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Creating Bridges: Spirituality & Philosophy:
Kabbalah: "Letters from Heaven:"
Spiritual Guidance from the Hebrew Alphabet
Zayin
Inside the seed (zera)
For the future
Is memory (zachor)
by Avigayil Landsman
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Zera is a seed. We plant a seed to be remembered when we are zakayn, old, when much z'man, time has passed. Hopefully, our memory (zachor- remember) will bring joy in our children's hearts and they will sing z'mirot, songs.
Dedication
This month, I dedicate my teaching to my friend, Zoe Matoff whose focus in life is to cut away falsehoods and illusions with the sword of truth in order to create a healthier life. She is a woman whose posture says, "Hinayni, muchan oom'zooman," "Here I am, ready and willing." She has often encouraged me to cut ties that needed to be terminated. It's hard to know when you are really complete with a relationship, whether personal or professional and it's even more difficult to completely cut through all the ties that bind you to someone. Zoe once did a dynamically guided reading for me regarding an unhealthy professional relationship and there were lots of sevens in the seven-card reading.
The word zayin means weapon. The form of the letter resembles a sword. We often associate a weapon for destructive purposes, but we can also think of a spiritual sword that cuts through our false ideas about who we are or what situation we are faced with. Think of Pinocchio's song, 'I've got no strings on me." Our bad habits, our unhealthy patterns tie us to worry and doubt. We need to be free of those binding strings. So often we respond to situations with a knee-jerk reaction. When we remember that zayin is about completion as well as a weapon, we will know to finish the job by cutting out of it. The message of zayin is when it's over, it's over, complete.
The numerical value of zayin is 7, the number of days in the week, the seven planets, the seven lower sephirot of the Tree of Life and the seven double letters of the aleph-bet. Seven represents completion. There are seven species in Israel. There are seven blessings at a wedding and a bride will make seven cycles around her husband during the wedding ceremony in order to symbolically bring down blessings from heaven. There are seven weeks of counting the Omer from Passover to Shavuot. This represents the journey from freedom to revelation(Shavuot celebrates God giving Torah at Mt Sinai.
Going my way?
Zayin's derivation comes from an arrow or a vertical line connecting two parallel lines that shows a distance to be covered. This suggests a confrontation between two individuals, two enemies or two situations. An arrow travels a distance; from all of this we get a sense of movement. Zayin also means ornament and indeed, as we will read later, zayin acts as an ornament on top of certain letters of the aleph-beit in the Torah scroll.
The seventh day
There is much in Shabbat that refers to seven. Shabbat, the seventh day, completes the week. We eat dag, fish on Shabbat. The gematria of dag is seven. The word for wine, yayyin has the numerical value-- gematria of seven. Challah, the wonderful egg bread traditionally eaten on shabbat also has the gematria of seven. Seven is completion. On Shabbat, God rested from his labors to create the world and since we are made in God's image, we too, stop our labors, rest and reflect on what we have created. Shabbat is a time to enjoy the fruits of our labor. After our six days of work are completed it's time to kick back and relax. Resting, learning Torah, and eating good food with friends and family are mitzvot(plural of mitzvah) of shabbat because all these activities rejuvenate us. They also serve to reJEWvenate! The Torah lists the ten commandments twice. The commandment for Shabbat is different in each rendition. In one, it is written that we should observe the shabbat and in the other, it is written that we should remember the shabbat. Zachor, remember. What do we learn from these two words? Some folks observe Shabbat and others remember it. The power of memory is very potent, so even though we may not observe Shabbat by abstaining from work-related activity, if we remember the sweetness of Shabbat, we are still fulfilling the commandment. The six directions of physical reality precede the seventh direction-the one that points inward. That seventh point is shabbat where we hear the small still voice.
The commandment to remember Shabbat brings us to the depth of memory. In remembering Shabbat, we bring to consciousness not only the sweetness of the day itself, but all of creation. God stopped his work on the seventh day so Shabbat is a day to recall the wonders of existence itself. It is a day to remember the miracle of the many triumphs over adversity not only in our lives, but those of our ancestors, going all the way back to Avraham and Sara. We also remember the events that led up to God directing the newly freed slaves to keep Shabbat. To remember Shabbat, we look deeply into the Torah for new meanings that will enrich our attitude towards life.
Of course, there are other memories that are also vital teachers. Recently, in a conversation with my now twenty-year-old son I was recounting the events preceding his birth. One of my family rituals with my children is to retell them the story of their gestation and birth sometime before each birthday. It means a lot to them that I remember so many intricate details. It also serves as a teaching. Recalling his birth brings back other childhood memories and he reflects on his development, tracing certain personality traits or strengths to things he did as a child. We also gain deeper insight into the personalities of our relatives. My father, who stayed at home while my mother flew up from Florida two weeks preceding Phil's birth called every night to talk with my mother. If I answered the phone, he would ask with humorous impatience, "So, did you have the baby yet?" Philip had a good laugh because it clearly demonstrated how impatient my father is and how funny he can be at the same time. I recalled how I used to listen to music non-stop before I got pregnant, but once I became pregnant with my son, I needed to be in silence. After hearing this anecdote, my son who is a musician and listens to music non-stop, 24/7 declared, "Well, if that was what happened to you, I'm not going to get pregnant!" You can see that being humorous is genetic.
