REISH Secets of the Letters

Tehilim Perek 119: Letter REISH Hello everybody, I’m Rabbi Shaya Sussman, covering the entire TANACH one perek at a time. In today’s Nach Daily we’ll discuss the letter REISH. The Reish represents the Rosh, leadership, head of something, the ability to rule and influence. Rochev denotes expansiveness and the ability to take over. The sequence of letters of Tzaddik, Kuf, and Reish explains that one who becomes a Tzaddik and attains a higher level of Kedusha, merits to be the Rosh, at the top or a leader. The first time that the letter Reish appears at the beginning of a word is the first word in the Torah, beReishis, in the beginning. Hashem is the Rosh, Head of the world. The Reish can also mean the head of something in a negative sense. It can be read as Rush, spelled reish, shin. “Rush v’ani, destitute and poor.” We can use our free choice to become leaders in a proper way of Kedusha, or use it to become extremely needy and dependent on other people as in the word, Reykanos, empty-headedness. This is all implied from the letter Reish. Rasha, an evil person, is also rooted in the letter Reish. A person can go either way, to become the “Rosh u’manhig, true leader,” or become a “Rasha, a base, evil person” who is Reik, empty of Mitzvos. The Reish also represents the Yetzer Hara, Evil Inclination. One of the reasons given as to why the Daled in the verse “Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokenu, Hashem echaD, Hashem is One” is written larger than those before it, is so as not to confuse