The Complete Hebrew English Dictionary.

Variant spellings - MALAK, MALAKH

Hebrew Bible source - But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleases you. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face. And the angel [malach] of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur (Genesis 16:6-7).
And the angel [malach] of the Lord said unto [Hagar], I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. And the angel [malach] of the Lord said unto her [Hagar], Behold, thou art with child, and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction (Genesis 16:10-11).

Kabbalah - The providence of God works through the angels, but these angels, in turn, work through the stars and the planets. Angels, but these angels are like souls to the stars, and this also means that the stars and planets are the bodies of these angels (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1990. Sefer Yetzirah. The Book of Creation York Beach: Samuel Weiser 170, 172).

Mishneh Torah is a codification of Jewish LAW [halacha] written by Maimonides, the 12th century halakhist, philosopher, physician. In this LEGAL document, Maimonides states that there are ten levels of angels and ranks them by name. "The different name with which the angels are called reflect their [spiritual] levels. Thus they are called: the holy 1. Chayyot, who are above all the others; the 2. Ofanim, the 3. Erelim, the 4. Hashmalim; the 5. Serafim , the 6. Malachim; 7. the Eloheim; 8. the Sons of Eloheim; 9. the Cherubim; 10. the Ishim." These ten names which are used to refer to the angels reflect their ten [different spiritual] levels. The level above which there is no higher level except that of God, blessed be He, is that of the form called Chayyot. Therefore, the prophets state that they are below Gods throne of glory.
The tenth [and lowest] level is that of the form called ishim. They are the angels who communicate with the prophets and are perceived by them in prophetic visions. Therefore, they are called ishim, because their level is close to the level of human knowledge (Mishneh Torah: Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 1981. Tr. Eliyahu Touger. New York: Moznaim. 2:7. 166-168).

According to Rabbi Mitchell Chefitz, an angel is an abstraction associated with the name of God or an angel is a symbolic personification of an attribute of God. Ex. An angel is a symbolic personification of the SPLENDOR [Hadriel] of God (From the teachings of Rabbi Mitchell Chefitz, author of The Seventh Telling, The Thiry-third Hour, The Curse of Blessings, White Fire, Blood Covenant).

The Hebrew Letters featured in this painting are Mem Lamed Aleph Caf. Taken together, and reading from right to left, they spell MALACH.

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.

MEM is the 13th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has a numerical value of 40. Mem makes a sound like the M in Middle. But according to the ancient kabbalistic text Sefer Yetzirah, the MEM hummmmmms! Mem is usually associated with the word mayim - WATER or Eemah - MOTHER. Mem is composed of a Caf (20) and a Vav (6) = 26, which have the same GEMATRIA as the Yud (10) Hey (5) Vav (6) Hey (5) = 26, name of God , the holiest of God's Names.
Tradition tells us that the engraving of the letters of the 10 commandments went all the way through the tablets, from the front side to the back side. Therefore the final Mem since it is completely closed, should have fallen out. Because it did not, R. Hisda said that it stood there be means of a miracle (Shabbat 104a).
The MEM is one of the 5 letters [Caf Mem Nun Pey Tsade] that have 2 forms One form is used in the beginning and the middle of a word - the open Mem. The other form is at the end of the word - the closed Mem. According to Talmud, the open Mem represents revealed teaching and the closed Mem represents concealed teaching AIR (Shabbat 104a).
Of the increase [Lamed Mem sophit Resh Beit Hey] of his government and peace there shall be no end (Isaiah 9:6).
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 (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1990. Sefer Yetzirah. The Book of Creation York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 5, 31, 95, 159, 197).
According to Sefer Yetzirah, God created the world by means of these letters. Mem is one of the Mothers. Three Mothers [Aleph Mem Shin]: their foundation is a pan of merit, a pan of liability, and the tongue of decree deciding between them. He engraved them, and carved them, He permuted them, He weighed them, He transformed them. And with them He depicted Three Mothers in the Universe, Three Mothers in the Year, Three Mothers in the Soul, male and female. Three Mothers, Aleph Mem Shin, in the Universe are air, water, fire. Heaven was created from fire (Aleph Shin), Earth was created from water (Mem Yud Mem), And air (Aleph Vav Yud Resh) from Breather decides between them. He made the Mem king over water And He bound a crown to it, And He combines one with another. And with them He formed Earth in the Universe, Cold in the Year, And the belly I the Soul: The male with MASh (Aleph Mem Shin) And the female with MShA (Aleph Mem Shin) (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1990. Sefer Yetzirah. The Book of Creation York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 5, 95, 139, 144, 145, 148, 154).
Sometimes when I meditate with this letter, the Mem acts like sort of a submarine for me. At other times I can breathe under water. Nice. Let me know how you do.

