Variant spelling - LIACH – LEE ACH – LI ACH

The letters featured in this piece are LAMED YUD ALEPH CHET. Taken together, and reading from right to left, they spell LEEACH.

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.

YUD is the 10th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has a numerical value of 10. 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.

ALEPH is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has a numerical value of one. The meanings of ALEPH are: THOUSAND, MASTER, TEACHING, OXEN. 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).

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. Sepher Otiot: The Book of Letters. Woodstock: Jewish Lights Publishing. 39).

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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:: blue

stock number:: nm11-93