A Window to Ancient Mysteries

In Jewish mythology is embedded older wisdom inherited from ancient Egypt, Sumer and even more distant civilization. The stories in the Torah are not as they seem at first glance - sure many if not all the stories have historical forerunners, but there are layers upon layers of hidden knowledge in the text. Over millennia the understanding of the texts has evolved, and anyone interested in deeper studies should research it from traditional Judaic or Kabbalistic authorities. There are many impostors in it for money and fame.

As mentioned there are many layers in the texts; starting with the very letters. The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet is Aleph:

This letter can be seen as a symbol of the human breathing apparatus, i.e. the trachea in the middle and the two lungs on either side:

This signifies the Holy Breath, G-d blowing the life into Man "And the Lord G-d formed Man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and Man became a living Soul."

A closer look at Aleph reveals that the symbol itself consists of three other letters, namely i, v and i:

And that the first i signifies the upper realm, the Divine side of the Universe, and the second i signifies the lower realm, the physical side of the Universe. They are separated by the Veil or the Abyss. As above so below.

Since the letters in the Hebrew alphabet also is used as numbers; it is also possible to look at the Torah not as letters, but numbers and mathematics. The symbol Aleph, understood as i, v and i becomes 10 + 6 + 10 = 26, which equals the Secret Name IHVH, 10 + 5 + 6 + 5 = 26. Therefor Aleph is the letter of the Holy One as The Zohar says: "Aleph, Aleph! Thou shalt be the first of all letters and my unity shall be symbolized only by thee."

The word Aleph itself is spelled as:

, which in numerals becomes 1 + 30 + 80 = 111. This means that 111 also is a Sacred Number of the Divine, seen as the Holy Trinity; the Female principle, the Masculine principle and the Unfathomable, Originating Oneness of the Holy One - Binah, Chokmah and Kether respectively.

As a last mystical reference can be mentioned the Sigilla Solis, the Sacred Square:

A square where the sum in each row, each column and each diagonal equals 111; the Holy Trinity and one of the Sacred Names of the Lord. Herein lays a profound Mystery.

Those of us who are not brought up in the Judaic tradition ought to be careful regarding our different translations of the Pentateuch, or the Torah, the five books of Moses. There are obvious problems when translating such a text into other languages; all the layers upon layers of meaning and symbolism get lost. In order to fully appreciate the so called Old Testament, it must be done within the Judaic traditions.