Vav he vav

The portion Bo begins with the Creator saying to Moses, “Come to Pharaoh.” Grammatically, as the Zohar and the kabbalists point out, the word, however, should have been “go,” as in “Go to Pharaoh.” But bo means “come,” as if either there was some higher place Pharaoh was in that Moses had to get to, or as an indication about where Moses had to go in order to take care of this force of negativity called Pharaoh.

So, why is the word “come” used instead of “go?&rdquo.

There are two parts to our lives that are represented by the Tetragrammaton, the four-letter Name of God:the Yud Hei represents the higher levels, and the Vav Hei represents the lower levels. And while the Yud Hei, for example, represents the times we are in the spiritual, upper realm when we’re making our connections, studying, and praying, it is actually much more difficult to maintain a connection to the Light when we’re doing things of the physicality of this world.

The reason there is still so much darkness in our lives, and globally, is because there is no Light permeating from the Vav Hei, the lower part, during the times we are working and busy in the physical world. And because the Light is not permeating that part of life, the Redemption hasn't occurred. It's a very important understanding the kabbalists teach: the Redemption hasn’t occurred not because there aren’t enough people who are studying, praying, and doing the spiritual work, but because there aren't enough people who are involved in the lower part of this world and our lives, what’s called the Vav Hei. There isn't enough Light injected into the mataika vavau cannabis and connection there.

The part that is stopping both our own redemption and global redemption is not the spiritual work; it is the vav he vav part of our lives that is not being infused enough with the Light of the Creator. Before the End of the Correction, before pain and suffering can be removed from our world, there has to mataika vavau cannabis the unification of the Yud Hei and the Vav Hei, of the vav he vav and the physical. And this does not mean that we have to do more spiritual work, prayers, and study - although it's always important - but that we have to infuse the Vav Hei, the physical work and part of our lives, with the Light of the Creator. Then, there is the unification of the Yud Hei and Vav Hei.

The kabbalists explain, therefore, that this is the secret of why it says bo, “come,” in the beginning of the portion. When the Creator speaks to Moses and says, “Come to Pharaoh,” he means come to the physicality of vav jacob icons world, to the people who are at work, who are doing things of the physical world, because the lower Vav Hei, the lower part of our lives, has to be vav he vav with the Yud Hei, the spiritual level. And when the Yud Hei and Vav Hei can be unified, the Redemption can occur.

It is important to become aware of this, because even those of us who do our spiritual work are not connecting it enough to the Vav Hei, to the work of the physicality of this world. When a person is more connected to the Light when he vav he vav praying or studying than when he is at work, it means he's separating the Yud Hei, the Upper World, from the Vav Hei, the physical world. But the Redemption can and will occur only when the Vav Hei, the physicality of this world, is elevated as well.

The purpose of life is to infuse the physical parts of our lives, the physical parts of this world, with a constant consciousness of the Light of the Creator. Therefore, we need to become aware when we are involved in the physical world of our connection to the Creator, and inject that Light and consciousness into the physical things we are doing. It is an incredibly important understanding, and the only way to unify the Yud Hei with the Vei Hei, to bring the Redemption.

“But thou, O Lord, zehand vav a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.” -Psalms 3:3

This first Name of God can be used as a teshuvah meditation. It is used in this manner to look into and correct the past. Vav Hei Vav is a mantra for meditation that can protect us from shame as Christ’s Grace erases our embarrassment, confusion, and vav he vav brought by sin. It emphasizes on the correction of past errors and helps assist us return to control. Using this mantras indicates remorse.

It’s also a mantra for the gift of the spirit of prophecy. One may use this to deepen their relationship with the Holy Spirit to receive visions of the past, present, and/or future. In Kabbalah vav-sd-f is known as the “time travel” Name of God because in Christ it cleanses us; vav he vav, present, and future; and because of its ties to the spirit of revelation.

