The final three nekudos are the Chataf Kamatz, the Chataf Patach and the Chataf Segol. What is the concept of the Chataf? On one hand it's called a “Chataf.” On the other hand it's really a “Shva.”
As we discussed earlier, the nekudah that has one dot on top of the other dot is called a “Shva.” So why, all of a sudden here, do we call the “Shva” a “Chataf?”
Now, the sound of the Chataf or the Chataf Kamatz or the Chataf Patach or the Chataf Segol is basically a short sound. In other words, the Kamatz becomes short- it's “uh.” Or the Patach becomes short, “ah.” Or the Segol becomes short, “eh.” It's a short sound.
Now the graphic design of the Chataf Kamatz, the Chataf Patach and the Chataf Segol is basically what we call “Mukavos.” It's composed of two Nekudos together, and primarily, it's the Shva and the Kamatz, the Shva and the Patach, and the Chav and the Segol.
Now, what is the meaning of Chataf? “Chataf” literally means “to grab.” So why is it called “Chataf?” What is it grabbing? So there are three ways to understand it. The first way is that it grabs the letter that is sitting on it. In other words, these Chatafs are primarily found on four letters called A-Ch-O’-H, the Aleph, Ches, the Ayin and the Hei. And these four letters come from the throat and they themselves are letters that are not so strong. Through the Chataf these letters become heard.
So for example, you take the word “Yaakov.” Yaakov is spelled Yod-Ayin-Kuf-Beis. Now under the Ayin, which is the second letter, you have a Chataf Patach. If you did not have the Chataf Patach, you would read the word “Yakov.” The Ayin becomes lost. Now that you have the Chataf Patach under the Ayin, it becomes two syllables; it becomes “YA-akov.” That's the way you read it. So now the Chataf Patach is grabbing the Ayin that, up until now, would have been dormant and silent. But now it gives it life, it gives it exposure. So that's the first interpretation. The Chataf grabs the letter that sits on it.
Another interpretation is that the Chataf actually grabs the next letter. In other words, we read the word “Ya-aKOV.” the stress, the Dagash is put on the Kuf. So the Ayin is grabbing, the Kuf, is grabbing the next letter. And therefore the Ayin is very short. As we said earlier, the sound of the Chataf is a shorter sound. So it's “Ya-aKOV.”
The third interpretation, which is based on Kabbalah, is that the Chatad grabs these three Nekudos. The Chataf grabs the Kamatz, the Patach, the Segol. Why is it grabbing these three things? Because, as we explained in the class on the Shva, the Shva is two dots. The top dot is the sun and the bottom dot is the moon.
When G-d created the world, He created the world in a way that both the moon and the sun were equal- shneihem oros hagedolos- they were both large. And the moon came before G-d and said, “G-d, two kings cannot serve under one crown.”
So G-d said, “Fine, diminish yourself.” So the moon became smaller that's the Shva, the sun on top of the moon, that comes from the middah, from the attribute of Gevurah, which is severity and judgment.
Now, because the Chataf represents judgment and severity, it has no friends, it's very sharp. Nobody wants to hang around someone who's very critical. So people are running away from the Shva. So the Shva has to “Chatof,” it has to grab three Nekudos to soften its severity and make it sweeter. And therefore it only grabs these three Nekudos, even though there are many more Nekudos, it only takes these three, the Kamatz, the Patach and the Segol. Why?
Because all of these three Nekudos represent kindness. The Segol, we said earlier, is from the attribute of Chesed which is kindness. The Patach comes from the level of Chochmah, which is the right column, which is also the column of kindness. And the Kamatz comes from the world of Kesser, which is “crown,” alluding to the attribute of the 13 Attributes of Mercy. And therefore, with these three different Nekudos, the Shva is validated and now becomes sweeter and kinder.
Now, it's interesting, if you add up the Shva together with the Kamatz, together with the Patach, together with the Segol, it equals 72 in total. 72 is called “Shem AB,” the name of G-d, which equals 72, the name of God that equals 72. Shem AB is found in the world of Kesser, the world of Crown, which is the source of the 13 Attributes of Mercy. So we see that all of these three Chatafs represent the concept of mercy, of kindness, and to sweeten all judgment in the world and difficulty and hardship and pain.
Furthermore, as we stated earlier, primarily you will find the Chataf under these four primary letters of ACHAH, the Aleph, the Ches, the Ayin and the Hei. And Chassidus explains that these four letters are also found primarily in the world of Kesser, in the world of Crown. And therefore, by taking and grabbing these four letters, the Shva now becomes sweetened.
