DALED - Secrets of the Hebrew letters

NachDaily: 5 Minute Perek of Tanach covering the entire Navi. Sefer Yehoshua, Shoftim, Shmuel, Melachim, Yeshaya, Yirmiya, Yechezkel, Hoshea, Yoel, Amos, Ovadya,Yona, Micha, Nachum, Chabakuk, Tzefania, Chagai, Melachi, Zecharya and Tehilim

Tehilim Perek 119: Letter Daled Hello everybody, I’m Rabbi Shaya Sussman, covering the entire TANACH one perek at a time. Today’s NachDaily is Tehilim Chapter 119. Today’s class will discuss the letter Daled. Daled represents the ability or force that allows something to go beyond itself by moving in a different direction. “Dalosi v’li yehoshea, I was lowered and Hashem saved me.” Or, “Aromimcha Hashem ki Dilisani, I will exalt You Hashem, for You have drawn me up.” These pessukim demonstrate how Daled is the force that allows a person to move in either direction, whether being lowered or raised. In a deeper sense, Daled represents free choice. We can move in any direction we please. Aleph represents Echad, the one God behind creation. Beis shows barah, the duality expressed in creation itself. Gimmel, Hashem gives His divine flow to the creation. Daled shows man's ability to change his mazel, utilizing his free choice to direct himself upwards to be a tzaddik, or downwards to be a lowly person. The first time that Daled appears in the Torah is in the words “taD’she ha’aretz Deshe, let the land sprout vegetation.” Desha means vegetation that grows quickly. If given water, it sprouts rapidly. The inverse is also true. Without water, it will quickly dry out. You can raise yourself quickly like the desha, or chas v’shalom point yourself downwards to destruction. It should be noted that a D’li, a bucket used in a well of water, can also be either lowered or raised. Similarly, a door is called a Daled because it allows us to leave or enter our comfort zones. The shape of the Daled looks like an open door. I wish I had a visual here to describe this. On opening a door, the top part is like the top bar of the Daled while the side is like the leg which connects to it. The Daled is weak. Its leg faces away from the gimmel as if embarrassed by receiving tzedaka from it. We can learn a lesson about tzedaka and chessed from these letters. It can be said that poor people don't know how to ask for themselves. The gimmel, therefore, looks as if it's running after the daled to be gommel, do good to him, even before the poor person asks! Sparing the poorer person’s feelings is true chessed! The Daled has the numerical value of 4. The world is encompassed by 4 directions: north, south, east and west. The physical aspect of this world is finite, seemingly bound and limited to these 4 directions, while its spiritual aspect can't be seen and is hidden away. Interestingly, 4 lines make a square which is closed on all sides. It can be said that it is man’s test to see beyond the limitations of this world. We can use our free will to see beyond the 4 directions of nature. The Daled, the last letter of the last word in the Shema Yisrael declaration of faith, is enlarged to emphasize that Hashem is One in all 4 directions. Last but not least, kabbalistically the letter Daled represents both the 4 sefiros, emanations, of Chessed, Kindness, and the last sefirah of Malchus, Kingship. This last sefirah has no light of its own, but only reflects the light of the other sefiros. It can therefore be said that Malchus is considered poor, or Dal. On the other hand, Daled represents the fourth sefirah of Chessed. When we have no light of our own, but only represent the light of God, we are truly able to influence others. The ultimate chessed is shining God's amazing, awesome divine Light onto someone else. Once again, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Stay tuned for the letter ‘Hey’ in the next shiur.