The Letter 'Nun' - Humility, Loyalty, Soul, and Eternity

The letter 'Nun' expresses the traits of humility and loyalty that are embedded in the spiritual and eternal soul of the person.

In the Midrash 'Otiot d'Rabbi Akiva', it is explained that the spiritual and eternal soul was created with the letter 'Nun', without which the body made of dust would lie inert, unable to stand or move:

"Nun, why is one Nun bent (נ) and one straight and standing (ן)?

Because the soul was created with it. Every soul, at times, lies low, at times, stands upright. When a person lies down, his soul lies down. And when a person stands tall, his soul stands tall."

According to the simple meaning, the Midrash refers only to the body's movements through the soul. However, on a deeper level, the lying down and standing discussed in the Midrash refer to the spiritual dimension. When a person descends into negative actions, his soul lowers and lies down. When the body acts properly in accordance with the Creator's will, the soul stands tall and rises in its level.

Thus, by itself, the human soul is loyal to its Creator. That is, by its nature, it remains humble before its Creator, fulfilling His will with love and perfection. But the material body that envelops it, along with the enticing and misleading inclination, lead a person to sin.

It is found, therefore, that the letter 'Nun' represents the soul and encompasses its three natural traits: eternity, humility, and loyalty. For the humble is loyal. But of the arrogant, it is said: "Yeshurun grew fat and bucked." Because his arrogance leads him to betray and reject kindness.

The letter 'Nun' first appears in the Torah at the start of a word, in the verse: "And Hashem said, let the waters swarm a swarm of living creature". This is because the soul of every living being was created with the letter 'Nun'.

Its Form and Pronunciation

The form of the letter 'Nun' appears like a bent person with his head tilted forward and his legs extended before him. This reflects the nature of the soul: to animate the body that would otherwise lie inert without it, to sit it (נ) and to raise it (ן), as explained in 'Otiot d'Rabbi Akiva'. In the Talmud, it is explained that the letter 'Nun' symbolizes the soul's natural traits, to be humble before its Creator, and therefore to be loyal to Him. This is reflected in the pronunciation of the letter 'Nun': 'nun', derived from the word 'loyal'. It is explained there that the two shapes of the letter 'Nun' express different times. The bent Nun expresses the loyal in this world, which is humble and modest. But the upright Nun, the final Nun, represents its state in the end, in the world to come. Because Hashem will in the future raise it. Here is what the Talmud says:

"Bent Nun, Straight Nun, Bent Loyal, Straight Loyal." Rashi explained: "Bent Loyal, a proper person must be humble and modest. In the end, he will be straight and upright in the world to come."

This trait of humility and submission of the soul before its Creator is expressed in the form of the Nun as if bowing on its knees before the letter preceding it, the Mem, which symbolizes the King of the World.

The letter 'Nun', expressing the soul, primarily represents the woman's soul (though the man's soul is also hinted at in it, as explained below). As the Radbaz writes in his book 'Magen David': "From this, you learn that there is no other letter that symbolizes female, like the letter Nun."

Because the letter 'Nun' represents the woman, it parallels the feminine letter 'Hey', which converts masculine language to feminine language. But the 'Hey' is singular, as in: 'Ba' - 'Baah', 'Yeled' - 'Yaldah', while the letter 'Nun' joins it to convert masculine language to feminine plural language, as in: "And to the Priest of Midian, seven daughters, and they came, and they filled, and they watered, to water their father's flock." For the letter 'Hey', whose number is five, is placed in the units, representing the individual female, while the letter 'Nun', whose number is fifty, is in the tens, representing the many.

And because the root of the female is anchored in the letter 'Nun', which expresses the trait of loyalty and the delicate and spiritual soul, therefore in our world, this noble trait of loyalty is more inherent in a woman's nature than in a man's, and thus the female naturally tends towards spirituality, and to be delicate in her body and soul, more than the male.

Also, because the letter 'Nun' represents eternity, women generally live longer than men.

The woman's special ability to create within her the next generation is also hinted at by the feminine letter Nun. Nun is derived from the word 'Nin'. In the language of the Torah, 'Nin' means son, offspring (and not grandson as commonly used today). Such as: "If you lie to me, and to my 'Nin' [my son] and to my 'Neched' [my grandson]." For this reason, fish, which multiply abundantly and symbolize fertility, are called in Aramaic and other Semitic languages 'Nunim'. A word rooted in the holy tongue, derived from the word descendants (thus, "Squid" meaning "Squid Fish", and "Octopus" meaning "Eight-Armed Fish").