And this is really an interesting teaching of the Tzemach Tzedek. It says in the Code of Jewish Law, when a Jew says “Shema Yisrael,” when you put your hands over your eyes and say, “Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad,” “Hear O Israel, G-d is our Lord, G-d is one,” specifically when you say the word “Echad,” you should be careful not to “grab” the Ches.
Don't grab the Ches.
Don't say “EchaD.”
Say “EchAAAD.”
You should hear all three letters, says the Tzemach Tzedek. It's true that you should not grab the Ches, but you SHOULD grab the Aleph. The Aleph alludes to G-d, Aluf Reish haOlam, the Master of the universe.
And furthermore, Aleph alludes to the level of Kesser, the level of crown, which is beyond time and space. A Jew when, he says the Shema, can make a quantum leap and he can grab this Aleph, this level of G-d as beyond the entire process of the chain reaction of nature.
And in general, we are told that this world is like a wedding. What does that mean? “Chatof veAchol, chatof veShisi,” whatever you see, you should grab- grab and eat and grab and drink. When you come to a wedding, it's like a nice buffet. You’ve got to grab a little bit here, a piece of herring, a piece of piece of kugel, whatever you can get your hands on. Everybody’s dancing, it's wild, it's a wild party. So everyone's grabbing different things.
In this world you have to grab. In other words, when an opportunity comes your way and you say, “Look, I could do a Mitzvah today. Pesach is coming and I can eat matzah,” or, “Shabbos is coming and I can light the Shabbos candles,” or, “the morning is coming and I can put on Tefillin.”
A person might say, “Look, who am I to do this mitzvah? I don't do all the other mitzvos all year round. Now, on Pesach, I got to become so religious, I'm going to eat matzah and drink wine and do the whole Seder properly? I don't do it every day of my life, I don't live my life as an observant Jew. Why should I grab and do this new Mitzvah?”
So the lesson from the Gemara is when a Mitzvah comes your way, you grab it, you don't ask questions. The fact that the world is not organized and you're not orderly in the things that you're doing, that's your problem. But you have an opportunity.
Grab the opportunity.
This is the message of the Chataf, that every opportunity that comes your way, Chatof veAchol, chatof veShisi- grab it and eat it, grab it and drink it.
And this is the lesson in general, of the Nekudos.
When G-d took the Jewish people out of the land of Egypt, He said, “I am taking you out of the slavery of Egypt to be enslaved to your intellect and desires for the physical, finite world. I'm now going to bring you to Sinai so that you become MY servants, the servants of G-d, which is beyond time and space. And therefore I'll give you a Torah.”
And the Torah starts with the word of “Anochi,” the Ten Commandments, “I am G-d, your Lord.” And the job of all the Jewish people and the job of humankind is vaChai bahem, to live by the Torah, which means that you should bring life into the Torah, into the letters of the Torah, and that is by placing the Nekudos on the letters and breathing into the letters. And when we daven, we articulate the words not only with our eyes but also with our mouth. And we hear each word that we pronounce.
By doing so, we are bringing life into these dormant letters. And by the fact that we bring about techiyas haMeisim, we bring about the resurrection of the dead by bringing new life into the letters who will merit to see how G-d will once again blow a soul into all the lives and all the bodies of the people that already have passed away and no longer find themselves here in this world, that they too will rise from the dead and they will sing. And we'll see the ultimate coming of Moshiach and the rebuilding of the Third Holy Temple speedily in our days.
_____
There are more secrets and facets to the Hebrew Alphabet than just one video can cover.
As a carpenter employs tools to build a home, so G-d utilized the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew Alphabet, the alef-beis, to form heaven and earth. These letters are the metaphorical wood, stone and nails, corner posts and crossbeams of our earthly and spiritual existence. In "Letters of Light," Rabbi Aaron L. Raskin explores the essence of these holy letters, illustrating how they continue to be a source of creation, reflection, prayer and inspiration in our everyday lives. Each letter is examined in terms of its design, gematria (numerical value), and Hebrew meaning. Rabbi Raskin's insights are guided by the rich foundations of Chasidic philosophy, particularly by the illuminations of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe. The result is a unique and insightful exposition of how the twenty-two letters of the alef-beis can provide wisdom and guidance for every aspect of our lives.
CLICK HERE to pick up your own copy of "Letters of Light!"
