The Letter Nun — study | Rav Ziegler zatsal
Letter study · נ · value 50

The Letter Nun

The one who falls, and who is raised
A teaching of Rav Haim Ziegler zatsal · Éditions Gueoula
Translated from the French original; the French version remains the reference text.
The Letter Nun
The one who falls, and who is raised

The nun came forward in the name of נוֹרָא (nora), the awesome.

It was answered: through you also begins נְפִילָה (nefilah), the fall.

That is why, in psalm one hundred and forty-five, which follows the order of the letters, the nun verse is missing.

But the following verse raises up: “He upholds all who fall.”

📖 Read the lesson
1 The Zohar account
“Master of the world, create the world through me, for through me begins nora: awesome are You, O G-d.”

The answer came: you are indeed awesome, but return to your place, for through you begins nefilah, the fall. You stand for those who fall — and though I raise them, you cannot found a world that must not fall on its first day.

2 The missing verse

Psalm one hundred and forty-five, the Ashrei, follows the order of the letters. Yet there is no verse beginning with nun.

And the verse that follows says: “He upholds all who fall.”

The psalm does not name the fall, but it names the raising. One does not dwell on what falls: one says who lifts.
3 The value fifty

Fifty: the count of days between the exodus and the giving of the Torah, and the yovel year, when everything returns to its place.

The nun, in tradition, is also the fish — what lives hidden and multiplies.

Did you follow the study?

Four questions on the letter nun.

1
Which word did the nun invoke?
“Awesome are You, O G-d.”
2
Which word was set against it?
“You stand for those who fall.”
3
What is noticed in psalm one hundred and forty-five?
The psalm follows the order of the letters and skips the one of the fall.
4
What does the following verse say?
One does not dwell on the fall: one names the raising.

Result