Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on May 8, 2022

Title: The First Ten LettersBy Rabbi Raffi BillekMosaica Press, 213 pages

When I was asked to review the book The First Ten Letters of the Aleph Bais by Rabbi Billek, I was quite excited. The study of the letters is fascinating. The Gemara in Shabbos describes what the shape of the letters means, and gematria is one of the classic ways of learning.

Two rabbanim who devoted time to this study are the Radvaz, one of the leading rabbanim in Egypt and Eretz Yisrael in the late 1400s-early 1500s, and the Arizal, Rabbi Isaac Luria. The Radvaz wrote the book Magen David, a Kabbalistic explanation of all the letters. The Arizal in the Eitz Chayim has an entire shaar on the letters and their shape.

This book is an important introduction to the topic. It is written in a fascinating format in the form of a conversation. This style is the basis of the Kuzari, which relates a conversation between the Khazar king and the Jewish chacham. Using an interchange between a student and rebbe to teach an idea is probably best known in Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirschs book, Nineteen Letters.

This book joins the two genres together. It is set as a conversation like the Kuzari, but between a teacher and student, like Rav Hirschs volume. However, the author adds a modern motif. The conversation takes place on a flight from the USA to Israel and the two use the time to engage in a fascinating dialogue.

I will pick one short example of the depth in which the author explains one letter. The letter vav, when used as a prefix, means and. The author shows how the various concepts included in the letter, including its shape, numerical value, and place in the aleph bais share this central idea. Its shape is a hook; the number six refers to the days of the physical creation and is used to connect to the physical. This is just a short synopsis of the beautiful ideas presented in one chapter.

The book ends in the middle of the aleph bais. It only goes until the letter yud. This leaves us with a desire to see volume two, all the way to tav.

But there is an issue that I think is not only relevant to this sefer but is a general issue that needs to be thought about.

Baruch Hashem, we live in a world where many people desire to be exposed to the depths of the Torah. But there is a difficulty to surmount. How do you teach deep concepts to a student who does not yet have the background as a foundation to understand them? Shlomo HaMelech taught us that one uses meshalim parables or metaphors. But allegories need to be relevant to the person who hears them. For someone from a secular culture, what comparisons do you use?

This is a general question in kiruv. Do you descend into the morass of secular culture to mine the diamonds? Or do you create a magnet of kedusha that attracts the souls that are seeking? Rav Eliyahu Desslers approach is that the latter approach is correct.

Why is this relevant here?

As I was reading, I began to see a pattern. First, there was a reference to a well-known movie, with a quasi-Jewish theme. Then there was a comparison to a popular entertainer who is known for his lack of delicacy, to put it delicately. And I stopped when there was a usage of an example of a relationship described in a way that I (and many others I consulted with) found completely inappropriate.

I can imagine in certain informal circumstances when one might decide that these usages are needed. That itself could be debated among the gedolim of the kiruv world. But in a mainstream sefer of ideas verging on the pnimiyus the inner dimension of the Torah, I would think that this is incorrect.

I look forward to the next volume with the rest of the aleph bais in a format that avoids these downsides and that fully gives kavod to the Torah.

Read this article:

Exploring The Mystery Of The Hebrew Letters - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com

Category: Hebrew
Tags: