CHAPTER TWELVE

LAMED

(lah’mid)

SOUND: l

NUMERICAL VALUE: 30

Meanings

The Hebrew root for Lamed, , means both “to learn” and “to teach.” It also represents a goad or a prod for guiding oxen or cattle.

As a prefix, Lamed means, among other prepositions, “to,” “toward,” “into,” and “unto.” Lamed indicates movement toward something.

It is also the first letter of , lev, heart.

Lamed is the tallest letter in the Aleph Beit. Traditionally described “a tower soaring in the air,” Lamed ascends above the upper line of the script of all the other letters.

Application

If tall Lamed, this sign of an ox-goad, lifts its head into our sights, we ourselves may need to be goaded into movement. Is there some project or activity about which we could use a prodding? Lamed signifies a time for getting things going, for initiating action. If we have been procrastinating, Lamed is the goad that says, “All right! Time to get moving!”

Because Lamed is the first letter of lev, heart, this movement is aligned with our innermost being. Where is our passion and delight? Since, as a preposition, Lamed means “to” or “toward,” this letter symbolizes aspiration, and the movement of the heart toward a goal or purpose, toward the heart’s desire.

A student asked the Seer of Lublin to show him one universal way to the service of God. The great rabbi replied that it was impossible to tell people one specific way they should take to the service of God because there were so many ways and each person is so different. The Seer gave this advice, however: “Everyone should carefully observe what way their heart draws them to, and then choose this way with all their strength.”1

Lamed prods us to carefully observe and then choose with all our strength. What’s holding us back? Are we living out someone else’s vision of what we might be or do, instead of following our own heart’s urging?

Or is it uncertainty, despair, lack of confidence, fear that’s making it hard to commit to a course of action?

Rumi writes,

            These

            spiritual window-shoppers,

                        who idly ask, How much is that?

            Oh, I’m just looking…

            Even if you don’t know

            what you want, buy something,

            to be part

            of the general exchange.

            Start a huge and foolish project,

            like Noah.

            It makes absolutely no

            difference what people

            think of you.2

When we are beset by ambivalence, procrastination, timidity, or confusion, by anything that inhibits appropriate action, Lamed encourages us. “Choose!” the letter prods. “Buy something!”

As the biggest letter of the Aleph Beit, Lamed encourages us to “think big,” to start a huge project. Even if it appears foolish, we will undoubtedly learn from the experience. As Dan Millman writes in The Way of the Peaceful Warrior, “It’s better to make a mistake with the full force of your being than to carefully avoid mistakes with a trembling spirit.”3

Regrets about our lives more likely center on actions not taken than on active mistakes. Reb Zusya taught that after his death, in the next world he won’t be asked, “Zusya, why weren’t you more like Moses?” Instead, he’ll be challenged, “Zusya, why weren’t you more like Zusya?”

This is our challenge: to become fully ourselves, to be completely who we are, true to our core, our lev, not shrinking but standing tall in our own unique individuality, like the letter Lamed.

Life is the process of learning who we are and , Lamed, means “learning.” Sometimes this learning takes place in a formal educational setting. Choosing this letter can indicate a propitious time to take a class, pursue a course of study, go back to school. But the setting doesn’t really matter. Lamed reminds us that our job is to learn wherever we find ourselves, to be a student of life.

Lamed also means “to teach.” Learning and teaching go hand in hand. Jewish tradition has always placed a great deal of value on both. The melamed, or children’s teacher, has long been an honored position. In fact, the name of the heart of traditional Jewish study, the Talmud itself, , comes from the root , Lamed.

Learning and teaching, to be most effective, must touch the lev, heart. Lamed cautions us against dry, cynical, abstracted learning, or dull, passionless teaching. Heart is what moves us, heart is what creates memorable teachers, and heart is what enables us to touch others.

Lamed, this letter of prodding, learning, teaching, aspiration, and heart, is the final letter of the final word in the Torah, Yisrael. It’s a big letter and it carries great power. When we align ourselves with Lamed’s primal energy, we experience powerful lessons, learning who we are meant to be.

Lamed’s Shadow

The prod of Lamed can get out of hand. We become driven, never satisfied, constantly goading ourselves or others or being goaded into more and more effort. Instead of fostering creativity and accomplishment, this drivenness can lead to workaholism and exhaustion, even madness.

If we focus Lamed’s energy of study and learning too narrowly on just bookish learning, we can become over-cerebral, divorced from the body and the natural world. Let’s not forget kinesthetic, active learning, artistic learning, and the many other varieties of education that don’t depend on books and words. When we remember that the word for “dance,” machol, contains Lamed, the spirit of dance can inform our learning and save it from becoming dry and lifeless and out of balance.

“Thinking big” can easily become grandiosity and conceit. Egotism, more than the heart’s aspiration, may drive a desire to stand out from the crowd, above it all, like tall Lamed. We may need to remember that, as E.F. Schumacher put it, “small is beautiful.” The grand word, , Yisrael, after all, begins with the smallest letter of the Aleph Beit before ending with the biggest. Our magnificent ambitions may need to be tempered with some humility.

Personal Comments

An extraordinary storyteller lived in Boston, Massachusetts, named Brother Blue. During intermission at one of his performances, I went up to thank this venerable bard. Brother Blue was friendly and unpretentious. He asked me, “What do you do?” I was between jobs at the time and I hemmed and hawed and was starting to say what I used to do, when Brother Blue interrupted me. Fixing me with sharp eyes, he said forcefully, “What do you want to do?” Again, I hemmed and hawed, and finally he lowered his eyes and let me off the hook.

But the point had been made. The Lamed, the goad, of his remark struck home. What do I most want to do? What is my deepest passion? And what does the Holy want of me? What is my destiny? Frederick Buechner wrote, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”4

Brother Blue’s words focused all these issues for me. His simple, yet powerful, question continues to urge me forward, helping me clarify my intention and move toward my heart’s desire. Lamed prods each of us, “What do you want to do?”

 

Summary for Lamed

Numerical value:

30

Meanings:

Goad, prod. Teaching. Learning. Heart. Aspiration.

Application:

Get moving.

 

Think big.

 

Learn and teach in accord with one’s heart.

Shadow:

Grandiosity.

 

Workaholism.

 

Narrow bookishness.

Reflection:

What is my passion and delight, my heart’s desire? What are some ways to move toward this desire?

Suggested action:

This very day, take the first steps toward accomplishing a project or task you’ve been putting off.