The Significance of the 'Nun' and 'Final Nun' in Marriage

On a deeper level, the mystery of marriage that leads to procreation is also contained in the letter Nun, the letter of the soul. In the holy Zohar, it is explained that every soul consists of two parts, male and female. Therefore, the male and female strive to return and marry and unite in holiness, out of their longing to return to their completeness. However, a person has the choice to activate this wonderful system, which strives for completeness, in a positive way through a wedding and marriage and the observance of family purity, or, Heaven forbid, in a negative way not in holiness.

The bent 'Nun' at the beginning of the word 'Nun' is in the mystery of the female soul, and the straight 'Final Nun' in the word 'Nun' is in the mystery of the male soul.

The bent 'Nun' is the spiritual female, also more humble and flexible in her decisions, akin to the bending and flexibility in the letter 'Nun' (unlike the 'Final Nun' which symbolizes the more rigid male). It is known that the female is in the secret of the circle in several respects. Both in what is concealed within her name, denoting a "hole," both in the form of the initial part that forms the embryo created within her, both in her physical nature, and in her spiritual character. Thus, the woman is not direct in her requests like a man, but prefers to speak at length and in hints, in a roundabout way. She also guards her husband like a wall surrounds, and is generally more loyal, like a fortified wall. Indeed, the female is also hinted at by the letter Samekh, the rounded letter, as explained later with the letter Samekh.

It follows that the main letter 'Nun', which is bent, is the female, and thus begins the letter 'Nun' and the word 'Nekevah' (female). The male, which is not the main letter, is found within the fill of the letter, in the 'Final Nun' in the word 'Nun'. This letter is upright and shaped like an arrow. It characterizes the male, whose name, seed, nature, and character are in the nature of an arrow. The straight 'Final Nun' in its form resembles the letter 'Zayin', which is the letter of initiative and movement in the concept of male (as explained in the Zohar: "Zayin, it has a battle, a sharp sword, and a spear of war, like the letter Nun." It is marvelous that the letter 'Zayin', the seventh, corresponds to the seventh Sefira, the Sefira of Netzach. And the letter 'Nun', in its essence, represents eternity). And in its motion, it becomes a 'Final Nun', that is, when its bending is straightened and stands.

Therefore, the word 'Nun' consists of a bent 'Nun' at its start, which is the female soul, and an upright 'Final Nun' at its end, which is the male soul. And the connecting 'Vav' is between them and causes the movement and change of the 'Final Nun' from the aforementioned letter and its influence on the other letter. And it should not be elaborated on more for the sake of those who err. Further depth can be found in the holy Zohar Parashat Acharei Mot.

From here, a person can understand how holy and exalted the marital bond is, so much so that according to its height and its influences in the upper worlds, so is the height and strength of the enticing inclination to cause a person to fail concerning the sanctity of the covenant. As the verse states, "Hashem has made one corresponding to the other."

In the world in general, the female is commonly represented by a circle, and the male by an arrow, without knowing that the cause for the existence of differences in the nature of male and female is rooted in the secret of the letter 'Nun', which consists of a bent letter representing a circle and an upright letter representing an arrow. Just as this single letter is composed of two similar yet different parts (נ - ן), which join together by the connecting 'Vav' and form a single letter 'Nun', so too, the soul created with this letter is composed of two similar yet different parts, male and female, which unite in holiness and become one person; the physical and psychological differences between them were created exactly according to the differences between those letters, which although similar in their name, נ - ן, differ in their form, this one as rounded and this one as an arrow, which when joining by the connecting 'Vav', they create a single letter, 'Nun'. It is marvelous that this letter, representing one soul composed of two united parts, means offspring.

This human foundation is true in every aspect of creation made up of male and female. And thus, all of nature operates according to the secret of the letters.

The world, with all its components, is made up of twenty-two letters as they are composed in different combinations, and so too is the human who is a micro-world containing all the components of creation, made of all twenty-two letters. In recent generations, researchers discovered that the formation of an embryo comes from twenty-two chromosomes received from each side, and an additional chromosome determining whether the embryo will be male or female. For those understanding the secret of the letters, this came as no surprise. But it was further clarified that each chromosome of the twenty-two is made according to the influence of one letter of the twenty-two letters. And the additional chromosome determining whether it will be male or female corresponds to the upright final Nun, symbolizing the male and containing its components, yet appearing in the fill of the bent and feminine Nun it can also symbolize the female instead of the male, and include the female components. This is unlike the bent 'Nun', the main letter, which expresses humility and the female, not the male. It is marvelous that it was discovered that the additional chromosome that causes the embryo to be male or female is indeed extracted from the female specifically, which correlates precisely with the upright 'Final Nun' deriving from the bent and feminine 'Nun'. 

To purchase Rabbi Zamir Cohen's book "The Code", visit Hidabroot Shops.