Gesenius' Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures.

Variant spelling - PHAROH, PHAROAH, PHAROAH

Hebrew Bible name - Pharaoh was the title of the rulers of ancient Egypt (Genesis 12:15-20).

The Hebrew Letters featured in this piece are Pey Resh Ayin Vav.Taken together, and reading from right to left, they spell PHARAOH.

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.

PEY is the 17th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has a numerical value of 80. PEY makes a sound either like the P in Peace or the F in Food. PEY means MOUTH and is constructed of a Caf with a Yud situated at the top and rotated inward.
If one looks carefully at the Pey one can see that there is a Beit, which makes up the empty space within it. The Beit is the first letter of the word Bereshit - IN A BEGINNING, which is the first word of Torah. God opened up Gods MOUTH and out came the Beit - BEGINNING - CREATION.
The Pey is one of the 5 letters [Caf Mem Nun Pey Tsade] that have 2 forms (Shabbat 104a).
I [Pey] signify redemption and deliverance (Zohar. 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino. 1:2b).
The bent Pe and the straight Pe [intimate] an open mouth [Pey], a closed mouth.
The medial (bent) Pey is almost closed - A time to keep silence, and a time to speak (Ecclesiastes 3:7) (Shabbat 104a).
[The writing of the letters] must be kethibah tammah [perfect writing]; thus one must not write the& the Tet as a Pey or the Pey as a Tet (Shabbat 103b).
Sefer Yetzirah. divides the Hebrew Letters into 3 categories: 3 mothers - Aleph Mem Shin, 7 doubles - Beit Gimel Dalet Kuf 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.
According to Sefer Yetzirah, God created the world by means of these letters. Pey is one of the Doubles. Seven Doubles: BGD KPHRT, Their foundation is Wisdom, Wealth, Seed, Life, Dominance, Peace and Grace. Seven Double, their foundation is [that] He engraved them, He cared them, He permuted them, He weighed the, He transform them, and with them He formed seven planets in the Universe, Seven days in the Year, Seven gates in the Soul, male and female: two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, and the mouth. And God made the letter Pey King over Dominance and He bound a crown to it and combined one with another and with them He formed the Mercury in the Universe, Thursday in the Year, The left ear in the Soul, male and female (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1990. Sefer Yetzirah York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 5, 95, 159, 162, 176).

RESH is the 20th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has a numerical value of 200. RESH makes a sound like the R in Radiant. Resh means BEGINNING or HEAD. When one spells out the letter Resh in Hebrew, it is Resh Yud Shin. Yud and Shin spell YESH - THERE IS. The letter Resh means BEGINNING. So it is possible to say that the Resh literally means THERE IS A BEGINNING.
[The writing of the letters] must be kethibah tammah [perfect writing]; thus one must not write the Dalet as a Resh or the Resh as a Dalet (Shabbat 103a).
Kuf [stands for] Kadosh [holy]; Resh [for] Rasha [wicked]: why is the face of the Kuf averted from, the Resh? The Holy One, blessed be He, said: I cannot look at the wicked. And why is the crown of the Kuf turned toward the Resh? The Holy One, blessed be He, saith: If he repents, I will bind a crown on him like Mine. And why is the foot of the Kuf suspended? [To show] that if he repents, he can enter and be brought in [to God's favour] through this [opening]. (Shabbat 104a).
A Tanna taught: If one corrects one letter, he is culpable. Now, seeing that if one writes one letter he is not culpable. if he [merely] corrects one letter he is culpable? [Surely not] - Said R. Sheshet: The circumstances here are e.g., that he removes the roof [i.e.. the upper bar] of a Heth and makes two Zayyin thereof. Raba said: E.g.. he removes the projection of a Daleth and makes a Resh thereof. [In a Scroll of one of the Biblical books. This constitutes a complete labour, because one may not permit a Scroll of Scripture to remain with an error] (Shabbat 104a).
I am a scribe, and he said to me, Be meticulous in your work, for your occupation is a sacred one [work of heaven]; should you perchance omit or add one single letter, you would thereby destroy all the universe.(18) There is no need [for me to assure you] that I would make no mistakes in respect of words that are plene or defective, since I am familiar [with the subject], but [I have even taken precautions] against the possibility of a fly's perching on the crownlet of a Dalet and, by blotting it out, turn it into a Resh, for I have a certain ingredient, called vitriol, which I put into the ink. (18) By omitting e.g. , the Aleph in Aleph Mem Tav (truth), the word would be abbreviated to Mem Tav (dead) Eruvin13a).
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. The Resh is one of the doubles. He made the letter Resh King over Peace and He bound a crown to it and combined one with another and with them He formed the Universe (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1990. Sefer Yetzirah. The Book of Creation York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 5, 95, 145, 147, 159, 176).