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 (Shabbat104a).
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).

ALEPH is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has a numerical value of one. The meanings of Aleph are: THOUSAND, MASTER, TEACHING, OX. The Aleph makes no sound. The Aleph is composed of a Vav (6) and 2 Yuds (20). Their combined value is 26 which is the numerical value of the name of God - Yud (10) Hey (5) Vav (6) Hey (5) (Chefitz, Mitchell. 2001. The Seventh Telling. New York: St. Martins Press. 219).
[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).
Alef Beth [means] learn wisdom [Alef Binah] (Shabbat104a).
The Holy One, blessed be He [ haKadosh barochu], said: I am not called as I am written: I am written with Yud Hey, but I am read, Aleph Dalet (Kiddushim 71a).
There are Names which may be erased [Because they are not used solely of the Deity, and are therefore not sacred]; and there are Names which may not be erased. These are the Names which may not be erased, such as: El [God], Eloha, Elohim, your God, I am that I am [ehyeh asher ehyeh - Aleph Hey Yud Hey - Aleph Shin Resh - Aleph HeyYud Hey], Alef Daleth; Yod He; Shaddai; Zebaoth - these may not be erased. but the Great, the Mighty, the Revered, the Majestic, the Strong, the Powerful, the Potent, the Merciful and Gracious, the Long Suffering, the One Abounding in Kindness these may be erased! (Shauvot 35a).
The Lord said to her: Aleph, Aleph, although I will begin the creation of the world with the Beit, thou wilt remain the first of the letters. My unity shall not be expressed except through thee, on thee shall be based all calculations and operations of the world (Zohar. 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino. 1:3b).
Beit is female, Aleph, male. As Beit created, so Aleph, produced letters (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. The Aleph is one of the mothers - that group from which emanated AIR (from Aleph), WATER (from Mem) and FIRE (from Shin). The 3 mothers in the universe are AIR, WATER and FIRE...HEAVEN was created from FIRE, EARTH was created from WATER, and AIR from SPIRIT (WIND) balanced between them. Aleph and Shin spell AISH - FIRE. Aleph represents AIR and Shin - FIRE. FIRE cannot exist without AIR (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1990. Sefer Yetzirah. The Book of Creation York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 5, 95, 145, 147, 159, 197).

CAF is the 11th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has a numerical value of 20. When the Caf has a dot in it, Caf makes a sound like the K in Kitchen. Without the dot it makes a sound similar to that made by the letter Chet. Caf means PALM OF THE HAND, SPOON, CONTAINER. When functioning as a prefix CAF can mean AS, LIKE, WHEN, AT, ABOUT or ACCORDING TO. Caf stands for bent objects.
The Caf 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 (Shabbat104a).
[The writing of the letters] must be kethibah tammah [perfect writing]; thus one must not write the& Beit as a Caf, or the Caf as a Beit (Shabbat103b).
Zayin Heth Teth Yod Kaf Lamed: [This sequence of letters teaches us that], 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 (Shabbat104a).
O Lord of the universe, may it please Thee to begin through me the creation of the world, seeing that I [ Caf] am Thine own Kavod (honor) (Zohar. 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino. 1:6a).
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. Caf is one of the Doubles. Seven Doubles: BGD KPHRT, Their foundation is Wisdom, Wealth, Seed, Life, Dominance, Peace and Grace. Seven Doubles, 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 Caf King over LIFE. (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1990. Sefer Yetzirah. The Book of Creation York Beach: Samuel Weiser.. 5, 95, 159, 162, 174, 175).

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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:: blue