From The Wisdom in the Hebrew Alphabet
Rabbi Michael Munk
The Hebrew alphabet, to a Jew, is a part of every day, in prayer in Torah study, or other areas of jewish activity… we seldom look back to the letters that meant so much when we were little children…
But the Aleph-Beis has much to teach even the most accomplished scholar. A Kabbalistic dictum likens the letters to human beings, as it were, saying that every letter has … body, spirit and soul…
… the very existence of every creature from angels to pebbles is dependent on the spiritual content with which it was created… On the cosmic level, the Sages have taught that Torah study is the “soul” of creation, and that the entire universe would come to an end if no Torah were being studied anywhere even for an instant… the Psalmist (said) “Forever, Hashem, your word stands firm in Heaven. The word of God that brought the heaven into being remains within them…
The twenty-two sacred letters are profound, primal spiritual forces. They are, in effect, the raw material of Creation. When God combined them into words, phrases, commands, they brought about Creation, translating His will into reality, as it were. There is a divine science in the Hebrew alphabet…”
Such is the letter Hei – the H as seen in the diagram above. “God used the letters Yod and Hei which form the Divine name, Yah, to create the universe. The sound of H is a mere exhalation of breath… This effortless enunciation symbolizes the effortless creation of the world… (Psalms 33:6)
Abraham was the first person to perceive that nature is subservient to the will and power of a Higher Being. His recognition of this truth contained in the Hei made him understand that there is but One Creator of heaven and earth. Abraham was rewareed with the addition of a H to his original name – thus giving him the new name – Abraham.
The Hei, with which This World was created, stands for freedom of choice… . God does not confine man to a life of Torah’s observance, but allows him free choice. .. Simultaneously… H symbolizes God’s readiness to forgive penitents. That is why the left leg of the H is not attached to the letter’s roof…
The H not only teaches the efficacy of repentance, but it also reflects God’s attribute of chesed (kindness) with which He treats the contrite individual… the soft-sounding letter H indicates the feminine form of a noun. the torah uses just one letter, H, to illustrate the distinct characteristics of a woman: femininity, chastity, gentleness.