Alef, the Code of Unity — Treatise 3 | Rav Ziegler zatsal
Treatise 3 of 6 · אָלֶף רִאשׁוֹן

Alef, the Code of Unity

One form, one value, one breath, three readings
A teaching of Rav Haim Ziegler zatsal · Éditions Gueoula
Translated from the French original; the French version remains the reference text.
Alef, the Code of Unity
One form, one value, one breath, three readings

According to the Ari zal, the alef is built of two yods and a diagonal vav: the upper waters, the lower waters, and what separates them.

Three words are read in its letters: aluf, the master; ulfana, the school; pele, wonder, read backwards.

Its value is one: the first number, from which all others proceed.

📖 Read the lesson
1 The architecture of the letter

According to the Ari zal, the alef is made of two yods and a diagonal vav. In it one reads the upper and the lower waters, parted by the firmament.

The shape is therefore not an arbitrary drawing: it carries the separation of the second day.
2 Three readings in one letter

אלוף — aluf: the master, the chief. The authority that governs.

אולפנא — ulfana: the school, the teaching. What passes from one generation to the next.

פלא — pele: wonder, read backwards in אלף. Astonishment before what exceeds us.

3 The value, and the breath

The alef is one: the first number, the source of all the others.

“The alef is the first sound a child utters at birth, the first breath.”

From this the treatise draws a method of study in four steps: look at the form, weigh the value, listen to the sound, then tie the three to the meanings.

4 What the letter teaches

A single letter carries a form that states a structure, a value that states unity, a sound that states beginning, and meanings that answer one another.

This is a reading, and it presents itself as one: it illuminates the alef, it does not prove it.

Did you follow the treatise?

Four questions on the letter alef.

1
What is the alef made of, according to the Ari zal?
The upper waters, the lower waters, and what separates them.
2
What does אלוף (aluf) mean?
The authority that governs. Ulfana is the school; pele is wonder.
3
How is פלא read within אלף?
Pele, wonder, is read in reverse.
4
What is the value of alef, and why that number?
The first number, from which all others proceed.

Result