The Letter Lamed — study | Rav Ziegler zatsal
Letter study · ל · value 30

The Letter Lamed

The letter that rises, and the foundation it lacks
A teaching of Rav Haim Ziegler zatsal · Éditions Gueoula
Translated from the French original; the French version remains the reference text.
The Letter Lamed
The letter that rises, and the foundation it lacks

The lamed came forward in the name of לֵב (lev), the heart, of לִמּוּד (limud), study, and of teaching.

It is the only letter that rises above the line.

It was answered: you are too high; the world needs a foundation, not a tower. And you also open lakah, to take.

Its value is thirty.

📖 Read the lesson
1 The Zohar account
“Master of the world, create the world through me, for through me begins lev, the heart. I am the only letter that rises above the others, and through me begin study and teaching.”

The answer came: you are great and precious, but you are too high. The world needs a stable foundation, not a tower that climbs. And through you also begins lakah, to take — and the world is not founded on taking, but on giving.

2 What the height teaches

The lamed rises: it is the only letter that goes above the writing line.

Elevation is necessary, but it must hold on to something. Height without roots is a tower, and towers fall.
3 The heart and study

לֵב (lev): the heart — what learns along with the head.

לִמּוּד (limud): study, and לֶקַח (lekah): the teaching received.

Thirty: the count of a month’s days, and the age from which the Levites served in the sanctuary.

Did you follow the study?

Four questions on the letter lamed.

1
What sets the lamed apart from all other letters?
The only letter that rises above the others.
2
Which words did it invoke?
“I am the letter of learning.”
3
What objection was made to it?
Height without roots is a tower.
4
Which other word begins with lamed, and raises a problem?
The world is not founded on taking but on giving.

Result