (6). In this configuration the LAMED has a GEMATRIA of 26 - the same as that of the Yud (10) Hey (5) Vav (6) Hey (5) name of God (Haralick, Robert M. 1995. The Inner Meaning of the Hebrew Letters. Northvale: Jason Aronson. 180).
Since LAMED means LEARNING, it would seem that this would constitute a direct connection between LAMED, LEARNING and God.
The ziz [The headplate worn by the High Priest, (Exodus 28:36). ]was a kind of golden plate two fingerbreadths broad, and it stretched round [the forehead] from ear to ear, and upon it was written in two lines Yod He above and Holy Lamed below (Shabbat 63b).
[Zayyin Heth Teth Yod KafLamed: [this sequence teaches], and if thou doest thus, the Holy One, blessed be He [ haKadosh barochu] , will sustain [Zan] thee, be gracious [Hen] unto thee, show goodness [Metiv] to thee, give thee a heritage [Yerushah], and bind a crown [ Keter] on thee in the world to come (Shabbat 104a).
R. Nehemiah said, In the case of every word which requires a Lamed at the beginning [to indicate direction] Scripture has placed a Hey at the end (Yevamot 13b).
Sefer Yetzirah divides the Hebrew Letters into 3 categories: 3 mothers - Aleph Mem Shin , 7 doubles - Beit Gimel Dalet Caf Pey Resh Tav and 12 elementals - Hey Vav Zayin Chet Tet Yud Lamed Nun Samech Ayin Tsade Kuf.
Lamed is one of the Elementals. Twelve Elementals, their foundation is [that] He engraved them, and transformed them, and with them He formed 12 constellations in the Universe, 12 months in the Year and 12 directions in the soul, male and female. And God made the letter Lamed King over sex. And He bound a crown to it and He combined one with another and with them He formed Libra in the Universe, Tishrei in the Year, and the gall bladder in the soul male and female (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1990. Sefer Yetzirah. The Book of Creation York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 197, 209, 217).

VAV is the 6th letter, has a numerical value of 6, and is constructed of a single vertical line. Vav means HOOK and makes a sound like the V in Victory. When used as a vowel, Vav can sound like a long o or a long u. Translated it means AND. It is the GREAT CONNECTOR. Vav appears in the Four Letter name of God - Yud Hey Vav Hey.
[The writing of the letters] must be kethibah tammah [perfect writing]; thus one must not write the Vav as a Yud or the Yud as a Vav (Shabbat 103b).
He , Waw, that is the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He; (14) These letters form part of the Tetragrammaton (Shabbat 104a).
The first word in Torah is Bereshit. It means IN A BEGINNING. If you divide Bereshit into bara and sheet, it means HE CREATED SIX (sheet is 6 in Aramaic) Six what? The 6 days in which creation was completed? (Zohar 1:3b. 13).
The 6 Sephirot represented by the Vav - Chesed, Gevura, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod? Six directions - east, west, north south, up and down? The letter Vav itself? (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1979. Tr. The Bahir York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 30).
He , Waw, that is the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He [ haKadosh barochu]; [These letters form part of the Tetragrammaton] (Shabbat 104a).
Sefer Yetzirah divides the Hebrew Letters into 3 categories: 3 mothers - Aleph Mem Shin , 7 doubles - Beit Gimel Dalet Caf Pey Resh Tav and 12 elementals - Hey Vav Zayin Chet Tet Yud Lamed Nun Samech Ayin Tsade Kuf.
According to Sefer Yetzirah, God created the world by means of these letters. Vav is one of the Elementals. Twelve Elementals,their foundation is [that] He engraved them, and transformed them, and with them He formed 12 constellations in the Universe, 12 months in the Year and 12 directions in the soul, male and female. And God made the letter Vav King over thought. and He bound a crown to it and combined one with another and with them He formed Taurus in the Universe, Iyar in the Year and the right kidney in the Soul male and female (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1990. Sefer Yetzirah. The Book of Creation York Beach: Samuel Weiser 5, 95, 209, 159, 215).

TET is the 9th letter of the alphabet and has a numerical value of 9. Tet makes a sound like the T in Truth. The shape of the Tet is like a bowl. The left side of the bowl resembles a Zayin. The Tet is frequently associated with the word Tov - GOOD.
According to Ginsburg, the TET is a vessel containing the blessing of peace. He appears to arrive at this conclusion by associating TET as the 9th letter, with the 9th Sephirah- Yesod, meaning foundation, (Zohar 3:115b correlated PEACE with Yesod. This interpretation fits with my experience in meditation (Ginsburgh, Rabbi Yitzchak. 1992. The Hebrew Letters Jerusalem: Gal Einai. 141).
There is a terrific story in Talmud, Taanit 21a of a man who was nicknamed ISH GAM ZU - literally MAN OF ALSO THIS. ISH GAM ZU thought everything that happened in life was GAM ZU LETOVAH - ALSO THIS IS FOR GOOD Tov . He never wavered from this viewpoint, even when he became blind and lost the use of his arms and legs. I stood next to the Kever of Ish Gam zu in Tsfat which is located in the middle of a residential neighborhood. It seemed appropriate for this good man to be in the midst of the living.
[Zayyin Heth Teth Yod KafLamed : [this sequence teaches,] and if thou doest thus, the Holy One, blessed be He, will sustain [Zan] thee, be gracious [Hen] unto thee, show goodness [Metiv] to thee, give thee a heritage [Yerushah], and bind a crown [ Keter ] on thee in the world to come (Shabbat 104a ).
[The writing of the letters] must be kethibah tammah [perfect writing]; thus one must not write the… Tet as a Pey or the Pey as a Tet (Shabbat103b).
[Zayyin Heth Teth Yod KafLamed : [this sequence teaches,] and if thou doest thus, the Holy One, blessed be He, will sustain [Zan] thee, be gracious [Hen] unto thee, show goodness [Metiv] to thee, give thee a heritage [Yerushah], and bind a crown [ Keter ] on thee in the world to come (Shabbat104a ).
Zayin is one of 7 letters which may be adorned with Tagin, or little crowns, in the Torah, Tefillin or Mezzuzah scroll. These are called the SHAATNAZ GATZ letters letters [ Shin Ayin Tet Nun Zayin Gimel Tsade] Each one of these letters contains a Zayin. A TAG is composed of 3 strokes which themselves look like little Zayins. There is a wonderful story in Talmud., which describes Moses ascending to Heaven to find God occupied in affixing TAGGIN to the letters of Torah (Menachot 29b).
Sefer Yetzirah divides the Hebrew Letters into 3 categories: 3 mothers - Aleph Mem Shin , 7 doubles – Beit Gimel Dalet Caf Pey Resh Tav and 12 elementals - Hey Vav Zayin Chet Tet Yud Lamed Nun Samech Ayin Tsade Kuf.
According to Sefer Yetzirah, God created the world by means of these letters. Tet is one of the Elementals. Twelve Elementals - their foundation is [that] He engraved them, and transformed them, and with them He formed 12 constellations in the Universe, 12 months in the Year and 12 directions in the soul, male and female. And God made the letter Tet King over hearing. and He bound a crown to it and combined one with another and with them He formed Leo in the Universe, Av in the Year and the left kidney in the Soul male and female (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1990. Sefer Yetzirah. The Book of Creation York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 5, 95, 209, 159, 216).

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This work is accompanied by the kabbalistic explanation printed above.

The original 5x7 watercolor painting of this image is available.

This is great Bar Mitzvah gift.

mat color:: green

stock number:: nm3-74