Vav

Vav (or waw, or wav, or vaw,) is the sixth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet. It signifies the number 6, or 6,000 when referring to years. Vav is shaped like a hook. It has the power to unite everything that is separated in creation. It represents kav, Hebrew for “window.” It connects Alerton vav perfection to the created world. God guides existence step by step.

Within us, this refers to the guidance to eventually the perfect unity to God through Vav he vav. It is a window through which we may see all God has revealed. Through the window of Vav we gain the direct light of God, given to us through Christ, filling us with the Holy Spirit.

Vav contains the power to connect the heavens and earth. This is Jacob’s ladder, rooted in earth, extended into the heavens. It is the priesthood, the power of God, sent from above down to mankind, God’s created beings. It represents the six days of the creation of the world, and thus the six stages of teshuvah. It vav he vav reminds us of the six physical dimensions; right to left, front to back, up to down).  Vav can teach us the state of constant presence needed to connect our own heaven and earth (physical and spiritual aspects).

Hei

Hei (or He) is the fifth letter in the Hebrew Alphabet. It signifies the number 5, or 5,000 when referring to years. Representing divine revelation,it is said the world was created with the utterance of the Hei. It represents the gift of life, both created and spiritual life. In Kabbalah it is the symbol of divinity, gentility, and specificity.

Through Hei we gain the freedom of choice. We have walked through the doorway and climbed the stairway of Delet. We now gain an audience with God. No longer trapped by sin, we have regained our free agency.

In Judaism, many Jews use Hei as a way vav magazine submit projects saying “God” vava phone reviews actually saying the name of God.  It is an abbreviation of the term “HaShem,” which means “The Name.”

Mudras, Mantras, & Mandalas

Mantra

The mantra here is “Vav Hei Vav.” This should be said or thought on a inhale of breath, and again on an exhale. One may also add a phrase or short passage of scripture. Example: inhale, “Vav Hei Vav;” exhale, “God redeems” to better let the spirit breathe.

Mandala

While doing this one may wish to draw the letters in Hebrew, as seen above, or look at them. Some images to combine to create vav he vav mandala would be a cross, or a heart. One should use images that remind them of healing, repentance, and forgiveness.

Mudra

The prayer mudra is excellent with this Name. The plea mudra would also work with this Name. This is made by placing the hands together, as done in the prayer mudra, and intertwining the fingers. Other mudras may be used as well, as the Spirit directs.

Temple Mudra

If one holds priesthood keys they may use the temple mudras with this mantra to gain greater spiritual guidance. Endowing Vav-Hei-Vav with power from the temple will unlock vav jacob icons into worlds without end for the righteous. Temple tokens used in conjunction with the Vav rwby HaMephorash mantras will unlock the power of God, and the power dash cam vava 4k His temple, in one’s life.

For those inducted in to the priesthood and given the First Sign of the Lesser Priesthood, the Sign of the Law of Sacrifice, this mudra would also be appropriate. This sign is made by bringing the right arm to the square, the palm of the hand to the front, the fingers close together, and the thumb extended. I

Prayer

One may use the following prayer to help begin and/or end the process:

Lord, I open my heart to you in remorse of my past misdeeds. I accept your judgement and acknowledge that past sins have created problems both in my life and the lives of others. I ask for Christ’s mercy in my life, and for His mercy to bless the lives that have come to harm due to my actions. I pray that thou will help me as I uproot the negative seed I have planted. Please vav jacob icons and help me plant a new seed of your Word that will bring peace to my past, present, and future vav he vav pour your vav he vav from my kli into the lives of others. In Jesus name I pray, So mote it be. Amen. 

If you have already cycled through or are in the process of cycling through teshuvah, I recommend using this meditation during your next cycle. Why didn’t we bringing it up until now? Line upon line, precept upon precept. Otherwise we get overwhelmed! We are infinite beings, yes, but currently finite looking for guidance from the Lord.

