Twebrew School

Samach is one of the less commonly used letters of the Hebrew alphabet. As its name suggests, the samach makes an “ssss” sound, which is also produced by the letter sin (to be introduced in a future Twebrew Treat). In fact, masoretic grammar rules allow the samach and the sin to be used interchangeably. The name of the letter, samach is related to the word li'smoch , which means to support. It is interesting to note that the previous letter, nun , was left out of the Ashrei prayer because of its relationship with the word nophail , falling. The line in Ashrei relating to the samach is “ Somaich Ah’doh’nai L’chol Ha’nophlim , God supports those who are falling.” Samach is the first letter of the word saviv , which means surrounding. ( Sivivon is the Hebrew word for a dreidel or spinning top played with on Chanukah) The roundness of the letter alludes to protection, like the gates of a city protect those within. The numeric value of samach is 60. Bibliographical acknowledgment: The W...

Many people are familiar with the shape of the letter chet because it is the first letter of the words chai and chaim, both of which mean “life.” The significant numeric value of chet (eight), is perhaps why chet is part of the Hebrew word for life ( chaim ). As mentioned in the discussion of the letter zayin , the number seven is related to the concept of wholeness in nature--explained as the count of the walls of a cube plus its inner (empty) mass. Eight, however, represents that which is a step beyond nature. (In fact, this understanding of eight is often associated with brit mila /circumcision, Chanukah and Shemini Atzeret .) What is the importance of the chet in chai in relationship to the letter eight and its representation of the supernatural? A person must always respect the miracle of life and of the incredible power of “animate” beings. It is interesting to note that when a scribe writes the letter chet , he combines two zayins with a “roof” attaching on...