The instruction of the Lord is perfect...
Psalm 19:7
In the Hebrew language, form embraces function, and to ignore the aesthetic element is to ignore the fabric of the King's robe. Each Hebrew character carries meaning- an intentional weaving together of symbols, numbers, and ideas, with nuances that stagger the imagination. Martin Luther said,
"The words of the Hebrew tongue have a peculiar energy. It is impossible to convey so much so briefly in any other language. To render them intelligibly we must not attempt to give word for word, but only aim at the sense and the idea."
It is unfortunate that the Hebrew word Torah is most often translated Law. A more accurate translation would be direction, teaching or instruction. The word is written as follows:
Here are the names of the characters:
Albert Szent-Gyorgyi said, "Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought." As I meditate on the sacred text of the Hebrew scripture I am intrigued by the letterforms, by the aesthetic nuances, and I read stories within stories. Some may say I am 'seeing' things, but because I believe the text to be God breathed, I wonder... perhaps the grammar structure itself is intended to reveal aspects of the Creator's imagination.
The final character in the word Torah is the hey. The Jewish mystics believed the hey represented the breath of God, and in early forms symbolized a man with outstretched arms- as if to say, "Behold!" When the word Torah is in the construct state (indicating possession) the hey changes to a tau, the final character of the Hebrew alphabet. In early forms, the tau symbolized a cross.
Psalm 19:7 begins with-
The Torah of the Lord God is perfect, restoring the soul...
and because Torah, in this case, is in the construct state the word begins and ends with the letter tau... the last and final character is both the beginning and the end. The perfect direction of God is exhibited with a resh and a vav, placed between two crosses.
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