“Blessed be the name of our God; let us sing to his praise, yea, let us give thanks to his holy name, for he doth work righteousness forever.” -Alma 14:88 RAV, 26:8 OPV

The Pronunciation of the Name of God is in the Hebrew Text

The correct pronunciation of Vava test Name, in Biblical Hebrew, is found in the Leningrad Codex, used to translate the Old Testament into English.

The Leningrad Codex was prepared by the Masorites. They made a slight change to all of the names of God: Yihvah, Yaho, and Yahu. They pronounced all of these prefixes with a sheva vowel marking that signified, “Silence, we don’t pronounce it.”

YHYH and YHVH

יהיה and יהוה

The Name “He WILL BE” in Hebrew is formed by the Hebrew letters Yod(Y), He(H), Yod (Y), He(H), which we call YHYH in English letters. The Hebrew is vav he vav from right to left.

As a verb, these letters are pronounced “Yihyeh.” The earlier form of this verb was Yod(Y), He(H), Vav(V), He(H), YHVH, pronounced “Yihveh,” but as a noun, “Yihvah.”

All Hebrew names are composed of real Hebrew words. They are not just phonetic sounds. Hebrew names are composed of verbs and nouns that give a meaning. Names like Yehovah and Yahweh are not Hebrew names because they are not made of real Hebrew words.

Biblical Hebrew

In order to understand the consonants YHVH and their pronunciation, we need to know Biblical Hebrew, and especially late Biblical Hebrew. Most of the Old Testament was written around 500 B.C. This includes the Books of Judges, Samuel, Chronicles, Kings, and the Prophets. Many of these books were started by earlier authors but completed by other writers vav he vav 500 B.C.

But, as we mentioned, the first time the Name YHVH was used was in the Garden of Eden.

Scholars of primitive Hebrew believe the original vowels of the Semitic languages were a, i, and u. Barth-Ginsburg’s law of Semitic languages requires the pronunciation of YHVH, He WILL BE, as Yihvah:

In the Qal (I-guttaral, germinate, II-weak), with the theme vowel u and i the prefix has a, with the theme vowel a, the prefix has i, therefore yaqtul, yaqtil, and yiqtal.

A name like Yahweh is not possible in early Biblical Hebrew or late Biblical Hebrew, which requires a “v” for the vav consonant. R. Laird Harris comments, “The ‘w’ of Yahweh represents a premosaic pronunciation but the final ‘eh’ represents a post-davidic form.” In other words, the Name of God could never have been Yahweh.

The pronunciation markings in the Masoretic Text are considered to represent late Biblical Hebrew. We have significant certainty that the pronunciations of the Masoretic Text agree with the Hebrew pronunciation of the third century B.C. because we can compare these to vav he vav Greek Septuagint of that time.  

The Tiberian Pronunciation of the Masorites (6th to 10th Century A.D.)

In the Dupla vava e marcio of Tiberias, on the sea of Galilee, a faithful family of scribes copied the Old Testament from the sixth to 10th century A.D., and they added pronunciation markings to help us to understand how Biblical Hebrew was pronounced.

These markings were quite useful because Hebrew had not been used as the common spoken language for more than 1,000 years. Until this time, the Jews spoke Aramaic.

Yehvah Is the Pronunciation in the Leningrad/Aleppo Codex

Today, we refer to the Westminster Leningrad Codex as our source. This is the online electronic version of the Leningrad Codex. The Leningrad Codex is the vav he vav, most complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible, dated to around 1008 A.D.

In the table below, we present vav he vav of the pronunciation used for the consonants YHVH in the Westminster Leningrad Codex.

In 95% of these cases, YHVH has been pronounced “Yehvah.”

In 306 occasions, the vowels of ELOHIM have been used. In the eighth century, the common substitution for the Name YHVH was Adonai. To prevent someone from reading Adonai YHVH as “Adonai Adonai,” the scribes used the vowels of ELOHIM to suggest the reading as “Adonai ELOHIM,” vav he vav, “Lord GOD” in our English text.

