The full spelling of the letter
Lamed (Lamed-Mem-Daleth) is short for the phrase: "a heart that
understands knowledge" (lab mevin da'at). The numerical value of this
phrase (608) equals "heart" (32) times "Eve" (19), that is
"the heart of Eve."
In the story of the Garden of
Eden, the original episode of mankind, Adam is the secret of the brain; Eve,
the secret of the heart; the snake, the secret of the liver. In Kabbalah and
Chassidut these fundamental correspondences are developed and explained in
depth.
Adam and Eve, male and female,
are the prototype spiritual forces of giving and receiving. The marital union
and gift of male to female relates to the secret of knowledge, as is said:
"And Adam knew his wife Eve." For this reason Adam and Eve are often
seen to represent teacher and pupil. The teacher contracts his intellect into a
point (Yad) in order to convey his teaching to his student, whereas the student
nullifies his previous levels of conception to become a fitting vessel for the
new, wondrous teachings of his teacher.
In particular, the form of the
Lamed represents the aspiration of the truly devoted pupil to learn from the
mouth of the teacher. The literal meaning of the letter Lamed is "to learn"
(or "teach"). The seed of wisdom, alluded to by the letter Yad,
descends from the brain (Adam) to impregnate the full consciousness of the
heart (Eve). The heart aspires (upwardly) to receive this point of insight from
the brain. This is the secret of the form of the letter Lamed, the heart ascending
in aspiration to conceive and comprehend ("understand knowledge") the
point of wisdom, the Yad situated at the top of the letter Lamed.
The Sages refer to Lamed as
"a tower soaring in air." Three hundred laws relate to the secret of
this "flying tower." In my study of the Torah, the "flying
tower" is the expression of our love and devotion to the teachings of the
Torah, our aspiration to conceive its inner truth, lifting us above the
"gravity barrier" of earthly preoccupation. We are told that the Ba'al
Shem Towb would place the palm of his hand on the heart of a Jewish child and
bless him to be a "warm Jew." The palm, the power to actualize
potential, becomes manifest - at the inner spiritual level - in the "will
[crown, Keter] of the heart" to conceive and unite with YAHWEH's Will, the
teachings of Torah. The Lamed, the heart, aspires upwardly and connects to the
Yad of Divine insight. This is reflected in the form of the letter Lamed, a Caph
reaching upward to a Yad. This is also the secret of the spiritual sequence
hinted at in the letters of the word keli, "vessel" (Caph-Lamed-Yad):
the power to actualize potential (the palm [Caph] of the Ba'al Shem Towb),
manifest in the aspiration of the heart [Lamed] reaching upward to conceive the
secret of Divine wisdom [Yad]. Throughout Torah the heart symbolizes the primary
concept of vessel, the secret of Eve.
FORM
A Wav - whose head (Yad) looks
downward - on a Caph.
"A tower soaring in
air." The only letter ascending above the line.
Worlds:
● A three-stage rocket ship
soaring into outer space.
● Man’s aspiration to understand
the universe.
Souls:
● A heart of a wise man ascending
to comprehend the wisdom of YAHWEH.
● Learning in order to teach,
learning in order to do.
Divinity:
● Divine inspiration; the higher Shechinah.
● Prophetic imagination breaking
through the limitations of rational intellect.
NAME
To learn; to teach.
Worlds:
● The power to direct and control
the animal instinct.
● Learning secular skills;
empirical knowledge.
Souls:
● The yearning of the soul to
learn Torah.
● Rectification of the power of imagination.
● Simultaneously learning in
order to teach and learning in order to do.
Divinity:
● Learning about the Essence of YAHWEH.
● Creating new heavens and earth.
NUMBER
Thirty
Worlds:
● Thirty days of the month.
● "Malchut" is acquired
through thirty attributes.
● Thirty-shekel value of an adult
woman.
● The menstrual cycle.
Souls:
● The thirty tzadikim in whose
merit the world stands.
● Thirty generations from Abraham
to the destruction of the First Temple.
Divinity:
● Thirty levels of Kingship.
● Thirty categories of tzadikim
in the World to Come.
