Let's look at the Heh/ hei/ hey ה
The Heh has the sound "h" as in "hay".
The gematria is 5.
The sound of ה is a mere exhalation of breaht, it requires little effort. It is with this letter that HaShem created this world as we can understand from Genesis 2:4:
אֵ֣לֶּה תוֹלְד֧וֹת הַשָּׁמַ֛יִם וְהָאָ֖רֶץ בְּהִבָּֽרְאָ֑ם בְּי֗וֹם עֲשׂ֛וֹת יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶ֥רֶץ וְשָׁמָֽיִם׃
"Such is the story of heaven and earth when they were created. When God earth and heaven."
בְּהִבָּֽרְאָ֑ם
The word בְּהִבָּֽרְאָ֑ם can be divided into two words בְּה בָּֽרְאָ֑ם; He created them with the letter heh.
Our world stands for freedom of choice. We therefore see in the heh at the top an opening, if man does not want to live in accordance with HaShem's will, he is free to disobey and move away from HaShem's presence.
But we can also see the opposite in this opening. A person can be completely immersed in his own will and wrong choices, there is always the possibility to leave the wrong choices and life path and to repend, to return to HaShem.
Therefore, the letter heh stands for teshuvah. The heh consists of three lines, which stand for: thought, speech and action. The smallest stands for action. For in our thoughts we may have regrets, we will have to express these regrets to HaShem (and fellow man) with our words. And then comes the hardest part, which often takes us a little more time, we will also have to (learn to) act upon it.
That is the whole purpose of doing teshuvah. The letter heh represents this acting because it consists of the י yud and the ד daled = יד = hand/action. This action This brings us back to HaShem, which was the whole purpose of creation. HaShem wanting a relationship with His creation.
We are now familiar with the:
ב י ת א ל פ ף ג מ ם ד ה .
and with the:
ִ ּ ֶ ָ ַ ֵ ֹ
[ i, dagesh, e, aa, a, ee, o ]
and can now read the following words, among others:
Genesis 1:1
בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃
When G-d began to create heaven and earth—
Exodus 4:12
וְעַתָּ֖ה לֵ֑ךְ וְאָנֹכִי֙ אֶֽהְיֶ֣ה עִם־פִּ֔יךָ וְהוֹרֵיתִ֖יךָ אֲשֶׁ֥ר תְּדַבֵּֽר׃
Now go, and I will be with you as you speak and will instruct you what to say.”
Psalms/ Tehillim 17:1
תְּפִלָּ֗ה לְדָ֫וִ֥ד שִׁמְעָ֤ה יְהֹוָ֨ה ׀ צֶ֗דֶק הַקְשִׁ֥יבָה רִנָּתִ֗י הַאֲזִ֥ינָה תְפִלָּתִ֑י בְּ֝לֹ֗א שִׂפְתֵ֥י מִרְמָֽה׃
A prayer of David.
Hear, O LORD, what is just;
heed my cry, give ear to my prayer,
uttered without guile.
To hear the texts, see youtube below
For private lessons:info.angelique@xs4all.nl
Sources: The Wisdom in the Hebrew Alphabet, Grammatica vh Bijbels Hebreeuws by E. Lettinga, Grammar For Biblical Hebrew by C. Seow
Angelique Sijbolts is one of the main writers for the NoahideAcademy.org website. She contributes for the admin of the website in English and Dutch. She teaches Hebrew to beginners and intermediate students at the Academy.
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