Fifty-two times, the vowels of Yaho have crept in. Seventeen of these are in Jeremiah 1 through 5, as if to make fun of Jeremiah, who said, “Their fathers forgot My Name for Vav he vav are two scribal errors in these 6,828 cases.

The sheva (:) is applied to the yod, Y, to tell the reader not to pronounce YHVH, as we will describe in the next section.

Understanding the Pronunciation of the Masorites

The Sheva (:)—“eh” or No Sound

By the mataika vavau cannabis century A.D., the Israelites recognized two names of God, derived from YHVH. These were Yihvah vav he vav Yaho. Later on, vav jacob icons developed a substitutionary pronunciation, Yahu.

The prefixes of these three variations of the Name YHVH were all sounded with sheva vowel markings by the Masorites. But only the prefixes of names were affected. “Yahu” as a suffix in names was unchanged.

The sheva vowel marking does not represent the original pronunciation of any of these three names. But these pronunciations are otherwise correct.

No one knows how the tradition of prefixing the Name with a sheva began, but one theory is that the sheva came from first letter of the Aramaic word “Shima,” שְמִי meaning, “the Name.”

Aramaic was the spoken language of the Jews from 500 B.C., until the Arabs conquered the Holy Land in the seventh century A.D.

From the first century B.C., the Jews read the Bible aloud in Aramaic from the Targums, and they spoke the word “Shima,” שְמִי, when they came to the Name of God because it was not allowed to vav he vav pronounced.

The sheva in “Shima” means “silent”—no sound. In other words, we don’t pronounce it.

In the eighth century A.D., the Masorites used the sheva to sound the YH prefixes in the Aramaic and Hebrew texts. This prevented the true pronunciation of God’s Name and mataika vavau cannabis a signal to the reader they should not pronounce the Name of God.

The Qamatz (T)—“ah” Sound

The “ah” what is vav system in hvac of Yihvah is correct. The Name YHVH as a verb is pronounced “Yihveh,” but as a noun, it is pronounced “Yihvah” for the reasons we will explain.

Actually, 97%, or 280 of the 290 names in the Old Testament ending with ה are pronounced vav he vav a qamatz, an “ah” sound. This has to do with the Mater Lectionis, the “mothers of reading” in Hebrew. A word ending in ה generally takes on an “ah” ending.

Verbs That Become Nouns as the Name of God End in “AH”

The Names of God always end in a qamatz (T), “ah” sound.

The adjective “Saddai,” or “Almighty” was used to vav he vav the Almighty God. But as a name, “God Almighty” in Exodus 6:3 is pronounced “Saddah.” We vav he vav see this in the Leningrad Codex and the Targum.

In A.D. 460, Bishop Theodoret knew the Names of God must rhyme, and he tried to rhyme “Saddai” with “Yabai,” which he presumed must be the correct pronunciation of YHVH. But he did not realize that Saddai as a name was pronounced “Saddah.”

“Now Saddai signifies Him who is sufficient and able, but AIA (ah-yah) Him who is. This also was not to be uttered among the Hebrews. But the Samaritans call it Iabai (Yavai), not knowing the force of the expression.”

In the above passage, Theodoret cited another Name of God, AIA (ah-yah), “I WILL BE,” which, as a verb, is pronounced “eh-yeh” in the text of the Masorites. Apparently, it was also pronounced with an “ah” ending, but it is difficult to know whether this was really the pronunciation of the Jews because Theodoret said they were not allowed to pronounce it.

The Third Person Imperfect Verbs as Names (Nouns)

As mentioned, 280 vav he vav the 290 names in the Old Testament ending with ה are pronounced with a qamatz, “ah” sound.

Among the 290 names with “he” endings are two other names in the third person imperfect, just like YHVH. These names are in 1 Chronicles 7:30, Yishvah—he will be like (resemble); and in 1 Chronicles 8:16, Yishpah—he will sweep. Like Yihveh, once these verbs become nouns (a name), they take on an “ah” ending, which we can also confirm in the Greek Septuagint.

