Variant spellings - THADEUS - THADDAEUS

Christian Bible - Thaddaeus Was one of the twelve apostles (Matthew 10:3).

Talmud – THADEUS of Rome is a second century scholar (Pesachim 53a).

The letters featured in this piece are TAV VAV DALET VAV SAMECH. Taken together, and reading from right to left, they spell THADDEUS.

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.

TAV is the 22nd letter in Hebrew alphabet – the last letter. It has a numerical value of 400. TAV means MARK, SIGN. In 1500 B.C.E. the TAV was written as an X. Perhaps this contributed to its meaning. TAV makes a sound like the T in Tall. The TAV is composed of a DALET and a NUN.
God said to the Angel Gabriel: Go set a TAV – MARK - on the foreheads of the righteous so that they will be protected (Shabbat 55a).

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.
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? The 6 Sephirot represented by the VAV - HESED, GEVURAH, TIFERET, NETZACH, HOD, YESOD? Six directions - east, west, north south, up and down? The letter VAV itself? (The Bahir. York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 30).

DALET is the 4th letter of the alphabet, has a numerical value of 4, means DOOR and makes a sound like the D in Delight. The DALET has the shape of an open door.
The conjunction of the two letters GIMEL and DALET indicates issuing forth…, GIMEL giving and DALET receiving (Zohar. 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino. 1:244b).

SAMECH is the 15th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has a numerical value of 60. It makes a sound like the S in Sun. SAMECH is shaped like a circle and means SUPPORT, TO TRUST, TO RELY ON.
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 SAMECH, 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).

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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:: nm5-166