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Creating Bridges: Spirituality & Philosophy:
Kabbalah: "Letters from Heaven:"
Spiritual Guidance from the Hebrew Alphabet
Water
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by Avigayil Landsman |
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I love that the rabbis say that Torah is water, as in the living waters, the waters of life. One reason why I love that Torah is compared to water is because water is my favorite element. When I swim in water, preferably a lake or large pond, I feel my whole self: body, soul and spirit. The act of swimming helps me process what I have been reading in Torah, aiding me in articulating more clearly the bits and pieces I’ve accumulated over a period of time through study and simply living my life.
My insights into Torah combine reading the actual words of Torah with any of a number of life experiences, from cooking, watching a movie to cleaning dishes. I have the great privilege to swim in friends’ pond, surrounded by beautiful wild flowers. One day while swimming, I saw the late afternoon sunlight reflecting from the pond up on the plants’ stems, so that the inner life of the plants suddenly became visible. To my right was a swarm of bugs that were flying in a figure eight, approaching yet never reaching me. They seemed to be absorbed back into themselves the way a fountain recycles water. The two sides provided a certain rhythm for me and that somehow there was an order to the cosmos. The patterns I experienced visually exist in my DNA, in the rhythm of my heart and breathing. I felt very peaceful and hopeful feeling that I was part of this wonderful energy, part of the original creation of the world.
Water existed before God created the world. There is no mention of God creating water in the creation story. God simply separated the water into the upper and lower waters. The theme of water flows throughout the imagery in the Letters from Heaven illustrated deck.
In fact, the element of water plays a significant role throughout the stories of the Torah. There are rivers to be traversed, rivers that establish property boundaries, even a river that divides in two! The first body of water we read about after the big division between the heavenly waters mentioned earlier is the “river issues from Eden to water the garden” (Genesis 2:10). Eden is the Hebrew word for delight so the river that flows from delight gives the impression of one’s cup running over. Rabbis throughout the ages have interpreted this line to stand for the world to come.
The world to come is often taken to mean the messianic era. There are other rabbis who interpret these words to mean the world that is always coming, meaning that delight is ever-present. I’m with these rabbis! I don’t want to wait for the messianic age. I want to focus on the river that is flowing towards me in this moment, knowing that God’s love for all is available at any moment we chose to open to it. Think about a river. It’s there, in front of you, flowing from a source to another destination and at the same time, it’s present—always. The river changes and yet is constant. This is the river of delight, God’s love for you that is always available, flowing to you and to everyone who stand at its banks. And all who receive this divine flow will become in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “as a watered Garden and as a water source whose water never fails.” (Isaiah 58:11)
This line from Genesis inspired the illustration for the letter vav, the letter of connection. In this illustration, we see a waterfall splashing wildly to water a garden made up of flowers and an anthropomorphic tree that looks like an ecstatically dancing couple. They dance in the exuberance of divine unity, the energy of the vav that bridges the heavenly and earthly realms.
The Hebrew word for pool, braychah includes the same letters as the word for blessing, baruch. The letter yud, whose energy is spirituality is added to baruch, so we get the sense that a pool is something more than a small area of water; a pool is a source of blessing. The word for fountain is ayin. Ayin also means eye. The illustration for ayin shows that the dry outward appearance of the tree hides an inner dimension of the water of life.
We read in the Torah of how Isaac visits a well by the name of Lachai Ro’i,” which literally means, “the well of the Living One Who sees me.” Mizrachi says that this refers to the angel who exists eternally and “Ro’i” means, “who appeared to me.” Even better, Hoffman says, “the well of God Who is Eternal and is the First Cause for all that exists, but who nevertheless oversees every one of His creatures no matter how insignificant. Even a servant fleeing from her mistress is not ignored by God in her time of need.” This serves as a reminder that no matter who you are, the Living God sees you and is there to protect you. The word for well also means understand. Isaac goes to the well to understand the deeper meaning. Jacob meets his wife, Rachel at a well. Wells are meeting places.
A servant is sent to find a bride for Isaac. Before he goes out on his errand, he asks God for a sign that he has found the right girl. The sign is that the right girl will give not only him water to drink but she will give water to all ten of his camels as well. The camels she waters represent opportunities to do mitzvot (good deeds). The fact that Rivkah goes beyond the customary ritual of hospitality of offering water to Eliezer and offers to water not one, but all ten camels shows how kind she is. Those camels drank a lot of water, let me tell ya’! This story is the template for the concept of acts of loving kindness, a hallmark of Judaism.
