SUSI is from the Hebrew, meaning MY HORSE (Kolatch, Alfred J. 1984. The Complete Dictionary of English and Hebrew First Names
. Middle Village: Jonathan David. 221).
Hebrew Bible name - Susi was the father of Gadi, a leader of the tribe of Manasseh who was chosen to be one of the twelve scouts sent by Moses to explore the Promised Land (Numbers 13:11).
The Hebrew Letters featured in this piece are Samech Vav Samech Yud. Taken together, and reading from right to left, they spell SUSI.
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.
SAMECH is the 15th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, has a numerical value of 60, makes a sound like the S in Sun and 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).
Samek Ayyin [means] support [Semak] the poor [aniyyim] Shabbat 104a
[The writing of the letters] must be kethibah tammah [perfect writing]; thus one must not write the… Mem as a Samech or the Samech as a Mem, closed [letters] open or open letters closed (Shabbat 103b).
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. Samech 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 Samech King over SLEEP. And He bound a crown to it, and He combined one with another and with them He formed Sagittarius in the Universe, Kislev in the Year, and Kiva in the Soul, male and female (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1990. Sefer Yetzirah. The Book of Creation
York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 5, 197, 209, 217).
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 - Yud Hey Vav Hey.
[The writing of the letters] must be kethibah tammah [perfect writing]; thus one must not write the Vav as a Yud or the Yud as a Vav (Shabbat 103b).
He , Waw, that is the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He; (14) These letters form part of the Tetragrammaton (Shabbat 104a).
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? (Zohar
1:3b. 13).
The 6 Sephirot represented by the Vav - Chesed, Gevura, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod? Six directions - east, west, north south, up and down? The letter Vav itself? (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1979. Tr. The Bahir
York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 30).
He , Waw, that is the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He [ haKadosh barochu]; [These letters form part of the Tetragrammaton] (Shabbat 104a).
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. Vav 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 Vav King over thought. and He bound a crown to it and combined one with another and with them He formed Taurus in the Universe, Iyar in the Year and the right kidney in the Soul male and female (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1990. Sefer Yetzirah. The Book of Creation
York Beach: Samuel Weiser 5, 95, 209, 159, 215).
YUD is the 10th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, has a numerical value of 10, and means HAND. 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.
[The writing of the letters] must be kethibah tammah [perfect writing]; thus one must not write the Vav as a Yud or the Yud as a Vav, (Shabbat 103b).
[Zayyin Heth Teth Yod KafLamed: [this sequence teaches,] and 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 (Shabbat 104a ).
The letters of the word for husband are Aleph, Yud and Shin, and for wife Aleph Shin and Hey. The Yud and Hey form the Divine Name; but if omitted, only Aleph and Shin are left which form the word esh, meaning fire (Sotah
17a).
Yud has the important job of being the first letter of the Tetragrammaton - Yud Hey Vav Hey. Zohar
states that, in this context, the Yud represents the head of all creatures (Zohar
. 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino 1984. 3:130).
In the Sephrotic tree the Yud symbolizes WISDOM - the stage of concealment which precedes its development into a state of expansion in UNDERSTANDING. It is then contained and represented in the letter Hey (Zalman, Shneur. 1981. "Igeret Hateshuvah." Likkutei Amarim - Tanya.
359).
Menachot 29b teaches that the WORLD TO COME was created by use of the letter Yud 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. Yud 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 Yud, King over action and He bound a crown to it and combined one with another and with them He formed Virgo in the Universe, Elul in the Year and the left hand in the Soul male and female (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1990. Sefer Yetzirah. The Book of Creation
York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 5, 95, 209, 159, 216).
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This work 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:: green
stock number:: nm16-157