The Letter Samekh — study | Rav Ziegler zatsal
Letter study · ס · value 60

The Letter Samekh

Support, which comes after the fall
A teaching of Rav Haim Ziegler zatsal · Éditions Gueoula
Translated from the French original; the French version remains the reference text.
The Letter Samekh
Support, which comes after the fall

The samekh came forward in the name of סוֹמֵךְ (somekh), to uphold: “He upholds all who fall”.

It was answered: you come after the fall. You are the answer, not the question.

Its shape is a closed circle: what surrounds and does not let go.

Its place is to raise the nun, which fell just before it.

📖 Read the lesson
1 The Zohar account
“Master of the world, create the world through me, for through me begins somekh, to uphold. You are the One who upholds all who fall.”

The answer came: you are precious, and you are needed in your place to uphold those who fall. But precisely because you come after the fall, you cannot be the beginning. You are the support, not the foundation. Stay in your place, to raise the nun.

2 The circle

The samekh is the only letter wholly closed and round: it surrounds without leaving an opening.

A support with holes is no support. The shape states what the letter does.
3 Its place in the order

In the alphabet the samekh comes right after the nun — the letter of the fall.

The order itself teaches: after the one who falls comes the one who raises. Sixty: ten times six, the measure of a complete set.

Did you follow the study?

Four questions on the letter samekh.

1
Which word did the samekh invoke?
“He upholds all who fall.”
2
Why could it not begin?
It is the support, not the foundation.
3
What is special about the samekh’s shape?
A support with holes is no support.
4
Which letter precedes it, and what does that teach?
The order of the letters itself carries the teaching.

Result