The Letter Kaf — study | Rav Ziegler zatsal
Letter study · כ · value 20

The Letter Kaf

The open palm, and the glory that does not leave its place
A teaching of Rav Haim Ziegler zatsal · Éditions Gueoula
Translated from the French original; the French version remains the reference text.
The Letter Kaf
The open palm, and the glory that does not leave its place

The kaf came forward in the name of כָּבוֹד (kavod), glory.

It was answered: it is because you carry glory that you remain above — and you also open what destroys and what imprisons.

The letter has two forms: the open kaf, which receives; the final kaf, straight and closed.

Its value is twenty, and its name means the palm of the hand.

📖 Read the lesson
1 The Zohar account
“Master of the world, create the world through me, for I carry kavod, Your glory; through me You are glorified above and below.”

The answer came: you are glory, and precisely for that reason your place is with Me. You cannot leave it to come down into creation. And through you also begin kilayon, destruction, and kele, prison: you carry both elevation and fall.

2 The two forms

The open kaf (כ) is an outstretched palm: it receives and it gives.

The final kaf (ך) is straight and closed: what stands, what cuts off.

The same letter according to its place: open in the middle of a word, straight at the end. Glory held open nourishes; closed, it weighs.
3 The palm, and the value twenty

כַּף (kaf) means the palm: the hollow of the hand, what can hold.

Twenty: twice ten — the acting hand, doubled.

Did you follow the study?

Four questions on the letter kaf.

1
In whose name did the kaf come forward?
“Through me You are glorified above and below.”
2
Why could it not come down?
And because it also opens destruction and prison.
3
What does the letter’s name mean?
The hollow of the hand: what can hold.
4
How do the two forms of kaf differ?
Open in mid-word, straight at the end.

Result