The letters featured in this piece are LAMED HEY DALET. Taken together, and reading from right to left, they spell LAHAT.

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. Since LAMED means LEARNING, it would seem that this would constitute a direct connection between LAMED, LEARNING and GOD.

HEY is the 5th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has a numerical value of 5. HEY means BEHOLD. The HEY 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.

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.

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This work is accompanied by the kabbalistic explanation printed above.

The original 5x7 watercolor painting of this image is available at $155.

mat color:: blue

stock number:: nm8-85