The Connecting Power of the Letter Vav: In Matter and Time

The connecting power of the letter vav operates not only in the material dimension of our world but also in the dimension of time, connecting past and future. Since time and matter in the world are interconnected, and when matter was created, time was also created. Therefore, in the language of the Torah, the letter vav at the beginning of a word turns the past into the future and the future into the past. For example, when you add the letter vav to the word "yidaber" (he will speak), which is future tense, it becomes past tense—"vayidaber" (he spoke). The word "yehi" (it shall be)—future tense, is turned by the vav into "vayehi" (it was)—past tense. Conversely, the word "natati" (I have given)—past tense, becomes with the addition of a vav into future tense—"venatati" meaning "I will give." Like "if you walk in my statutes and keep my commandments and do them, and I will give you rains...and I will give peace..." And similarly, the word "va'asitem" in this verse is turned from past to future by the vav. Similarly, the word "haya" which is past tense, transforms into future tense—"vehaya". Like "and it shall come to pass, if you shall hearken..." This is to indicate that the limitations of the time dimension and the concepts of "past, present, and future" do not exist with Hashem, for all history is laid out before Him without time boundaries. This characteristic of the letter vav grants it the title of vav ha-hippuch—the letter that transforms past to future and future to past, in addition to its title of vav ha-chibur, the Connecting vav.

In light of this, we can somewhat understand the words of the sages in the Talmud explaining the difference between the word "vayehi" as in the verse "vayehi bimei achashverosh" and the word "vehaya" as in "vehaya im shamoa tishma'u." Their language: "This is a tradition from the men of the Great Assembly. Everywhere it says 'vayehi,' it indicates distress. 'Vehaya' indicates joy." The deeper explanation: "haya"—past tense, "yehi"—future tense. A good and happy event that occurred in the past, which is referred to as "haya," the Torah transforms to future tense with the addition of vav ha-hippuch, imbuing it with blessing (since the letter vav also symbolizes mercy as explained in the Zohar) that it may also be a source of goodness and joy in the future. Whereas trouble that occurred in the past due to our wrongdoings and might repeat itself in the future, Heaven forbid—if we repeat those deeds, the Torah transforms them with the addition of the vav from "yehi" in the future tense to "vayehi" past tense. This hints to us to be careful not to stumble as in the past so that the distress will only be a relic of the past and will not recur (we note that Rabbi Yonah ben Ganah enumerates seventeen different meanings of the letter vav in his "Book of the Stalk").

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The vav Connecting Heavens and Earth, Higher and Lower Worlds

The letter vav in the name of Hashem, corresponding to the world of formation (Yetzirah), is the letter connecting the upper worlds: Adam Kadmon, Atzilut, and Beriah, with the lower world of Asiyah where this world resides. It is the letter representing six sephirot (Hesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod) between the Sephirah of Keter (Adam Kadmon), Chokhmah (Atzilut), and Binah (Beriah), and the Sephirah of Malchut (Asiyah).

The connection point between the upper worlds and this world, the place of descent for all abundance and the ascent of prayers, is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and it is the secret of the letter vav in the aspect of the foundation reaching Malchut and providing it with its abundance. Between spirit and matter, between past and future, and its number six connects the period of a person's spiritual endeavor in this world over the six millennia allotted for this endeavor since the creation of the first person, to the life of the world to come in the days of the Messiah, a time for receiving the reward.

