Tehilim Perek 119: Letter Aleph .

Aleph is the first letter of the Aleph Beis. Its numerical value is 1, which represents Hashem, Who is Echad, yachid u’meychud. Always was, is and will be One. Just as Aleph is the head of all the letters, so too is Hashem the Head of the world. As Aleph is synonymous with Hashem, it contains all of creation in it. All that was, is and will be can be found within the letter Aleph itself!

Mathematically, Aleph is the only letter whose numerical value equals itself. If you spell the letter Aleph out as a word: aleph, lamed, fay, it equals one hundred eleven (111), to remind us that Hashem is One.

Furthermore, the word eleph means one thousand (1,000). If you take the gematria of aleph which is 111, and add an additional 1 for the eleph, you get one thousand one hundred and eleven. These 4 ones (1’s) in the number 1111 represent all the kochos, forces, in the 4 worlds which all emanate from one divine source and are unified by God, who is One.

It should also be mentioned that they correspond to the four letters of Hashem’s name of HVYK, meaning there is one Force behind all of existence including the world we see, and the hidden world we don’t see.

The letter formation of the letter Aleph is comprised of a vav and two yud’s. which is the numerical value of 26. This also corresponds to Hashem’s Name of YKVK, whose gematria is 26.

If you look closer at the letter aleph, you will see a yud above with a vav in the middle, and a yud below. The yuds above and below represent the heavens and earth, while the vav in the middle represents the connection/joining of heaven and earth, spiritual and physical, which again are unified by God’s singular Presence.

The literal meaning of the letter Aleph comes from the world l’aleph to learn or to teach. The passuk in Iyov 33:3 says, “v’a’aleph’cha chochma, I will teach you wisdom.” The modern Hebrew word ulpan, classes that teach people Hebrew, comes from this. Hashem is always teaching, in a sense schooling the world, by His Divine providence offering lessons for our everyday lives.

The letter Aleph is one of the only two letters in Hebrew which can be used as a silent letter. This hints to the idea that Hashem is hidden in the world, often silent at times and cannot be seen.

If you rearrange the letter aleph you get the word pellah which means a wonder! God is the Pellah Elyon, highest wonder of the world. In a certain way you can say that mankind is ultimately left wondering about God because He can’t be seen.

One of the reasons that the letter Aleph appears at the beginning of the Aleph-Beis is to teach us the important of learning, and specifically Torah study. We are not to do miztvos by rote, but always learn and take our understanding to a higher level.

As the Aleph represents Hashem, it contains no hard-consonant sounds. This represents the nature of the Divine, which cannot be seen and in a certain way is fluid. Hashem’s name is ineffable, meaning too great to be expressed or described in words.

Hashem created the world “Yesh Mi’ayin, something from nothing.” Prior to this, Hashem’s light was “Ain Sof, unending.” He refracted His light and constricted His Divine Presence in order for the creation process to take place. The letter Aleph represents the way that Hashem created the world. Elokus, Ohr, and Ain Sof all begin with an aleph.

Therefore, the Ramak and others learn that the Aleph corresponds to the highest level of all the sefiros, Divine emanations, as well as being the first to be formed at the creation of the world, which is the world of Keter, Crown.

Last but not least, according to the ba’alei mussar, the word adom, meaning man, is really a hybrid word. Dom means blood. Without our neshamos we’re just sinews and blood. Attaching the aleph of Hashem to it results in the human race, which can strive for the Divine.