Tehilim Perek 119: Letter YUD

Hello everybody, I’m Rabbi Shaya Sussman, covering the entire TANACH one perek at a time. Today’s Nach Daily will discuss perek 119, letter YUD.

Yud is the peak and culmination of all the previous letters so far. It truly represents Olam Habah, the World to Come. After we pass all of our tests here, represented by the previous 9 letters, we shed the body to attain true life.

The passuk in Yeshaya says, “Ki b’Yah Hashem tzur olamim, with the letters Yud and hey of Hashems name God fashioned the world.” The Gemerah in Chagiga 10A explains that the Hey was used to create Olam Hazeh, this world, while the Yud was used to create Olam Habah, the next world. The Yud also represents the reward one will receive in the next world.

The first time that a Yud begins a word in the Torah is in reference to the creation, “ Y’hee ohr, let there be light. The Yud in Y’hee, there will be, is the force that allowed the very first formation of light to come into existence. Therefore, the Sefer Yetsira explains, this first spiritual mention of light represents both the beginning and the end at the same time. The beginning of creation in a spiritual form, and the end goal of Olam Habah, which is kulo ruchiyos, completely spiritual, are both contained in the power of the Yud.

All of the other letters contain a Yud because, essentially, a Yud is just a dot. Every letter begins with a dot. This fits with what we’ve just learned, because the Yud was used to begin creation. As all of the 22 letters were used in the creation of the world, each begins with a Yud.

The word Yud literally means Yad, a hand. In fact, the shape of the Yud can resemble a fist when your hand is closed. As mentioned in a previous class, Yad is the numerical value of 14 because you have 14 joints and knuckles in each hand. Adding your two hands together equals 28, which is the numerical value of the word koach, strength. The main strength of a person comes through the hands. This is all contained in the power of the Yud.

If the Yud contains all the spiritual worlds, why doesn’t it begin the aleph beis? There are many answers to this question. One answer given is because the only way to get to the next world is through this one. As the expression goes, “sof ma’aseh b’machashava techila, last in deed, but first in thought.” Hashem hinted to this in the beginning of the aleph beis by using the aleph. An aleph has a Yud above and a Yud below to teach us that although we start with an aleph, the end purpose is to reach the upper spiritual worlds and bask in the pleasure of God’s infinite Lght. The aleph teaches us that both this world and the next are one. They are all infused with God’s Divine holy and awesome Light, as nothing is separate from Him.

Yud has the numerical value of 10. Ten is considered a number of perfection because it includes all the prior numbers.

Going a step deeper, 10 represents all of the Sefiros, Divine Emanations: Bina, Daas, Chessed, Gevurah, Tiferes, Netsach, Hod, and Yesod. Each of these 10 Sefiros is reflected in every part and aspect of creation, therefore 10 represents the creation in its entirety.

A rich person is called an “ashear,” the root of which is eser, 10. True riches accrue when a person attains perfection and spiritual wealth. True spiritual wealth is obviously Olam Haba, so the word ashear also contains a Yud.

Chazal, our Sages, say that “b’asara ma’amaros nivreh ha’olam, the world was created with 10 utterances, again corresponding to the Yud, the main letter used in the formation of the world.

I hope that you enjoyed this class. Stay tuned for the next episode, the letter Chuf.

Thank you for listening, and have a wonderful day.