Variant spellings - TABBITHA – TABETHA – TABATHA - TABOTHA – TABYTHA – TABATHAH – TABITHA – TABBITHAH – TABITHAH – TABITA - TABITAH

Christian Bible – Tabitha was a disciple from Joppa who died. She was brought back to life by Peter (Acts 9:36-40).

The letters featured in this piece are TET BEIT TAV HEY. Taken together, they spell TABITHA.

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.

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.
According to Ginsburg the TET is “a vessel containing the blessing of peace.” He appears to arrive at this conclusion by associating TET as the 9th letter with YESOD, (foundation) the 9th Sephirah. Zohar correlated PEACE with YESOD. This interpretation fits with my experience in meditation. (Ginsburgh, Rabbi Yitzchak. 1992. The Hebrew Letters. Jerusalem: Gal Einai. 141).

BEIT is the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet and its numerical value is 2. The meanings of BEIT are HOUSE, HOME, CONTAINER. The BEIT makes a sound like the B in Beautiful.
Torah begins with the letter BEIT. It was chosen for this honor because it is closed on top, bottom and on the right. It is open on the left, the direction of the text, to teach us to look forward and not backward, in our daily lives (Freedman, H. and Simon Maurice Tr. 1983. Genesis Rabbah. New York: Soncino P. 9).

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).

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.
The word BEHEBARAM in Gen. 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 opening (Menachot 29b).

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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:: nf4-180