This story inspired the illustration for the gimmel card that features Rebecca on her camel framed by her famed jug that she used to water all of Eliezer’s camels. The numerical value of the Hebrew word for jug (kad) is twenty-four. This is significant as there are twenty-four sacred books that comprise the entire Torah. (the Torah includes the Five Books of Moses, plus Writings, and Prophets) The deeper meaning of this scene of giving is that Rebecca holds the water of Torah. On the bottom of the illustration, we find a symbol of water, a continuous, never-ending wave pattern.
The letter mem sounds like the word mayim, the Hebrew word for water. The illustration for the letter mem shows the prophetess, Miriam, whose name means “bitter water,” divining the well of water in the desert that traveled wherever the Hebrews went. When Miriam died, the water could no longer be found and the Hebrews complained to Moses of how thirsty they were. On the surface, their cries sound like complaints, but on a deeper level, we can understand that Miriam brought them wisdom from below the surface of mundane reality.
Miriam’s other association with water was in putting her baby brother, Moses in a basket and guarding him as he floated down the Nile in it. Moses literally means “from the water” in Egyptian. In an effort to convince the Pharaoh to free the Hebrew slaves, Moses puts his staff into the Nile River, which turns the water into blood. As the leader of the Hebrews when he became an adult, Moses is empowered by the Divine Spirit to split the waters of the Sea of Reeds with his staff.
We find a fish jumping out of the splitting waters of the Reed Sea in the illustration for the letter nun. There is a wonderful midrash that tells the story of how the children of Israel left their slavery to begin their journey to the Promised Land of Israel. Although the Pharaoh allowed them to leave, once they left, he sent his army to pursue the newly freed slaves. This obviously picked up the pace of the children of Israel. They were going at a fairly good clip only to be stopped by the Sea of Reeds. With the Egyptian army fast approaching and the Sea in front of them, what were they to do?
Rabbi Judah, a Talmudic sage said that each tribe argued over who would jump into the sea first. There was one man who exhibited total faith in God by walking into the Sea. First, he went waist deep, yet the waters remained unchanged. It was not until he walked in to where the water was up to his nose that the waters parted, allowing the children of Israel a dry passage to safety. After all the children of Israel had walked through, the waters closed over the Egyptian army, drowning them all. This is a lesson on total faith, showing that water is a constant miracle in our lives.
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Avigayil Landsman,
Torah Scholar, Calligrapher, Lecturer, Teacher & Creator of the "Letters From Heaven" Deck
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Avigayil has been a serious student of Torah for the last ten years and has written many d'vrai Torah(Torah lectures). She is the creator of Letters from Heaven, a Jewish divination system that incorporates the mystical meanings of the Hebrew letters, her chiddushim (new insights into Torah) and their application to the challenges of daily life. Her LFH readings offer seekers of all persuasions spiritual direction in finding one's authentic voice.
Avigayil is a multi-media artist who is best-known for the beaded breastplate that adorns the Woodstock Jewish Congregation's Torah. She creates personalized ketubot, beeswax Shabbat candles, shiviti plaques and other judaica as well as secular art in Sculpey, paint, and shadow boxes that combine disparate objects such as feathers, beads and wood.
Her Judaica (beeswax Shabbat and havdallah candles, havdallah spice boxes, shiviti plaques) and calligraphy cards are available for purchase at the Woodstock Jewish Congregation's judaica shop, Miriam's Well and her home. She also does private commissions.
Avigayil has taught enrichment classes in calligraphy for the Woodstock Jewish Congregation's Hebrew school. She prepares children and adults for becoming Bat/bar-mitzvah with humor and deep wisdom that come from her own unique way of living through the lessons of Torah. She has also given workshops and lectures on the spiritual meaning of the Hebrew letters and Letters from Heaven at Omega and Mount St. Alphonsus.
"Avigayil Landsman's interpretations of the Hebrew letters are original, witty, steeped in scholarship, and above all a genuine opening to our own spiritual wisdom." Rachel Pollack, creator of Shining Tribe Tarot Deck
www.rachelpollack.
com
Avigayil is available for art commissions and LFH readings in person or on the phone. She may be contacted by e-mail at:
Avigayil1@earthlink.net
Website:
www.jewish-wisdom
-and-art.4t.com
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