Tehilim Perek 119: Letter SHIN

Hello everybody, I’m Rabbi Shaya Sussman, covering the entire TANACH one perek at a time. Today’s Nach Daily will discuss the letter SHIN.

The Shin represents the power of Shinuy, change in the creation and Shlita, control. Generally speaking, in order to change something you need to be in control of it. Shin is the force able to impact something by changing its form, bringing it to the desired outcome.

The word Shinayim, teeth, comes from the Shin. When eating food, our teeth change its form so that the body can process and digest it. In fact, the tops of the letter Shin even look like teeth!

On a deeper level, the Shin has the power to elevate. When we eat, the food becomes absorbed and digested into our bodies. It thus becomes a part of us, being elevated to the level of a human. As the expression goes, “You are what you eat!”

Shin also applies to spirituality. A person’s desire to go from level to level, to reach higher and change for the better, comes from the word Shinuy, to change.

The power of change and transition, like all traits, can be used for good or bad. Words like Shalom, peace, and Shelemos, perfection, as well as Sh’vira, breaking, Sheker, lies, and Satan, evil, begin with Shin.

The first time that the Shin appears in the Torah is when it says “Es haShamayim v’es ha’aretz, Hashem created the heavens and earth.” The Gemarah in Chagiga 12a explains that Shamayim stands for Aish, fire, and Mayim, water. We know that part of the Shamayim is comprised of water, and that the atmosphere holds an electromagnetic field which allows lightning to be created. Both water and fire bring about change. In this context it can be said that Shamayim, sky, in some way rules over us by bringing about changes in the atmosphere. This all points towards the meaning of the letter Shin which controls, manipulates and changes.

Numerically, the Shin is 300, representing the 3 strands of a cord that is not easily broken. The sequence of the letters Kuf, Reish, Shin signifies that first a person becomes Kadosh, holy, then he can become the Rosh, head, allowing him to lead Klal YiSrael.

Alternatively, the Zohar explains, “Hakodosh Baruch, v’Oraysa V’Yisrael chad Hu, Hashem, the Torah and Am Yisrael are considered One.”

Kuf: haKadosh Baruch-hu, Reish: oRaysa, the Torah, and Shin: YiSrael, the Jewish nation. These 3 aspects are unified through the Shin.

The Shin is formed with 3 Vavs pointing upwards. The Vav is the os hachibur, letter of connection, pointing towards the Shin’s ability to tie together several aspects into a singular thread. Hashem, the Torah and Am Yisrael all become joined together through the 3 Vavs in the Shin.

I hope that you enjoyed this class. It would be a Sin not to! It’s going to be Tough moving onto the Suff, finishing the last letter of the Aleph Beis.

Thank you for listening, and have a wonderful day.