Spiritual Abundance: The Illumination and Significance of the Letter Hei

"Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying 'This is how you will bless the children of Israel, saying to them: May Hashem bless you and guard you..."

The spiritual abundance flowing through the Priestly Blessing upon the congregation in the synagogue descends upon Israel from above through the hands of the priests as they spread their five fingers facing the congregation before them. Beyond the five fingers of each hand, the spreading of their hands is done in such a way that the gaps between the two hands and fingers amount to five in total.

The letter Hei is composed of a Dalet with a Yod inside it, together forming 'Yad' (hand). Since the letter Hei is the letter of action and execution, it is the spiritual root of the hand that acts, performs, and executes with its five (Hei!) fingers. Additionally, 'Yad' in small gematria (where the Yod is valued at one and not ten): five. Also, in the spiritual dimension, the illumination emanating from the five fingers of the soul within the five fingers of the body acts and influences the physical reality for good or the opposite. This is the secret of the laying of the hands of a parent or righteous person during a blessing upon the head of the blessed.

It is no wonder that the belief in the spiritual power of the 'hamsa,' representing the five fingers of the hand, is widespread among many people as a protection in this world against the evil eye emanating ill will

The Chida (Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai, of blessed memory, one of the greatest halachic authorities, citing from "Aiyuma Kanidgalot") wrote: "It is a great segulah, that wherever you will find a depiction or drawing of a palm with its five fingers, and hang it on a child or some other object, it will protect from harm. Especially to remove the evil eye." The Chida further added that the custom is to make a Hei out of silver and similarly to create the depiction of a 'hamsa' to be saved from the evil eye. Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad further wrote in the book "Ben Yehoyada" about the incense verses: "For it is known that the number five is very praiseworthy. Therefore, the Written Torah is divided into five books, and similarly, the Ten Commandments were divided into five and five. Hence, the number five nullifies the evil eye as is known."

In his work "Od Yosef Chai," Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad also wrote that spreading one's hand with its five fingers against someone attempting to cast an evil eye on a child, or a silver hand form, protects the child and reflects the harm back upon the evil-eyed person. Therefore, the Sephardim in Jerusalem drew this form in red above their doorways. "Od Yosef Chai" also added that when Esau came with four hundred men against Jacob, Jacob did so because Esau was associated with the evil eye's grip. However, he later qualified his statement, indicating that "Even though our patriarch Jacob, peace be upon him, does not acknowledge such matters, he acted according to the insights and customs of the people of the east, and with the cunning, you show shrewdness." So he took "from that which came into his hand" as a gift for Esau, using the protection against Esau. Up to here is the abridgment of his words. It seemingly implies there is truly no substance to this segulah, but when a person with an evil eye sees a hand raised against them, they recoil, knowing it to be a commonly practiced segulah, and thus, their evil influence is nullified. Jacob, therefore, did so. Yet, perhaps the intent of "Od Yosef Chai" is to indicate that Jacob's usual way in regular times does not involve such means since scholars do not need to concern themselves with such matters. This is what is meant by "does not acknowledge" such practices. However, since Jacob knew Esau was of the evil eye and came against him to harm him with it, he was compelled to use this valid segulah (as the Chida and the rabbi himself wrote in "Ben Yehoyada") which was also utilized by eastern people. Some explained Jacob's words to Esau, "The children that Hashem has graciously given your servant" hint at the letter Hei in the word "children," to protect his children from Esau's eye. Others suggested that on the fifth day of creation, fish were created which are not susceptible to the evil eye because they are covered by water, and they merited this protection in the blessing of the fifth day: "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters," thus embedding the nature of the five to guard against the evil eye.

Furthermore, the spiritual Yod hidden in the letter Hei indicates to a person that his status and position in the world to come (created with the letter Yod) depend on his deeds in this world (limited by the four corners), which was created with the letter Hei. As the Sages said in the Mishnah: "This world is like a hallway before the world to come. Prepare yourself in the hallway so you may enter the banquet hall."

Another secret is embedded in this: while the delicate and feminine letter Hei represents the woman, the inverted Yod inside it resembles the fetus which is typically found in its mother's womb inverted. This is the secret of the birth-giving power in the letter Hei and the root of a woman's ability to conceive and carry a male (whose name includes the letter Yod: 'man'), as in the aspect of the Yod within the Hei, unlike in reverse. In the "Sefer HaTmunah," it is explained that even the doctrine of reincarnation is embedded in the inverted spiritual Yod of the Hei, appearing as cast from above to roll it and return it to the world, by causing the spiritual soul to be again in the body of a fetus in its mother's womb and be born anew until it completes its rectification by observing all 613 commandments.

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The letter Hei lacks a floor as most other letters do, symbolizing the danger inherent in the material world and its desires, which is this world indicated by the letter Hei. It is like an abyss open at the feet of man, and the evil inclination of this world seeks with all its might to remove man from the right path and cause him to fall into this open abyss. However, man has the power to overcome and defeat it, as it is written: "Sin [evil inclination] crouches at the door, its desire towards you, but you may dominate it."

Indeed, the form of the letter Hei also holds the guidance for someone who has failed in transgression and fallen into the open abyss: in the window on its upper left side, the letter Hei indicates that while a person may choose evil and descend to the open abyss at the bottom of the world, even if he sins and transgresses, as long as he is alive in this world, the opportunity is still in his hand to choose good, to repair, to extricate himself and rise again until he returns and re-enters through the upper opening by returning in complete repentance. For if he dies in his sin - in the sense of the letter Chet (from sin) – then the window of opportunity for repentance has closed, like the form of the letter Chet resembling the letter Hei whose window has shut.

Where does one gain the power to overcome his inclination? This secret is also contained within the letter Hei by virtue of its numerical value: from engaging in the Five Books of the Torah and the books branching from them - the Mishnah, Talmud, halacha, midrash, and ethics. As the Talmud states: "Hashem said, 'I created the evil inclination; I created the Torah as its spice.'" The power of choice, which exists only while man is in this world, a world fraught with desires and trials – indeed constitutes the special spiritual power that man possesses, which other beings do not possess. This includes beings lower in nature such as animals, but also not to higher beings such as angels. In this way, man, the creation, resembles the Creator. As Rambam writes at the beginning of "The Guide for the Perplexed" in explanation of the verse "Hashem created man in His image, in the image of Hashem He created him."

Therefore, even though the letter Hei represents this material world, it is also a very spiritual letter, a divine letter. For within it is embedded the power of choice, which through it mankind resembles the Divine. Thus, as mentioned, the letter Hei is pronounced without the intervention of speech organs, and even among the letters close to it in pronunciation, the letters Aleph and Ayin, it is the most delicate. Because it represents the Creator who created the world and His governance in human perception in this world, it therefore appears in the names of the Creator expressing His methods of governance in the world. It's customary when wishing to indicate the name of the Holy One, Blessed Be He, in secular writings, to use the letter Hei with an apostrophe above.

In our world, a person expressing a feeling of enjoyment, satisfaction, or a sigh of relief feels a natural need to vocalize the sound: "hei." Indeed, the delicate letter Hei is also the letter of emotion (as in the feminine form, appearing in 'woman'), as opposed to the letter Yod which is the letter of intellect (in the masculine form, appearing in 'man'). Hence words expressing different emotions often end in the letter Hei. For example, love, hatred, jealousy, pride, humility, disappointment, and so on.

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