Last Shabbos I spoke at a Sheva Berakhos about the mystery of the letter sav in the Sefer Yetzirah. The Sefer Yetzirah, Book of Creation, attributed to Avraham Avinu, tells about how God created the world with the alefbeis.
According to the Sefer Yetzirah, when God created the world, him’likh, He elevated, the letter sav b’chen, over chen.
What does this mean? The Sefas Emes (Parshas Vayishlach, 5646) explains, that when the inner light, ‘or ha-penimi, is seen in a person that is the appreciation of the ultimate, infinite truth about that person (i.e. the letter sav is the last letter of the alefbeis symbolizing infinity, the superlative).
I believe that when a chassan sees the true inner beauty in the person he chooses to marry that is the realization of emes, of the full range of qualities of that person [which starts with alef and ends with sav]. Then the true chen becomes apparent, as opposed to the chen that is false as in, sheker ha’chen v’hevel ha’yofi i.e. outward, superficial charm and beauty (Mishle 31). At that point chen, spelled with ches and nun get the letter sav added to it in the middle, and that spells, chassan.
And if you transpose the letters you get nachas, the pride and joy that the parents draw upon when they see the chassan and kallah aware of the inner light that they see in each other, ‘ad me’ah ve-esrim shanah.
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1 comment:
What i find interesting about letters in the Seifer Yetzira is the fact that it groups reish together with the BGDKP"T letters.
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