What Came First: The World or Language?

In their simplest definition, language and writing are unique forms of human communication, involving the articulation of sounds and writing of symbols used for transmitting and receiving information.

Many mistakenly believe that, like all other languages and writings, the Hebrew language and script, in which the Bible is written and known as the 'holy language,' were meant only for communication between humans.

According to this view, there's no essential reason to call 'light' by the name 'light,' or 'rain' by the name 'rain.' These names could change if people simply agreed on different terms. This is because the creation of every word from different letters, as well as determining the name and shape of each letter, are merely conventions among humans. Few know that this approach, valid and permissible in all languages, is completely refuted when it comes to the Hebrew letters and language.

In the creation narrative of the Torah, it is explained that Hebrew is the language in which the world was created, as detailed in Chapter 1. Thus, before humanity appeared on the earth, there was already a spoken language created by the Creator. This shows that this language is not a consensual language agreed upon by humans but a language that preceded the creation of humankind.

In foundational Jewish texts, such as the Talmud, Sefer Yetzirah, and the Zohar, it is explained that not only is the spoken language 'holy language' not a product of human logic, but also the form of the letters and the name of each letter are not arbitrary; they were created and determined by the Creator according to the inner essence and illumination contained within each letter. These letters are what the world was created with. As stated in the Zohar, "The secret of the matter is, when the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world, He created it with the letters of the Torah. Each and every letter came before Him [to examine if the world would be created through it], until they all were encompassed in the letter Bet [which is like a house for all], and all the letters rolled and stood [moved and joined in various combinations as detailed in Sefer Yetzirah] to create the world."

The illumination of each letter flows and functions in three channels, as the Sefer Yetzirah explains: "And He created His world with a book [in its written form, as in a book's writing], with a number [in the sense of a number], and with a book [in the sense of speech. The way it is pronounced], each letter according to its root in a sacred and sublime place." Therefore, the Zohar says this language is called "the holy language" because of its sacred origin.

Regarding the Hebrew language in which God's Torah is written, the Zohar states, "A language from that holy above." There it is explained the powerful impact of speech illumination in the holy language occurs during Torah study: "Whoever engages in Torah, many spiritual forces called the holy language join and cause arousal to that place called the holy language – a language from that holy above. Various holy actions and holy angels are aroused from all directions [to act to bring bounty to the world] during the study of Torah." The Zohar also states, "With the holy language, the Shechinah connects [with it]."

Some of the early commentators wrote plainly that since the language lacks names and descriptions for inappropriate things, it is called the holy language. Another reason is that the sacred scriptures were given in this language. Elsewhere, the Zohar explains the verse "Indeed, a nation that will dwell alone and not be reckoned among the nations," as referring to the uniqueness of the script and language of the people of Israel. "Israel has a script [letters] and a language [language], in which one can observe and contemplate the forms and representations [of the ways of the higher influences] as is proper. However, the nations do not possess such secrets because they have neither a script nor a language [with independent content], nor do they have anything in their letters to observe and know anything, for they are 'vanity, a work of delusion,' and contain no secret." The scope and depth of the letters

To grasp, if only minimally, the endless scope and depth existing in the letters, we will present the words of the Zohar about the secrets they contain: "Come and see. The first thing from the Torah that is taught to a child is the Aleph-Bet. This [secret of the letters] is something humans cannot comprehend properly with their intellect, not even to conceive a true understanding [of how high and deep it is], still less to express it verbally. Even the highest angels cannot grasp all their secrets, since the letters are the secret of the holy name.

Fourteen million spiritual worlds depend on the upper Yud's tip in Aleph. Seventy-two holy names [these are the letters at the start of the verses 'And he journeyed,' 'And he came,' 'And he stretched'] are inscribed by recorded letters, by which the heavens and earth are sustained, all hanging from the upper tip of the letter Vav [the diagonal leg] in Aleph to the other end. Secret pathways [pathways of wisdom comprising 32 steps] and deep rivers [fifty gates of understanding] and ten utterances [by which the world was created], all these emerge from the lower tip of the lower Yud at the end of Aleph.

From here, the rest of the lights began to extend from Aleph to Bet, and there is no limit to the matters of wisdom inscribed in the letter Bet [which is the house of all other letters, as all emerge from it].

Because there are so many secrets in the letters, the written Torah in them is the sustenance of all worlds, and its truthfulness is everything, and through its study, everything is connected one to the other [to sustain them].

Incidentally, concerning the Zohar's teachings here that the combination of letters during Torah study, written in tens of thousands of Hebrew letters, creates a connection and linkage among the spiritual worlds (as also explained in the Zohar quoted above, that the Torah learner causes several spiritual forces called the holy language to connect and cause arousal, etc.), it is worth mentioning that brain research has revealed how every thought in words creates connections (literally!) between the brain cells responsible for that matter, by sending arms that connect from cell to cell.

In the following chapters, numerous sources underlying the secrets concealed in each and every letter will be introduced. Here, however, we will present a glimpse of the words of Jewish sages on the importance of the holy language, and the difference between it and other languages.

Here is the language from the book "Pardes": "The letters of the Torah are not conventional. Indeed [however], they relate in their form to their inner soul. For the form of the letters, their crowns, and ornamentations, hint at known spirituality and upper sefirot, and each letter has a spiritual form [it's spiritual essence that determines its form] and an important illumination emitted from the essence of the sefirot descending from grade to grade following the procedure of the sefirot. Thus the letter is a palace [the] fitting for that spirituality. When a person utters and moves a letter, necessarily that spirituality is aroused. And from the breath of the mouth - sacred shapes are formed, elevated, and sanctified at their root which is the root of emanation. This is not only in speech, but also in writing, spirituality dwells on those letters."

Similarly, Ramak wrote in "Pardes Rimonim": "Many thought these letters are conventional.

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