Learning the Hebrew alphabet is the foundation of study.
Use this video to see, hear,
Learning the Hebrew alphabet is the foundation of study.
Use this video to see, hear, repeat, and learn.
Here are the letters - the rest is practice.
Presented here are the 22 letters of the Hebrew Aleph-Bet, simply, without digressions.
This is a learning tool, and it is a meditation tool. Anyone can benefit from this simple repetition, level of experience makes no difference. This means that the most raw beginner or the most seasoned davvener have the same access to the Holy energy of Emanation contained in these sacred shapes and thought-forms.
Keep in mind that 8 of the letters sound differently depending on punctuation. Another feature is that 5 of the letters have a slightly different shape if they occur at the end of a word. Details of these variations are shown in the other videos I've posted.
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Entering the Heavenly Halls of the Letters
Meditation on the Hebrew letters is not so much a human activity as a supernatural act, in which we break down the barriers of our natural existence and reach into the divine world. Each letter is a garment provided for our benefit, so the creation energy they house will be intelligible to us. Concentrating on the letters, their shapes dissolve and the Holiness in the letters is revealed. In Hebrew prayer, an extended meditation on the letters and their combinations, we carve them with breath and set them in the mouth in 5 places, to carefully pronounce each letter of the 5 families. We carve them with breath, contemplating each letter carefully, concentrating on the breath that is exhaled while it is pronounced. We set them in the mouth, meditating on the place in the mouth with which the letter is pronounced.
While speech itself involves Binah consciousness, the pronounciation of the letters is an automatic activity, and hence, it involves Chochma consciousness. With this exercise, the initiate learns to make use of the letters with Chocma consciousness, and by pronouncing them physically, clothing them in Binah. It is through this exercise that we learn to use the letters as Paths of Wisdom. The mouth speaks, while the Spirit provides the thoughts. Surrendering to the letters, the intitiate is like a torch, fueled by Holiness.
[Paraphrased from the Holy Baal Shem Tov z"tzl, Aryeh Kaplan, and Gutman Locks]
A story about the great mystic, the Arizal, Rabbi Isaac Luria of Zfat, cabalistic master of the 16th century, tells of a penniless, unlearned Jew who was in the back of the Bes Midrash [study hall] reciting the Aleph-Beis. The Rebbe asked him what he was doing, and he said he wanted to pray to G-d and only knew the letters, so he said "Please, O Master of the Universe, take my letters and form them into words that will please You." The heartfelt prayers of the poor villager, saying only the letters, exclaimed the Rabbi, meant more in heaven than the lofty prayers of himself, the great Arizal.
Writing and thought about "Kabbalah" are shells, layers of thought, or separation. The core of the learning, the deepest of the mystery, is in simply experiencing the letters, uttering them, learning them, and absorbing them on a "cellular" level. With that in place, the rest of your research will flow naturally and joyously, with a solid foundation.
There are many good sources on the web with Hebrew learning tools; use wikipedia for details and background on a great variety of Judaic topics - they also provide links to many authoritative sources.
Because of the availability on the web and elsewhere [books] of much of the information, these videos will focus on more specific areas, and also attempt to be more than learning tools - they are also meditations.
Intended for use by all levels of learning, these videos are 'instant immersion' into the very roots of Kabalistic experience.
Please note that the common pronounciation of the letter called "dalet" is "dawh let" and NOT "day let" like I say in the video. Pirke Avot says "learn in order to teach" - and I'm still learning, but teaching a little bit too. If anyone can tell me how to overwrite youtube files I can correct it without deleting it and starting over, I'll be glad to do it....
Idiotic comments are removed regularly; that's why the conversation stream may seem a little disjointed.
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Added: 1 year ago
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An informative animation about the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. Modeled and animated in Maya,
An informative animation about the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. Modeled and animated in Maya, additional effects created in After Effects. Music by Ludwig Van Beethoven. Animation by Kim Herold.
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Added: 1 year ago
Views: 15,216
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