The Complete Dictionary of English and Hebrew First Names.

Hebrew Bible name - Oded was the father of Azariah, and a prophet in the time of King Ahaz (Chronicles 28: 9).

The Hebrew Letters featured in this painting are Ayin Vav Dalet Dalet. Taken all together, and reading from right to left, they spell ODED.

Each of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet has a special meaning and a story to tell. Here are a few brief ones about the letters in this painting.

AYIN is the 16th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, has a numerical value of 70 and makes no sound. Ayin means EYE or FOUNTAIN. The Ayin is constructed of an elongated Yud (10) on the right and a Zayin (7) on the left.
[In the alphabet the letter Samek is followed by the letter Ayyin]. Samek Ayyin [means] support [Semak] the poor [aniyyim] (Shabbat 104a).
In the alphabet the letter Ayin is followed by the letter Pey. But in (Lamentations 3:36-41; (Lamentations 4:16-17), which is written as an alphabetical acrostic, Pey (which means MOUTH) is placed before the Ayin (which means EYE). This is because when the spies went into the promised land they spoke with their mouths what they had not seen with their eyes (Sanhedrin 104b).
[The writing of the letters] must be kethibah tammah [perfect writing]; thus one must not write the Aleph as an Ayin, the Ayin as an Aleph, (Shabbat 103b).
The Ancient Holy One is called Ayin (nothing) (Zohar. 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino. 3:158b).
Ayin is one of 7 letters which may be adorned with Tagin, or little crowns, in the Torah, Tefillin or Mezzuzah scroll. These are called the SHAYNAYZ GAYTZ letters letters [Shin Ayin Tet Nun Zayin Gimel Tsade] Each one of these letters contains a Zayin. A TAG is composed of 3 strokes which themselves look like little Zayins. There is a wonderful story in Talmud, which describes Moses ascending to Heaven to find God occupied in affixing TAGGIN to the letters of Torah (Menachot 29b). .
Wisdom was completed from Ayin (nothing) (Zohar. 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino. 1:30a).
Sefer Yetzirah divides the Hebrew Letters into 3 categories: 3 mothers - Aleph Mem Shin, 7 doubles - Beit Gimel Dalet Caf Pey Resh Tav and 12 elementals - Hey Vav Zayin Chet Tet Yud Lamed Nun Samech Ayin Tsade Kuf.
According to Sefer Yetzirah, God created the world by means of these letters. Ayin is one of the Elementals. Twelve Elementals, their foundation is [that] He engraved them, and transformed them, and with them He formed 12 constellations in the Universe, 12 months in the Year and 12 directions in the soul, male and female. And God made the letter Ayin King over ANGER. And He bound a crown to it, and He combined one with another and with them He formed Capricorn in the Universe, Tevet in the Year, and the liver in the Soul, male and female (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1990. Sefer Yetzirah. The Book of Creation York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 5, 95, 209, 197, 209).

VAV is the 6th letter, has a numerical value of 6, and is constructed of a single vertical line. Vav means HOOK and makes a sound like the V in Victory. When used as a vowel, Vav can sound like a long o or a long u. Translated it means AND. It is the GREAT CONNECTOR. Vav appears in the Four Letter name of God - Yud Hey Vav Hey.
[The writing of the letters] must be kethibah tammah [perfect writing]; thus one must not write the Vav as a Yud or the Yud as a Vav (Shabbat 103b).
Hey, Waw, that is the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He; (14) These letters form part of the Tetragrammaton (Shabbat 104a).
The first word in Torah is Bereshit. It means IN A BEGINNING. If you divide Bereshit into bara and sheet, it means HE CREATED SIX (sheet is 6 in Aramaic) Six what? The 6 days in which creation was completed? (Zohar 1:3b. 13).
The 6 Sephirot represented by the Vav - Chesed, Gevura, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod? Six directions - east, west, north south, up and down? The letter Vav itself? (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1979. Tr. The Bahir York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 30).
He , Waw, that is the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He [ haKadosh barochu]; [These letters form part of the Tetragrammaton] (Shabbat 104a).
Sefer Yetzirah divides the Hebrew Letters into 3 categories: 3 mothers - Aleph Mem Shin , 7 doubles - Beit Gimel Dalet Caf Pey Resh Tav and 12 elementals - Hey Vav Zayin Chet Tet Yud Lamed Nun Samech Ayin Tsade Kuf.
According to Sefer Yetzirah, God created the world by means of these letters. Vav is one of the Elementals. Twelve Elementals,their foundation is [that] He engraved them, and transformed them, and with them He formed 12 constellations in the Universe, 12 months in the Year and 12 directions in the soul, male and female. And God made the letter Vav King over thought. and He bound a crown to it and combined one with another and with them He formed Taurus in the Universe, Iyar in the Year and the right kidney in the Soul male and female (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1990. Sefer Yetzirah. The Book of Creation York Beach: Samuel Weiser 5, 95, 209, 159, 215).

