Tehilim Perek 119: Letter Hey
Today’s NachDaily continues in Chapter 119 with the letter “Hey.”
Hey represents/is the force in the world that allows something to move from “ko’ach to po’el, from potential energy to kinetic energy,” and the ability for something to be born and sustained.
The world was created with the letter Hey. The passuk says, “Elah toldos hashamayim v’ha’aretz b’hibarom, these are the products of the heavens and the earth when they were created...”
The word b’hibarom can be read as “b’Hey barom, with the letter Hey the world was created.” The physical world was created with the letter Hey of Hashem's name YKVK.
In fact, the Zohar in Raya Mehemna explains that the entire physical world is sustained through the letter Hey. If the light of the Hey would stop shining for even a moment, the entire world would cease to exist! We can safely say that the letter Hey is what allows the world to be sustained from potential to kinetic energy.
While the letter Beis represents the transition from form to formless, the creation starting to take form from Hashem's infinite light, Hey represents a creation which already has form, but can’t be seen, coming to fruition and being seen. This can be understood by the reality of a baby in a mother's womb. It can't be seen until it is born into the airspace of the world.
Similarly, in the word b’Hibarom, and it was created, the Hey is written in a small font. Kabbalistcally, the reason for this is to differentiate it from the letter beis, which represents Hashem’s light faintly starting to take form but still not showing up as anything physical. Beis is the letter of the briah, creation, which is why it begins the Torah.
However, the small Hey in this passuk represents the world of Asiya, accomplishment, the most physical of the four worlds of Atzilute, B’riya, Y’tsira and Asiya. In each one of these 4 worlds it's as if Hashem’s Ain Sof, Infinite Light, went through a filtration system until it became the physical world that we see today.
The smallness of the Hey in this context corresponds to the physical creation of the world of Asiya. It is specifically not referring to the world of B’riah which refers to the creation in a more abstract manner, when Hashem’s light was still taking form.
Kabbalistically, this would correspond to the last Hey in God’s name of YKVK.
The pronunciation of the letter Hey is effortless, merely requiring a soundless breath of air. Just as this letter is effortless to say, the creation of the world was effortless for God.
The letter Hey is a composite of a daled and a yud. As we mentioned in the previous class, the daled represents the 4 directions and finiteness of the world. The yud represents the Godliness which is found in the world. In looking closely, it will be seen that the yud is upside down. This teaches us that the physical world is so strong that it's hard to see past the illusion to the ruchniyus, spirituality, behind the scenes. The world is really the opposite of what we think it looks like. The essence of this world, its spirituality, is hidden by its physical veneer.
Hey has the numerical value of 5. The daled represents the 4 directions of this limited world while the yud represents the ability to find divinity and God in it. Within the 4 sides of a square, God is the center Point and united Force behind the world.
The yud on the bottom/belly of the Hey is upside down, which gives it the appearance of a fetus inside a womb. In this context, it can be said that Hashem's light impregnates the world with divinity.
The Zohar in many places calls the Hey the letter of parnassa, because it points towards being fruitful. Hidden bounty becomes revealed.
Indeed, the Zohar points out that a person should be careful to pronounce the Hey in the brocha of Hamotsey lechem min Ha’arets as a segulah for parnassa...