The tick of tock
Inasmuch as the numerical value of zayin implies completion and cessation, zayin's energy is primarily one of movement. Z'man, time is always moving. I have a clock collection. The face of a clock can be any shape, but the hands' movements are circular because time is cyclical. Each time we look at a clock we are in the moment, yet are aware that this time of day has repeated itself for thousands and thousands of years and will continue eternally, or until the batteries run out, whichever comes first! There's something magical and wondrous to me that no matter the size, shape, color or material of the clock, time remains the same. It's this way with people, too. No matter their size, color, or income, time passes equally for all. Of course, time is reflected in as many ways as there are people, places and things. My favorite daily walking shoes definitely look older than my special occasion dress-up shoes bought at the same time. A baby's size and development is more apparent over the course of a year than it is on my face. Time is relative, unless you are spending lots of time with your relatives; then time seems to drag on. One day with one's relatives can seem like a year and can take a few years off your life if you're not careful!
We think about time a lot. Time relates to ritual because ritual is something done at a specific time. The clock itself is a kind of ritual because it does its thing in a special order, never rushed. When we die, you could say we've run out of time and then the community participates in the ritual of "sitting shiva," from sheva, meaning seven. The mourner refrains from all activity for seven days. I laugh at some of our expressions about time. "Take your time" for example. Take time like you would take a number at a deli! But, what about my time? I hope you don't take my time, just yours, because somehow it seems that if you take your time, you take mine too. "Time after time," is another one. What was before? "Time and time again." "I've told you time and time again!" What's an "again" and where do you buy such a thing? How about "killing time"? Is there a law about it? Has anyone gone to prison for killing time? What about "passing time"? I heard of passing kidney stones, but passing time? Maybe if you glued a clock to a ball or a saltshaker. As for me, I'll keep my eyes open for some nifty new clock designs as time goes by-just one more time.
Another timekeeper is the calendar. I've generally taken my office calendar for granted. Each year I buy a Tiffany wall calendar to decorate my office and unlike the one in the kitchen where I put all my appointments, I never write on the Tiffany one. I guess I've taken it for granted because I don't use it for my appointments and spend a lot of time looking at the gorgeous pictures. When the year changed, I had difficulty finding another Tiffany calendar on sale. I soon discovered how much I relied on that calendar to give my life context. When I would talk to someone and they'd mention two Thursdays from now or the 22, I had no idea what they were talking about. I needed a visual reminder of the cycle of a month to have a context of time, ie. the day of a particular week. Looking at that calendar anchored me in a way that I hadn't thought about before. The day I put up my newly acquired calendar, I experienced a sense of relief and security.
Tarot connections
Trump seven, the Chariot resonates with the energy of zayin for me. One thing about a chariot, it is moving! Zayin and the Chariot speak of movement and self-mastery. Just as the Chariot completes the first line of the Major Arcanna, zayin, seven, completes the days of the week. The seven of pentacles could well be called shabbat because the card depicts the ability to stop work and reflect on how the work has also changed the person doing the work. The seven of swords shows someone making off with his enemies weapons, a form of opposition and craftiness. The seven of cups illustrates the illusions that zayin is capable of cutting through. The seven of wands shows victory over illusions or whatever force is blocking the individual.
Letter adornments
The tagin, or crownlets that are on top of several letters in the Torah scroll are said to be little zayins. There are seven letters of the aleph-beit that have three tagin. (There are other letters that have one tag) Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said, When Moses ascended on high, he found the Holy One, blessed be He, tying crowns on the letters. [of the Torah]. -Shabbat 89a. No one really knows what their significance is. Tagin are said to amplify the meaning of the letters. Rabbi Eleazar further said in the name of Rabbi Hanina: God will in the time to come be a crown on the head of every righteous man. -Megillah 15b. These Talmudic quotes suggest that the tagin cut through the barriers of ordinary awareness to higher consciousness.
Zayin in a reading
Zayin says to cut through your illusions. Life is not as bad as you make it in your mind. When you've taken something to completion, whether it be an unhealthy relationship (the seven year itch) or a dead-end job, zayin tells you to cut loose and set out on a new path with greater awareness and strength of purpose. In the dead of winter, zayin reminds us that one must first cut away the old weeds before planting a seed in order for new things to bloom.
I'd like to close with a poem my father found on the back of his antique time clock. It was a punch clock, the kind that rang with a real bell inside when you put your time card in. The poem is attributed to Will Rogers, I'm quoting from memory, so kindly excuse any mistakes.
The Clock of Time
The clock of time
Is wound but once
And no man has the power
To tell the time when it will stop
In late or early hour
Now is the only time we own
Live, love, toil with the will
For who knows when
The clock of time
Will then be still
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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:
jewishwisdomandart@
hotmail.com
www.jewish-wisdom
-and-art.4t.com |
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