The Purpose of Human Creation

At the beginning of his book "Mesillat Yesharim," the Ramchal writes: "The foundation of piety and the root of complete service is that it becomes clear to a person what his duty is in his world and to what he must direct his gaze and ambition in all his labors throughout his life. Our sages have taught us that a person was created solely to delight in Hashem and to benefit from the radiance of His divine presence, the true delight and the greatest pleasure of all pleasures that can be found. The place of this world is truly the world to come, for it was created with the necessary preparation for this." For this reason, the name of our forefather Yaakov in the verse promising and heralding redemption: "And I will remember My covenant with Yaakov," is written in full spelling (with a vav), whereas the name of Elijah the Prophet in the prophecy of redemption "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet" is written without the letter vav. In Yaakov, the vav is surplus, and in Elijah, it is absent. Since the root of the letter vav is in the attribute of mercy, it operates to connect the life of this world with the life of the world to come and to awaken Israel to repentance if they do not awaken on their own. The Radbaz wrote in his book "Magen David": "The matter is, for Elijah was zealous for Hashem, as it is written, 'I have been very zealous for Hashem, the God of hosts because the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant.' Therefore, Yaakov took from him the vav as collateral until he will come to herald the redemption of the Israelites. Thus, 'And I will remember My covenant with Yaakov'—full with vav, indicating mercy." Therefore, with the illumination of the letter vav representing complete mercy, redemption is assured despite the sins of Israel. For by it, systems will operate to awaken them to repentance. This will specifically be achieved through Elijah the Prophet whose collateral is in the possession of Yaakov to redeem Israel, as stated by the Maharal: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of Hashem. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers [to Hashem] through the children and the hearts of the children through their fathers." In the last days, there will be many who, even if they are not worthy of the revelation of Elijah the Prophet in a vision or dream, will merit an internal revelation of Elijah, prompting them to thoughts of repentance until they return to what is right. Everyone familiar with them will not understand where they get the strength to overcome their urges and habits and return to complete repentance. Yet truly, their good thought of repentance comes from Hashem's blessed kindness and abundant mercy towards them due to the merit of their righteous ancestors or a particularly good deed they performed, sending them spiritual illumination through an internal revelation of Elijah to bring them back to Him so that not a single one of them will be cast away.

This is similarly explained in the Holy Zohar, why the word "vehakol" in the verse about Joseph's weeping, "vehakol nishma" is written in the Torah without a vav, the letter of mercy: "This is the voice crying over the First Temple and the Second Temple." And there it is further stated: "The voice was heard above [the voice of weeping reached the heavens]. What is the reason? Because the vav had distanced and departed from it. Then [was heard] Rachel weeping for her children. Come and see, when the Holy One will raise this voice from its dust and it will connect with a vav, everything lost in exile will be restored to them, and they will be delighted with superior lights from the upper world." From this, we learn the profound depth of our holy Torah—that wherever a word appears in the Torah with deficient script without a vav, it alludes to a situation of suffering and exile, a lack in the attribute of mercy, whereas an excess vav indicates an abundance of mercy and redemption.

The Zohar further elaborates on this foundation in other parts of the Torah, where the excess of the letter vav is not understood without knowing the secret of its essence: "It is written 'and this is the Torah that Moses set before the children of Israel.' We have learned that, everywhere, vav adds to the first matter. If so, why was the vav here? Since the word 'this' was not previously said, to add more to it with 'and this'? Rather, because the medicine of life adheres to it [since the letter vav alludes to the Tree of Life, as explained previously in the Zohar there. Therefore here, the letter vav does not come to add to the first matter, but in the meaning of the secret of the Torah, the Tree of Life clings to it, and this is "and this is the Torah"]." This is also explained in the verse "and this is the blessing." The Zohar specifies: "But when people are not good in their deeds, the letter vav is removed from 'this.' Therefore, it is written regarding the leper, 'This shall be the law of the leper,' since the leper is considered dead. Similarly, in the impurity of death, it is written 'This is the law: if a man dies in a tent.' And this is the case everywhere you find in the Torah 'this' without a vav, in the context of obligation [death and impurity, opposite of the Tree of Life]."

From here we understand a little of how complex and deep is the holy language in the Torah's speech, beyond the common and shallow language we use in our daily lives, and how much we lack the keys—in the words of our sages—to comprehend the verses in their truth. Needless to say, those who attempt in their ignorance to "criticize" the scripture are lesser than one who has not yet learned to speak properly in a certain language yet tries to act as a literary critic in that language.

The shape of the letter vav, the letter of mercy, is like a person embracing, where its body is visible and its arms are not seen, in the sense of the verse "his left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me." And this is the conduct of mercy of Hashem with His children. But sometimes, when there is a need to awaken Israel to repentance, the vav bends and stretches its arms in the manner of right and left, kindness and might (and is not only mercy), and then the shape of the letter aleph is revealed, which is in the aspect of the name 'Elokim,' the name representing the governance of judgment.

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