October 28, 2018 · 00:03:44
Tehilim Perek 119: Letter LAMED Hello everybody, I’m Rabbi Shaya Sussman, covering the entire TANACH one perek at a time. Today we’ll discuss the letter LAMED. The Lamed represents a desire to reach a destination, Limud, learning, and La’amod, teaching. The Lamed is taller than all the other letters. Its height represents its ability to see far into the distance. Whether striving for a physical or spiritual destination, one needs to be able to see the goal in order to be able to reach or attain it. On a physical level, if you’re traveling from point A to point B you must know the location of your destination. On a spiritual level, to attain wisdom you also need to have a goal in mind. Either way, our desires cause us to plan meticulously for our journey. This all comes from the power of the Lamed which means Lomed, learn. We need to learn and study to reach our destination. A subtler point here Is that the Lamed represents our ability to think, plan and use our minds to figure things out. When the Lamed is used as a prefix, it means “to.” El also means “to.” The Lamed represents the ability to travel from one place to another to reach a destination. The word “el, to” and Hashem’s name, “El,” are the same, because the ultimate purpose of this world is Olam Habah. The first time the Lamed is used as the beginning of a word is, “v’lichoshech kora Lyla, and the darkness He called night.” Lyla, night, comes from the world yalila, which means moaning or wailing. Nighttime is when a