You can also get a free chapter about the letter Gimmel by clicking on the image below:
As we discussed earlier, the nekudah that has one dot on top of the other dot is called a “Shva.” So why, all of a sudden here, do we call the “Shva” a “Chataf?”
Now, the sound of the Chataf or the Chataf Kamatz or the Chataf Patach or the Chataf Segol is basically a short sound. In other words, the Kamatz becomes short- it's “uh.” Or the Patach becomes short, “ah.” Or the Segol becomes short, “eh.” It's a short sound.
Now the graphic design of the Chataf Kamatz, the Chataf Patach and the Chataf Segol is basically what we call “Mukavos.” It's composed of two Nekudos together, and primarily, it's the Shva and the Kamatz, the Shva and the Patach, and the Chav and the Segol.
Now, what is the meaning of Chataf? “Chataf” literally means “to grab.” So why is it called “Chataf?” What is it grabbing? So there are three ways to understand it. The first way is that it grabs the letter that is sitting on it. In other words, these Chatafs are primarily found on four letters called A-Ch-O’-H, the Aleph, Ches, the Ayin and the Hei. And these four letters come from the throat and they themselves are letters that are not so strong. Through the Chataf these letters become heard.
So for example, you take the word “Yaakov.” Yaakov is spelled Yod-Ayin-Kuf-Beis. Now under the Ayin, which is the second letter, you have a Chataf Patach. If you did not have the Chataf Patach, you would read the word “Yakov.” The Ayin becomes lost. Now that you have the Chataf Patach under the Ayin, it becomes two syllables; it becomes “YA-akov.” That's the way you read it. So now the Chataf Patach is grabbing the Ayin that, up until now, would have been dormant and silent. But now it gives it life, it gives it exposure. So that's the first interpretation. The Chataf grabs the letter that sits on it.
Another interpretation is that the Chataf actually grabs the next letter. In other words, we read the word “Ya-aKOV.” the stress, the Dagash is put on the Kuf. So the Ayin is grabbing, the Kuf, is grabbing the next letter. And therefore the Ayin is very short. As we said earlier, the sound of the Chataf is a shorter sound. So it's “Ya-aKOV.”
The third interpretation, which is based on Kabbalah, is that the Chatad grabs these three Nekudos. The Chataf grabs the Kamatz, the Patach, the Segol. Why is it grabbing these three things? Because, as we explained in the class on the Shva, the Shva is two dots. The top dot is the sun and the bottom dot is the moon.
When G-d created the world, He created the world in a way that both the moon and the sun were equal- shneihem oros hagedolos- they were both large. And the moon came before G-d and said, “G-d, two kings cannot serve under one crown.”
So G-d said, “Fine, diminish yourself.” So the moon became smaller that's the Shva, the sun on top of the moon, that comes from the middah, from the attribute of Gevurah, which is severity and judgment.
Now, because the Chataf represents judgment and severity, it has no friends, it's very sharp. Nobody wants to hang around someone who's very critical. So people are running away from the Shva. So the Shva has to “Chatof,” it has to grab three Nekudos to soften its severity and make it sweeter. And therefore it only grabs these three Nekudos, even though there are many more Nekudos, it only takes these three, the Kamatz, the Patach and the Segol. Why?
Because all of these three Nekudos represent kindness. The Segol, we said earlier, is from the attribute of Chesed which is kindness. The Patach comes from the level of Chochmah, which is the right column, which is also the column of kindness. And the Kamatz comes from the world of Kesser, which is “crown,” alluding to the attribute of the 13 Attributes of Mercy. And therefore, with these three different Nekudos, the Shva is validated and now becomes sweeter and kinder.
Now, it's interesting, if you add up the Shva together with the Kamatz, together with the Patach, together with the Segol, it equals 72 in total. 72 is called “Shem AB,” the name of G-d, which equals 72, the name of God that equals 72. Shem AB is found in the world of Kesser, the world of Crown, which is the source of the 13 Attributes of Mercy. So we see that all of these three Chatafs represent the concept of mercy, of kindness, and to sweeten all judgment in the world and difficulty and hardship and pain.
Furthermore, as we stated earlier, primarily you will find the Chataf under these four primary letters of ACHAH, the Aleph, the Ches, the Ayin and the Hei. And Chassidus explains that these four letters are also found primarily in the world of Kesser, in the world of Crown. And therefore, by taking and grabbing these four letters, the Shva now becomes sweetened.