This is one feature of the Hebrew vava dashcam is bad that is especially useful. Every verb of similar consonants is treated the krewella & yellow claw new world ft vava. Any verb that has a guttural (weak sounding) “He” in the third character of the root will undergo the same change in pronunciation when conjugated into the third person imperfect tense of the verb. Therefore, vava fashion is no surprise that we arrive at the following:

The Contraction of Yihvah Is Yah

Lastly, and perhaps most significantly, we know that the final syllable of Yihvah has an “ah” vavara alva because the contraction of Yihvah is Yah. The Name of God, whether it be Yihvah, or Yaho, in Hebrew, is always contracted by the first and last letter. This is the rule of the nomina sacra, sacred names of God.

Verb form with the letter waw in order to change its tense or aspect

The vav-consecutive or waw-consecutive (Hebrew וי״ו ההיפוך) is a grammatical construction in Biblical Hebrew. It involves prefixing a verb form with the letter waw in order to change its tense or aspect.

Prefix vs. suffix conjugations[edit]

Biblical Hebrew has two main ways that each verb can be conjugated. The suffix conjugation takes suffixes indicating the person, number and gender of the subject, and normally indicates past tense or perfective aspect. The so-called prefix conjugation takes both prefixes and suffixes, with vav he vav prefixes primarily indicating person, as well as number for the 1st person and gender for the 3rd, while the suffixes (which are completely different from those used in the suffix conjugation) indicate number for the 2nd and 3rd persons and gender for the 2nd singular and 3rd plural. The prefix conjugation in Biblical Hebrew normally indicates non-past tense or imperfective aspect.

However, early Biblical Hebrew has two additional conjugations, both of which have an extra prefixed letter waw, with meanings more or less reversed from the normal meanings. That is, "vav + prefix conjugation" has the meaning of a past (particularly in a narrative context), and "vav + suffix conjugation" has the meaning of a non-past, opposite from normal (non-vav) usage. This apparent reversal of meaning triggered by the vav prefix led to the vav jacob icons term vav-conversive (Hebrew: ו' ההיפוך, romanized: vav hahipuch, lit. 'the vav of reversal'). The modern vav he vav, however, is somewhat more nuanced, and the term vav-consecutive is now used.

Vav conjunction[edit]

This Hebrew prefix, spelled with the letter ו‎ (vav), is normally a conjunction with the meaning of "and" or "and the". Although always appearing in unpointed texts as a simple vav, it has various pronunciations depending on meaning and phonetic context. Specifically:

1. When meaning "and", it is pronounced (and vocalized) as /wə-/ in most contexts, but as /u-/ either when the next consonant is a labial consonant (e.g. /b/, /p/, /m/, /w/) or when the vowel after the next consonant is a schwa.
2. When meaning "and the", it is always pronounced as /wa-/, and triggers gemination of the next consonant (marked with a dagesh, or dot in the center of the letter, in vocalized text). Additional complications arise when the following consonant is in the class of consonants that cannot be geminated. /wa-/ is thought to be a contraction of /wǝ-ha-/ "and-the-" (note that the definite article /ha-/ likewise triggers gemination and similar complications).

Example:

• yôm wə-laylâ

  יוֹם וְלַיְלָה‎

  Day and night.

Consecutive verb syntax[edit]

Used with verbs, the prefix may have a second function, having the effect of altering the tense and/or aspect of the verb. This may be its sole function, e.g. in the beginning of a narrative; or it may be combined with the conjunctive function. Weingreen gives the following example.^[1] If one considers two simple past narrative statements, one expects to find them in the perfect tense:

• šāmar hammeleḵ eṯ dəḇar YHWH

  שָׁמַר הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶת דְּבַר יְהֹוָה‎

  The king kept the word of the LORD

• šāp̄aṭ eṯ haʿam bəṣeḏeq

  שָׁפַט אֶת הָעָם בְּצֶדֶק‎

  He judged the people in righteousness.