DALET is the 4th letter of the alphabet, has a numerical value of 4, means DOOR and makes a sound like the D in Delight. The Dalet has the shape of an open door.
The letter Dalet consists of two lines, one from right to left on top. And the other straight down on the right side. The first line connects Chochma - Wisdom to Chesed - Love while the second line connects Chochma - Wisdom to Chesed. The vowel associated with Chochma - Wisdom is a Petach, while Segol is associated with Chesed. The word Dalet means DOOR, while the word Petachmeans OPENING. Since Chochma-Wisdom represents our hight perception of the Divine, it is the opening of God that enables Him revealing Himself. Segol is related to the word Segula, a remedy that works for no apparent reason. Segol thus parallels the Sefirah of Chesed, which gives freely, even without reason (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1979. Tr. The Bahir York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 113).
Talmud - It has been taught: Symmachus says: Whoever prolongs the word Ehad [one]. has his days and years prolonged. R. Aha b. Jacob said: [He must dwell] on the Daleth [Because the word does not mean one till he comes to this letter]. R. Ashi said: Provided he does not slur over the Chet Omitting its vowel and so make the word meaningless]. R. Jeremiah was once sitting before R. Hiyya b. Abba, and the latter saw that he was prolonging [the word Ehad] very much (Berachot 13b).
Gimmel Daleth, show kindness to the Poor [Gemol Dallim]. Why is the foot of the Gimmel stretched toward the Daleth? Because it is fitting for the benevolent to run after [seek out] the poor. And why is the roof [foot] of the Daleth stretched out toward the Gimmel? Because he [the poor] must make himself available to him. And why is the face of the Daleth turned away from the Gimmel? Because he must give him [help] in secret, [As though with averted face] lest he be ashamed of him (Shabbat 104a).
The conjunction of the two letters Gimel and Dalet indicates issuing forth Gimel, giving and Dalet receiving (Zohar. 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino. 1:244b).
Four is a very important number in Kabbalah. There are four worlds - Asiyah - the World of Action, Yetzirah - the World of Feelings or Emotions, Beriyah - the World of Creation, Atzilut - the World of Emanation; four souls associated with the four worlds - Nephesh, Ruach, Neshama, Chaya; four letters in the name of God - Yud Hey Vav Hey; and four cups of wine at the Passover Seder.
When he went before Hillel, he accepted him as a proselyte. On the first day, he taught him, Aleph Beit Gimel Dalet [The first four letters of the Hebrew alphabet]. The following day he reversed [them] to him. But yesterday you did not teach them to me thus, he protested. Must you then not rely upon me? [As to what the letters are]. Then rely upon me with respect to the Oral [Torah] too [There must be a certain reliance upon authority before anything can be learnt at all] (Berachot 31a).

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This work is accompanied by the kabbalistic explanation printed above.

The original 5x7 watercolor painting of this image is available.

This is great Bar Mitzvah gift.

mat color:: black

stock number:: nm4-122