Meditation on the Hebrew letters is not so much a human activity as a supernatural act, in which we break down the barriers of our natural existence and reach into the divine world. Each letter is a garment provided for our benefit, so the creation energy they house will be intelligible to us. Concentrating on the letters, their shapes dissolve and the Holiness in the letters is revealed. In Hebrew prayer, an extended meditation on the letters and their combinations, we carve them with breath and set them in the mouth in 5 places, to carefully pronounce each letter of the 5 families. We carve them with breath, contemplating each letter carefully, concentrating on the breath that is exhaled while it is pronounced. We set them in the mouth, meditating on the place in the mouth with which the letter is pronounced.

While speech itself involves Binah consciousness, the pronounciation of the letters is an automatic activity, and hence, it involves Chochma consciousness. With this exercise, the initiate learns to make use of the letters with Chocma consciousness, and by pronouncing them physically, clothing them in Binah. It is through this exercise that we learn to use the letters as Paths of Wisdom. The mouth speaks, while the Spirit provides the thoughts. Surrendering to the letters, the intitiate is like a torch, fueled by Holiness.

[Paraphrased from the Holy Baal Shem Tov z"tzl, Aryeh Kaplan, and Gutman Locks]


As time permits, more notes will be added to each piece.

Coming soon: A study version of Ana B'Koach.

Learning the Hebrew letters is the beginning. These videos are intended to take you from there and give you the tools to go much further.

Many of the videos have audio that is us singing at Rabbi Hoffman's Shalom al Yisroel. His website is www.rabbihenochdov.com


Extended versions of all of these are available as audio files only at
www.archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Rafi…


The font used in the transliteration is "Perseus." I made the Hebrew fonts myself with Fontographer.

And many thanks to all the nice people who are subscribing. I'll be having another creative burst soon ~ till then, Be Well!