AYIN is the 16th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, has a numerical value of 70 and makes no sound. Ayin means EYE or FOUNTAIN. The Ayin is constructed of an elongated Yud (10) on the right and a Zayin (7) on the left.
[In the alphabet the letter Samek is followed by the letter Ayyin]. Samek Ayyin [means] support [Semak] the poor [aniyyim] (Shabbat 104a).
In the alphabet the letter Ayin is followed by the letter Pey. But in (Lamentations 3:36-41; (Lamentations 4:16-17), which is written as an alphabetical acrostic, Pey (which means MOUTH) is placed before the Ayin (which means EYE). This is because when the spies went into the promised land they spoke with their mouths what they had not seen with their eyes (Sanhedrin 104b).
[The writing of the letters] must be kethibah tammah [perfect writing]; thus one must not write the Aleph as an Ayin, the Ayin as an Aleph, (Shabbat 103b).
The Ancient Holy One is called Ayin (nothing) (Zohar. 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino. 3:158b).
Ayin 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 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). .
Wisdom was completed from Ayin (nothing) (Zohar. 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino. 1:30a).
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. Ayin 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 Ayin King over ANGER. And He bound a crown to it, and He combined one with another and with them He formed Capricorn in the Universe, Tevet in the Year, and the liver in the Soul, male and female (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1990. Sefer Yetzirah. The Book of Creation York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 5, 95, 209, 197, 209).

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).
Hey, 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).

HEY is the 5th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has a numerical value of 5, means BEHOLD and is constructed of a Dalet and a Yud. Hey makes a sound like the H in Happy. Hey appears twice in the Yud Hey Vav Hey Name of God.
The word Behebaram in Genesis 2:4 is usually translated When they were created. In the Torah scroll the Hey in this word drew attention to itself by being smaller than the rest of the letters in the scroll. What significance did this have for the word Behebaram? If this word could be translated WITH A Hey HE CREATED THEM, then that would mean that God created this world by means of the Hey. God did this because the Hey is closed on 3 sides and open on the 4th. This allows those who wish to deviate from the right path to get out through the open 4th side. On the left there is a little space between the leg and the roof. That is there to allow anyone who wishes to repent, to return through that small (Menachot 29b).
When R. Johanan was once sitting [at his studies] and expounding that nothar at its proper time [on the third day] may be burned in the daytime only,and if not at its proper time, it may be burned either in the day or in the night. R. Eleazar raised an objection: I only know that a child whose circumcision takes place on the eighth day must be circumcised in the daytime only; whence, however, is it deduced that the case of a child whose circumcision takes place on the ninth, tenth, eleventh or twelfth is also included? Because it was expressly stated, And in the day; and even he [on the third day] who bases no expositions on a Vav does base his exposition on the basis of a Vav and a Hey! (Yevamot 72b).
The heavens are the totality of twenty-two letters. The letter Hey produced the heavens to give them life and to water them and the earth (Zohar. 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino. 1:30a).
The numerical value of the Hey is five, alluding to the five names of the soul Nephesh, Ruach, Neshama, Chaya, Yechidah (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1979. Tr. The Bahir York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 19).
What is the purpose of the Hey? It is a throne for the Zayin, It is written for one above the other watches (Ecclesiastes 5:7) (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1979. Tr. The Bahir York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 19).
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. Hey 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 Hey King over speech. and He bound a crown to it and combined one with another and with them He formed Aries in the Universe, Nissan in the Year and the right foot in the Soul male and female (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1990. Sefer Yetzirah. The Book of Creation York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 5, 95, 209, 159, 215).

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This work is accompanied by the kabbalistic explanation printed above.

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

mat color:: black, gray, orange

stock number:: nm22-150