Variant spellings - ANAMELECH – ANAMELEK - ANAMMELEK

Biblical name - Anammelech was one of the gods of Sepharvaim (2 Kings 17:31).

The letters featured in this work are AYIN NUN MEM LAMED CAF. Taken together, and reading from right to left, they spell ANAMMELECH.

Each of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet has a special meaning and a story to tell. Here a few brief ones about the letters on 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.
Wisdom was completed from ayin (nothing) (Zohar. 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino. 1:30a).
The Ancient Holy One is called ayin (nothing) (Zohar. 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino. 3:158b).

NUN is the 14th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has a numerical value of 50. NUN makes a sound like the N in Now. The NUN has the head of a ZAYIN. The body is an elongated Zayin. NUN means SHINE, SPOUT, SPREAD, KINDDOM in Hebrew and FISH in Aramaic.
The NUN is one of 5 letters [CAF, MEM NUN PEY TSADE] that have 2 forms - the regular [bent] form used in the beginning and middle of a word and the FINAL FORM - SOFIT - used as the last letter of a word. According to the ancient kabbalistic text The Bahir, the bent NUN represents the spinal cord through which the body is fed by the brain (Kaplan, Aryeh. 1979. Tr. The Bahir. York Beach: Samuel Weiser. 31).

MEM is the 13th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has a numerical value of 40. MEM makes a sound like the M in Middle. But according to the ancient kabbalistic text Sepher Yitzirah, the MEM hummmmmms! MEM is usually associated with the word MAYIM - WATER or EEMAH - MOTHER. MEM is composed of a CAF (20) and a VAV (6) = 26, which have the same GEMATRIA as the YUD (10) HEY (5) VAV (6) HEY(5) = 26 – name of God - the holiest of God's Names.
The MEM is one of the 5 letters – CAF, MEM NUN, PEY, TSADE – that have 2 forms. One form is used in the beginning and the middle of a word – the open MEM . The other form is at the end of the word – the closed MEM. According to Talmud, the open MEM represents revealed teaching and the closed MEM represents concealed teaching AIR (Shabbat 104a).

LAMED is the 12th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has a numerical value of 30. LAMED makes a sound like the L in Like. LAMED means both TO LEARN and TO TEACH. The LAMED is the tallest and most majestic of all the letters. Indeed Rashi interprets A TOWER FLYING IN THE AIR (Hagigah 15b) - as applying to the upper stroke of the LAMED.
The LAMED is generally considered to be constructed of a CAF (20) with a VAV (6). In this configuration the LAMED has a GEMATRIA of 26 - the same as that of the YUD (10) HEY (5) VAV (6) HEY (5) name of God (Haralick, Robert M. 1995. The Inner Meaning of the Hebrew Letters. Northvale: Jason Aronson. 180).
Since LAMED means LEARNING, it would seem that this would constitute a direct connection between LAMED, LEARNING and GOD.

CAF is the 11th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has a numerical value of 20. When the CAF has a dot in it, CAF makes a sound like the K in Kitchen. Without the dot it makes a sound similar to that made by the letter CHET. CAF means PALM OF THE HAND, SPOON, CONTAINER. When functioning as a prefix CAF can mean AS, LIKE, WHEN, AT, ABOUT or ACCORDING TO. CAF stands for bent objects.
O Lord of the universe, may it please Thee to begin through me the creation of the world, seeing that I [caf] am Thine own Kavod (honor) (Zohar. 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino. 1:6a).

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This work is accompanied by the kabbalistic explanation printed above.

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

mat color:: orange

stock number:: nm21-51