And this is really an interesting teaching of the Tzemach Tzedek. It says in the Code of Jewish Law, when a Jew says “Shema Yisrael,” when you put your hands over your eyes and say, “Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad,” “Hear O Israel, G-d is our Lord, G-d is one,” specifically when you say the word “Echad,” you should be careful not to “grab” the Ches.
Don't grab the Ches.
Don't say “EchaD.”
Say “EchAAAD.”
You should hear all three letters, says the Tzemach Tzedek. It's true that you should not grab the Ches, but you SHOULD grab the Aleph. The Aleph alludes to G-d, Aluf Reish haOlam, the Master of the universe.
And furthermore, Aleph alludes to the level of Kesser, the level of crown, which is beyond time and space. A Jew when, he says the Shema, can make a quantum leap and he can grab this Aleph, this level of G-d as beyond the entire process of the chain reaction of nature.
And in general, we are told that this world is like a wedding. What does that mean? “Chatof veAchol, chatof veShisi,” whatever you see, you should grab- grab and eat and grab and drink. When you come to a wedding, it's like a nice buffet. You’ve got to grab a little bit here, a piece of herring, a piece of piece of kugel, whatever you can get your hands on. Everybody’s dancing, it's wild, it's a wild party. So everyone's grabbing different things.
In this world you have to grab. In other words, when an opportunity comes your way and you say, “Look, I could do a Mitzvah today. Pesach is coming and I can eat matzah,” or, “Shabbos is coming and I can light the Shabbos candles,” or, “the morning is coming and I can put on Tefillin.”
A person might say, “Look, who am I to do this mitzvah? I don't do all the other mitzvos all year round. Now, on Pesach, I got to become so religious, I'm going to eat matzah and drink wine and do the whole Seder properly? I don't do it every day of my life, I don't live my life as an observant Jew. Why should I grab and do this new Mitzvah?”
So the lesson from the Gemara is when a Mitzvah comes your way, you grab it, you don't ask questions. The fact that the world is not organized and you're not orderly in the things that you're doing, that's your problem. But you have an opportunity.
Grab the opportunity.
This is the message of the Chataf, that every opportunity that comes your way, Chatof veAchol, chatof veShisi- grab it and eat it, grab it and drink it.
And this is the lesson in general, of the Nekudos.
When G-d took the Jewish people out of the land of Egypt, He said, “I am taking you out of the slavery of Egypt to be enslaved to your intellect and desires for the physical, finite world. I'm now going to bring you to Sinai so that you become MY servants, the servants of G-d, which is beyond time and space. And therefore I'll give you a Torah.”
And the Torah starts with the word of “Anochi,” the Ten Commandments, “I am G-d, your Lord.” And the job of all the Jewish people and the job of humankind is vaChai bahem, to live by the Torah, which means that you should bring life into the Torah, into the letters of the Torah, and that is by placing the Nekudos on the letters and breathing into the letters. And when we daven, we articulate the words not only with our eyes but also with our mouth. And we hear each word that we pronounce.
By doing so, we are bringing life into these dormant letters. And by the fact that we bring about techiyas haMeisim, we bring about the resurrection of the dead by bringing new life into the letters who will merit to see how G-d will once again blow a soul into all the lives and all the bodies of the people that already have passed away and no longer find themselves here in this world, that they too will rise from the dead and they will sing. And we'll see the ultimate coming of Moshiach and the rebuilding of the Third Holy Temple speedily in our days.
_____
There are more secrets and facets to the Hebrew Alphabet than just one video can cover.
As a carpenter employs tools to build a home, so G-d utilized the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew Alphabet, the alef-beis, to form heaven and earth. These letters are the metaphorical wood, stone and nails, corner posts and crossbeams of our earthly and spiritual existence. In "Letters of Light," Rabbi Aaron L. Raskin explores the essence of these holy letters, illustrating how they continue to be a source of creation, reflection, prayer and inspiration in our everyday lives. Each letter is examined in terms of its design, gematria (numerical value), and Hebrew meaning. Rabbi Raskin's insights are guided by the rich foundations of Chasidic philosophy, particularly by the illuminations of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe. The result is a unique and insightful exposition of how the twenty-two letters of the alef-beis can provide wisdom and guidance for every aspect of our lives.
CLICK HERE to pick up your own copy of "Letters of Light!"
You can also get a free chapter about the letter Gimmel by clicking on the image below:
