The Complete Dictionary of English and Hebrew First Names.

Variant spellings - JOCHANNAN

Hebrew Bible name - Johanan was a son of Elioenai and brother of Hodaiah, Eliashib , Pelaiah, Akkub, Dalaiah, and Anani (1Chronicles 26:2-3).
Johanan was a son of Azariah, grandson of Ahimaaz, great-grandson of Zadok, father of Azariah , and grandfather of Amariah (1 Chronicles 6:10-12).
Johanan was as son of HaKatan (Ezra 8:12
And when all the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, there came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethanhiah, and Johanan the son of Careah [Kareah}, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite (2 Kings 25:23).
Johanan was a son of Eliashib (Ezra 10:6).
Johanan was a son of Tobiah, husband of the daughter of Meshulam, son of Berechiah (Nehemiah 6:17-18).

Talmud - Yochanan was a popular name in talmudic times. More than fifty different Palestinian and Babylonian scholars are name Yochanan in the Talmud.
Yochanan Ben Zakkai was the most important tanna in the last decade of the Second Temple, and, after the destruction of Jerusalem, the founder and first president of the academy at Jabneh. According to the theory formulated in the Mishnah (Abot 2:8) that traditions were handed down through an unbroken chain of scholars, Johanan, in receiving the teachings of Hillel and Shammai, formed the last link in that chain. But it is rather as a pupil of Hillel rather than of Shammai (Sukkah 28a). Before his death Hillel is said to have prophetically designated Johanan, his youngest pupil, as the father of wisdom and the father of coming generations (JT Yerushalmi Nedarim ). Like that of Hillel, the life of Johanan life was divided into periods of forty years each. In the first of these he followed a mercantile pursuit; in the second he studied; and in the third he taught (Rosh HaShanna 30b). Another version has it (Sifre, Deut. 3:57) that in the last forty years of his life he was a leader of Israel. If the last statement be accepted as approximately correct, and it is assumed that Johanan lived at the latest one decade after the destruction of Jerusalem, his public activity as the recognized leader of the pharisaic scribes must have begun between the years 30 and 40 of the common era (www.jewishencyclopedia.com).
They said concerning R. Yochanan Ben Zakkai that during his whole life he never uttered profane talk, nor walked four cubits without [studying the] Torah, or without tefillin (Sukkah 28a).
Our Rabbis have taught: Hillel the Elder had eighty disciples, thirty of whom were worthy of the Divine Spirit resting upon them, as [it did upon] Moses our Master, thirty of whom were worthy that the sun should stand still for them [as it did for] Joshua the son of Nun, [and the remaining] twenty were ordinary. The greatest of them was Johanan b. Uzziel, the youngest of them was Yochanan Ben Zakkai. They said of R. Yochanan Ben Zakkai that he did not leave [unstudied] Scripture, Mishnah, Gemara, Halacha, Aggada, details of the Torah, details of the Scribes, inferences a minori ad majus, analogies, calendrical computation gematrias, the speech of the Ministering Angels, the speech of spirits, and the speech of palm-trees, fullers parables and fox fables, great matters or small matters; Great matters mean the Ma'aseh Merkava, small matters the discussions of Abaye and Raba (Sukkah 28a).
Johanan b. Nappacha was either the son of a smith or bar Nappacha may mean smith (Jastrow. 923a.) Rashi also suggests that the name may allude to his beauty. In that case Nun HeyPey may be understood, the sense being, inflaming one's desires . (Sanhedrin 96a).
The father of R. Johanan b. Nappacha died when his mother conceived him, and his mother died when she bore him (Kiddushin 31b).
R. Johanan b. Nappacha was a physically a beautiful man. He was accustomed to go and sit at the gates of the bathing place. He said: When the daughters of Israel come up from bathing they look at me and they have children as handsome as I am. Said the Rabbis to him: Is not the Master afraid of the evil eye? He replied: I come from the seed of Joseph, over whom the evil eye has no power, as it is written, Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine above the eye (Genesis 49:22) (Berachot 20a).
One day Johanan b. Nappacha was bathing in the Jordan, when Reish Lakish [a bandit] saw him and leapt into the Jordan after him. Said he [R. Johanan] to him, Your strength should be for the Torah. Your beauty, he replied, should be for women. If you will repent, said he [R. Johanan], I will give you my sister [in marriage], who is more beautiful than I. He undertook [to repent]; then he wished to return and collect his weapons, but could not [His mere decision to turn to the study of the Torah had so weakened him that he lacked the strength to don his heavy equipment]. Subsequently, R. Johanan, taught him [Reish Lakish] Bible and Mishnah, and made him into a great man (Baba Metzia 84a).
R. Johanan also said: He whose first wife has died, [is grieved as much] as if the destruction of the Temple had taken place in his days, as it is written: Son of man, behold I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke; yet thou shalt not make lamentation nor weep; neither shall thy tears run down ( Ezekiel 24:16-18) (Sanhedrin 22a).
R. Shaman b. Abba stated in the name of R. Johanan: If a wife brought to her husband [a bar of] gold, it is to be assessed and [entered in her kethubah] according to its actual value (Gitten 18b).
Rab said: If a man sells a field to his wife, She becomes the legal owner, but he is still entitled to the produce. He [R. Hisda] replied: I also am following a great authority, for when Rabin came [from Palestine to Babylonia] he said in the name of R. Johanan: In either case, the wife becomes the legal owner, and the husband is not entitled to the produce (Baba Bathra 51b).

The Hebrew Letters featured in this painting are Yud Vav Chet Nun Nun sophit. Taken all together they spell JOHANAN.

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

YUD is the 10th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, has a numerical value of 10, and means HAND. Yud makes a sound like the Y in Year. Yud is a simple point. It is the smallest letter in the alphabet and yet is frequently associated with the very large concept of EMANATION, the highest level in the Four World paradigm of Kabbalah.
[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).
[Zayyin Heth Teth Yod KafLamed: [this sequence teaches,] and if thou doest thus, the Holy One, blessed be He [ haKadosh], 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 letters of the word for husband are Aleph, Yud and Shin, and for wife Aleph Shin and Hey. The Yud and Hey form the Divine Name; but if omitted, only Aleph and Shin are left which form the word esh, meaning fire (Sotah 17a).
Yud has the important job of being the first letter of the Tetragrammaton - Yud Hey Vav Hey. Zohar states that, in this context, the Yud represents the head of all creatures (Zohar. 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino 1984. 3:130).
In the Sephrotic tree the Yud symbolizes WISDOM - the stage of concealment which precedes its development into a state of expansion in UNDERSTANDING. It is then contained and represented in the letter Hey (Zalman, Shneur. 1981. "Igeret Hateshuvah." Likkutei Amarim - Tanya. 359).
Menachot 29b teaches that the WORLD TO COME was created by use of the letter Yud 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. Yud 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 Yud, King over action and He bound a crown to it and combined one with another and with them He formed Virgo in the Universe, Elul in the Year and the left hand in the Soul male and female (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1990. Sefer Yetzirah. The Book of Creation York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 5, 95, 209, 159, 216).

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).

CHET is the 8th letter of the alphabet and has a numerical value of 8. Chet is pronounced like the CH in BaCH. Kushner's description is the best that I have found of what is necessary to create the sound of Chet . It is the top of your throat and the bottom of your throat fighting against one another (Kushner, Lawrence. 1990. The Book of Letters: Sefer Otiyot. Woodstock: Jewish Lights Publishing. 39).
[The writing of the letters] must be kethibah tammah [perfect writing]; thus one must not write the& Hey as a Chet or the Chet as a Hey (Shabbat 103b).
[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).
Talmud. teaches that if one learns UNDERSTANDING and performs acts of LOVINGKINDNESS for the poor, then God will look upon the person with Chen  spelled Chet Nun - FAVOR, GRACE (Shabbat 104a ).
Usually the Chet is composed of 2 Zayins. But the 16th century kabbalist master, Luria, stated that the Chet consists of a Vav on the right and a Zayin on the left. Each Hebrew letter has a numerical value. GEMATRIA is the numerical manipulation of the values of the letter to explain the meaning of a word or phrase. The combined value of the Vav (6) and Zayin (7) is 13 which is the value of the word echad - Aleph (1) Chet (8) Dalet (4) = 13. Echad means ONE. It is also the highest prime denominator of the name of God - Yud (10) Hey (5) Vav (6) Hey (5) = 26 =13 = ONE.
Mishneh Torah is a major halachic (law) work written by Maimonides. In it Rambam explains that there are 10 levels of ANGELS. The Hayyot  Chet Yud Vav Tav - HaKadosh are above all the others. The word Chayyot begins with a Chet and is related to the word Chai  Chet Yud - LIFE (Mishneh Torah 1981. Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 2:7. Tr. Tr. Moses Hyamson. New York: Feldheim. 36a).
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. Chet 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 Chet King over sight. He bound a crown to it and He combined one with another and with them He formed Cancer in the Universe, Tamuz in the Year, and the right hand in the Soul, male and female (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1990. Sefer Yetzirah. The Book of Creation York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 5, 95, 209, 159, 216).

NUN is the 14th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has a numerical value of 50, makes a sound like the N in Now, and means SHINE, SPOUT, SPREAD in Hebrew and FISH in Aramaic. The Nun has the head of a Zayin. The body is an elongated Zayin. Nun The NUN is one of 5 letters [Caf Mem Nun Pey Tsade] that have 2 forms - the regular [bent] form used in the beginning and middle of a word and the FINAL FORM - SOFIT - used as the last letter of a word (Shabbat 104a).
According to the ancient kabbalistic text The Bahir, the bent Nun represents the spinal cord through which the body is fed by the brain (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1979. Tr. The Bahir York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 31).
The final Nun represents, by its shape, man who walks erect, and who mystically combines male and female (Zohar. 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino 1:18b-19a. 80).
Nun 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 SHAYNAYZ GAYTZ 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 Tagin to the letters of Torah (Menachot 29b).
Ashre - [This is (Psalms 145:1-21), which is arranged alphabetically, save that the verse beginning with the letter Nun (N) is missing]. R. Johanan says: Why is there no Nun in (Ashre)? [Because the fall of the enemies of Israel begins with it [Nephilim]. For it is written: Fallen is [nefal - Nun Pey Lamed Hey] the virgin of Israel, she shall no more rise (Amos 5:2). R. Nachman b. Isaac says: Even so, David refers to it by inspiration [Literally the Holy Spirit. The meaning is, David knew by inspiration that Amos was going to prophesy the downfall of Israel, and he refers to that verse and prophesies their being raised up again, though their downfall is not mentioned by < David] and promises them an uplifting. For it is written: The Lord upholdeth all that fall (Psalm 145:14). (Berachot 4b).
Abaye said: he should eat fish, for Samuel said, Nun, Samek, Ayin [read] Nuna [fish] sama [are a healing] la-enayim [to the eyes]! - That is at the end of the illness [Three letters of the Hebrew alphabet in order] (Nedarim 54b).
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.
Nun 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 Nun King over smell. And He bound a crown to it and He combined one with another and with them He formed Scorpio in the Universe, Cheshvan in the Year, and the intentine in the Soul male and female (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1990. Sefer Yetzirah. The Book of Creation York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 197, 209, 217).

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This painting 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:: nm1-183