The Language of Angels

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The thirteenth-century Book of Splendor is filled with references to the importance of the Hebrew alphabet as a celestial code or blueprint for the cosmos. Modern science can give us an analogy to clarify this intriguing concept. Just as we now regard the DNA molecule as a carrier of condensed, incredibly complex information concerning the development of life, so too have mystics viewed the Hebrew language of Scripture as a cipher describing the universe. The Book of Splendor says that “God looked into the letters of the Torah and created the universe.”

Abraham Abulafia (c. 1240-1292) ranks among the most important Jewish mystics. He created a meditative system based on the Hebrew alphabet. Traveling through his native Spain, as well as Italy and Greece, he attracted many followers with his method, which he called “knowing God through the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet.”

Among his writings on angels and prayer, Abulafia declared: “Look at these holy letters with truth and belief. It will awaken your heart to thoughts of godly and prophetic images.” He specifically advised: “Cleanse your body, choose a special place where none will hear you, and remain altogether by yourself in isolation. Sit in one place in a room...it is best to begin by night.”

With Abulafia’s method, the practitioner “begins to combine letters, a few or many, reversing them and rolling them around rapidly, until one’s heart feels warm.” Those who carefully follow this technique, Abulafia assured, will eventually experience “an abundance of saintly spirit, wisdom, understanding, good counsel and knowledge. The spirit of the Lord will rest upon them.” He added that angels would become the teachers of those who practiced his method with special devotion.

In the centuries following Abulafia’s influential life, many sages extolled the spiritual power of the Hebrew alphabet. In the sixteenth-century Holy Land, Rabbi Isaac Luria taught that by properly focusing the mind, people could use the letters to draw closer to God. To this end, he developed complex methods of visualization involving the letters.

Legend has it that during the High Holy Days, Rabbi Luria felt his prayers to be especially effective. He was a devout man and wanted to please God above all else. But an angel revealed to him that another’s prayers were more potent. Quite intrigued, Rabbi Luria found the man, who seemed a most ordinary villager. But how could this be?

Continued on page 3: Find greater comfort and fulfillment with 'God's buliding blocks' »