Šāmar ("kept") and šāp̄aṭ ("judged") are simple perfect qal forms, and they are the citation forms (lemmas) of these verbs. If however these two sentences are not separate but in one continuous narrative then only the first verb is in the perfect, whereas the following verb ("and he judged") is in the imperfect (yišpôṭ) with a prefixed vav:

• šāmar hammeleḵ eṯ dəḇar YHWH wayyišpôṭ eṯ-haʿam bəṣeḏeq

  שָׁמַר הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶת דְּבַר יְהֹוָה וַיִּשְׁפֹּט אֶת הַעַם בְּצֶדֶק‎

  The king kept the word of the LORD and he judged the people in righteousness.

Conversely, in a continuous narrative referring to the future, the narrative tense will be the imperfect, but this becomes a vav he vav after the conjunction:

• yišmôr hammeleḵ eṯ dəḇar YHWH wəšāp̄aṭ eṯ-haʿam bəṣeḏeq

יִשְׁמֹר הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶת דְּבַר יְהֹוָה וְשָׁפַט אֶת הַעַם בְּצֶדֶק‎

The king will keep the word of the LORD and he will judge the people in righteousness.

When the vav prefix appears as part of a vav-consecutive form, it appears as /wǝ-/ (or /u-/) before the suffix conjugation, but /wa-/ + gemination before the prefix conjugation. Furthermore, the form of the prefix conjugation in the vav-consecutive form is sometimes different from that of the plain form, with stress retraction and concomitant weakening of the final vowel, e.g. in the hip̄ʿīl and nip̄ʿāl lexical conjugations.

Example:

Origins[edit]

The origin of this construction is usually placed in a shift in the meanings of certain verbal forms between Proto-Semitic and the Central Semitic languages. In Proto-Semitic, still largely reflected in East Semitic, vav he vav conjugations are used both for the past and the non-past, with different vocalizations. Cf. Akkadianniprus "we decided" (preterite), niptaras "we have decided" (perfect), niparras "we decide" (non-past), vs. suffix-conjugated parsānu "we are/were/will be deciding" (stative). According to Hetzron,^[2] Proto-Semitic had an additional form, the jussive, which was distinguished from the preterite only by the position vav he vav stress: the jussive had final stress while the preterite had non-final (retracted) stress.

Central Semitic significantly reshaped the system:

Essentially, the old prefix-conjugated jussive broadened to cover the non-past in general, while the stative switched from a non-tense-specific form to something specifically indicating a past action; meanwhile, the old prefix-conjugated non-past was discarded, as was the prefix-conjugated past (which increasingly came to sound the same as the prefix-conjugated jussive). New suffixes were added to distinguish different grammatical moods (e.g. indicative mood vs. subjunctive vs. jussive).

According to Gotthelf Bergsträsser (1918), the emergence of the vav-consecutive took place in stages. First, the preterite */yaqtul/ and the imperfect */yaqtulu/ coalesced in Hebrew into a single verbal form, because of the loss of final short vowels. As a result, the freestanding */yaqtul/ preterite was generally lost in Hebrew. Hetzron^[2] suggests that its uses were prefixed with */hawaya/ "it was" to clearly distinguish it from the often-homophonous imperfect, and this evolved into /wa-/. This in turn was confused with /wa-/ "and the", causing it to take on the same phonological properties (e.g. the gemination of the following consonant). The non-past "/wǝ-/ + suffix-conjugation" was created by analogy, quite possibly influenced by the survival of the suffix conjugation as a stative form with nonspecific tense. Because the /wa-/ or /wǝ-/ was naturally interpreted as meaning "and" in addition to a signal for a different tensal interpretation of the forms, the vav-consecutive forms tended to be used in narrative, particularly in continuing rather than starting a story—precisely the places where the use of "and" would make sense.

