LAMED - Secrets of the Hebrew Letters

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Tehilim Perek 119: Letter LAMED Hello everybody, I’m Rabbi Shaya Sussman, covering the entire TANACH one perek at a time. Today we’ll discuss the letter LAMED. The Lamed represents a desire to reach a destination, Limud, learning, and La’amod, teaching. The Lamed is taller than all the other letters. Its height represents its ability to see far into the distance. Whether striving for a physical or spiritual destination, one needs to be able to see the goal in order to be able to reach or attain it. On a physical level, if you’re traveling from point A to point B you must know the location of your destination. On a spiritual level, to attain wisdom you also need to have a goal in mind. Either way, our desires cause us to plan meticulously for our journey. This all comes from the power of the Lamed which means Lomed, learn. We need to learn and study to reach our destination. A subtler point here Is that the Lamed represents our ability to think, plan and use our minds to figure things out. When the Lamed is used as a prefix, it means “to.” El also means “to.” The Lamed represents the ability to travel from one place to another to reach a destination. The word “el, to” and Hashem’s name, “El,” are the same, because the ultimate purpose of this world is Olam Habah. The first time the Lamed is used as the beginning of a word is, “v’lichoshech kora Lyla, and the darkness He called night.” Lyla, night, comes from the world yalila, which means moaning or wailing. Nighttime is when an aura of sadness fills the world, and one’s pain can be heard the loudest in those quiet hours. A step deeper: We can either transcend the darkness of this world or chas v’shalom be brought down by it. Lyla, night, is spelled Lamed, Yud, Lamed, Hey. We can go either up to the Yud of Olam Habah, the World to Come of spirituality, or down to the Hey of Olam Hazeh, this physical world, as the Lamed represents the desire to reach a goal, purpose and destination. The Lamed is higher than all of the other letters, as it points towards a person’s innate drive towards learning. Man’s ability to learn and understand is one of the things that separate us from animals and makes us on a higher level than all other creations. The Lamed is comprised of a Vav on top of a Chuf, representing the true process of learning. The Vav represents the mind connecting to higher concepts and ideas. The Chuf on which it stands represents the retention and inculcation of the knowledge learned. As the Chuf represents holding, it retains the knowledge drawn down from the Vav. The Vav resembles a person’s head, high in the clouds. The Vav and Chuf together form the mind-body connection. This is a reminder to practice what we preach. The Medresh Osiyos D’Rebbe Akiva explains that the Lamed is the center letter of the Aleph-Beis. It is like a King sitting on his Kisey Hakavod, Throne of Glory, with his Malchus, Kingship, in front of him. The sequence of letters is Chuf, Lamed, Mem. Chuf stands for Hashem’s Kisey HaKavod, Throne of Glory, the Lamed is the King. Mem stands for Malchus, Kingship, towards which the Lamed is facing. Kabalistically, the Lamed is rooted in the sefira of Bina, understanding, as true Limud, learning, necessitates understanding. The sifrei Kabbala call the Lamed a “large letter,” not only due to its height, but because understanding what you’ve learnt is considered the highest thing! In the next episode of NachDaily, we’ll discuss the letter Mem. Thank you for listening, and have a wonderful day.