Twebrew School

We've met these letters in previous lessons acting as vowel helpers. Today we are learning them as their own letters, each with their own sound. The letters are the Yud and the Vav. (Remember: To request your very own copy of our Hebrew textbook, which corresponds to our online instructional videos, please "Enroll" in Twebrew School by clicking here . Within 2 Business Days, you will receive an email from us with a personalized link to a site where you can download the book. If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at JewishTreats@NJOP.org.)

The letter zayin looks quite similar to its neighbor, the letter vav. Tall and straight, a simple vertical line, the vav (equivalent to the number six) represents the visible world (corresponding to six sides: front, back, right, left, up and down). The zayin, which looks like a crowned vav, has the numerical value of seven and represents, according to Kabbalah, the natural order. Seven represents the natural order as represented by the seven days of creation. One way of understanding the power of seven is to imagine a box. A box has six sides including the top and the bottom, the seventh “dimension” of a box is the empty matter inside. As a representative of nature, is it any wonder that zayin is the first letter of the word zera, seed? A seed represents ultimate completion in nature, for everything a plant needs to grow is already contained within it. It is also the first letter of the word zan, which means sustainer and is a reference to God who provides the world with grain for foo...

Vav, one of the smallest letters of the Hebrew alphabet, is a mere vertical line. Slight as it is, however, it is a letter that has a powerful impact on the Hebrew language. Perhaps this is because vav represents the physical world that surrounds us. Metaphorically, vav represents the letter six and six represents six directions: forward, back, right, left, up and down. Vav, however, is a letter of connection. As a prefix, vav is the connecting conjunction meaning either “and” or “or” depending on the context. In fact, the vav is translated in different places as a wide range of conjunctions, however "and/or" are the most common. Perhaps, this is why the literal meaning of the letter, vav, is hook. In Biblical Hebrew, the vav, when used as the conjunction “and,” and attached to a verb, becomes a vav hahm’ha’pehchet, a vav that flips the tense of the verb. For instance, “yomar” means “he will say,” but “va’yomar” means “he said.” The vav hahm’ha’pehchet changes past to future ...