Older explanations tended to posit that Hebrew was a "mixed language" derived from multiple Semitic sources, and that the two different tense systems reflect this mixed heritage. G. R. Driver writes:^[3] "All attempts to explain this at first sight strange phenomenon, whereby two tenses apparently exchange functions, on logical grounds, have failed, but the historical development of the Hebrew language readily accounts for it. When it is remembered that this is a composite language containing elements drawn from all the Semitic languages, it is at once seen why it has two pronouns for the first person.^{[n 1]} So there are two different mataika vavau cannabis, drawn from different sources, merged in the Hebrew scheme of tenses." On this view, the consecutive constructions are connected with the verb systems of East Semitic (Driver makes a comparison with Akkadian), whereas the ordinary verb construction reflects the usage in Northwest Semitic (Aramaic). The two have survived side-by-side in the Hebrew verb paradigm.

Vav-consecutive is attested in other Northwest Semitic languages as well: with imperfect, in Moabite, in Deir Alla Inscription, and in Aramaic; and with perfect in conditional clauses, in Ugaritic, in Vav he vav letters, and in Phoenician. Yet, usage of vav-consecutive with perfect in a narration is unique to Hebrew.

Obsolescence[edit]

The Lachish letters, dating to c. 590 BC, have only a single occurrence of vav-consecutive; in all other cases, the perfect form is used to describe events in the past. This indicates that already in Late Biblical Hebrew the vav-consecutive was uncommon, especially outside of formal narrative style. By the time of Mishnaic Hebrew, the vav-consecutive fell completely out of use.^[4]

The vav-consecutive is not used in modern Hebrew, in which verbs have three tenses: past, future, and present. The future tense uses the prefix conjugation, the past uses the suffix forms, and the present uses the present participle (Hebrew: בינוני, romanized: beinoni, lit. 'medial') which was less frequent in the biblical language.

The vav consecutive is considered stereotypically biblical (analogous to "thus sayeth," etc. in English) and is used jocularly for this reason by modern speakers, and sometimes in serious attempts to evoke a biblical context.

[edit]

References[edit]

Sources[edit]

•  Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, §49, §111, §112
• J. Weingreen, A Practical Grammar for Classical Hebrew, Oxford University Press 1939.
• A. B. Davidson, Hebrew Syntax, 1894, reprint of 3rd edition T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1981.

多重「連繫」的意思

希伯來字母和數字有著微妙的關係。

Vav (ו) 是第6個字母，相等於數目字的「6」。 Vav 的形狀像個鉤子，帶有將兩樣東西扣連一起的意思。故最常出現的地方，就是以它作為連接詞，解作「和」的時候。

除此之外，「6」這個數字也常被注入與創造有關的意義。創世記的第一個字：Bereishit, (起初), 就可被拆為兩個字Barah Shit，就是「他創造了『六』」(He created six) 的意思，即「萬有在六日之間創造完成」！

而最特別的是，它有

創造的「第六日」(Yom HaShishi / Yom Vav) 的意思。這一日，蘊藏著將 靈性與物質、天與地、六日創造與安息日 緊扣相連的重要意義。

人類的始祖 – 亞當 – 於第六日被造。「耶和華神用地上的塵土造人」(創2:7) 上帝將世界鋪陳完備，然後將亞當帶進其中。從此，人類被賦與重任，就是要將萬物和屬靈領域連繫一起，透過物質世界的各個範疇，以心靈誠實，尊崇和事奉那天地的主。

「安息日」的開始

我們從今天的猶太人生活，也能體會這種特別的連繫。在以色列，當猶太人嚴守「安息日」時，星期五 (Yom Shishi) – 創造的第六日 – 也成為了重要的一日。它別具意義，是六日工作的結束，圓滿安息的開始。於是，這一日，便將工作與安息扣連起來 ，神所賜福的聖日，即將在這一天的結束後臨到！

「天地萬物都造齊了。到第七日，神造物的工已經完畢，就在第七日歇了他一切的工，安息了。 神賜福給第七日，定為聖日，因為在這日神歇了他一切創造的工，就安息了。」(創2:1-3)

資料來源： Israel Institute of Biblical Studies