(shihn)
SOUND: s OR sh
NUMERICAL VALUE: 300
Meanings
Shin is the letter of 
, esh, “fire.” Sefer Yetzirah, the Book of Creation, identifies Shin as one of the three “Mother letters” of the Aleph Beit, along with Aleph, which represents air, and Mem, which stands for water. (Shin combines with Aleph to form the word esh, just as fire combines with air in order to burn.) The ends of Shin’s three upraised arms resemble the flames of a fire, and Shin’s sound is like the hissing of a flame. The Hebrew word for sun, 
, shemesh, begins and ends with Shin. Shin also sparks the fire and sun-related words of sh’viv, “spark”; shalhevet, “flame”; and sharav, “heat.”
Shin initiates the profound word 
, shalom. Shalom, which is one of the names for God, conveys a host of meanings including: peace, wholeness, fullness, completion, soundness, safety, health, intactness, integrity, perfection.
Another name for God, 
, Shaddai, begins with Shin. Shaddai comes from the Hebrew roots 
, shad, “breast,” and 
, dai, “enough.” God is that which is enough or has enough. God is the “enoughness”
that pervades and feeds the universe. The milk from the breasts of their animals was the very sustenance of life for the sheep-herding and goat-herding nomadic Hebrews. Shaddai, as a name for God, therefore represents ancient, primal, life-giving feminine force.
Shaddai, or more often just its first letter, Shin, appears on the doorposts of Jewish homes throughout the world, inscribed on the outside of the mezzuzah, the small case that contains a piece of parchment with the “Shema Yisrael” prayer (Deu. 6:4-9). This central prayer, which Jews are taught to utter as their final words before death, also begins with the powerful Mother letter, Shin.
Shin’s name and the word shanah, year (as in Rosh Hoshanah, “head of the year”) are both related to the Hebrew root for “change,” 
, shinah. A year could be described as one continuous process of change. Shin is its symbol.
Punctuating the year every seven days is 
, Shabbat. Shabbat, which begins with Shin, is the day set aside in the midst of change to experience and celebrate “enoughness.” On Shabbat we welcome into our lives the 
, Shechinah, the Sabbath Queen, the feminine aspect of God.
Infusing Shalom, Shaddai, Shabbat, and Shechinah with its powerful energy, Shin also initiates that happiest of Hebrew words, , simcha, joy.
Application
When Shin lights its way into awareness, it’s an opportune time to feel graced with the blessings of shalom. Shin reassures us that right now, at this moment, we are safe, that all is whole and complete and well. Simcha is at hand.
“Yeah, right,” the cynical or skeptical, or maybe practical, part of us thinks. “The world is full of terrible suffering, and my life is not in such hot shape, either. How can you say all is well?”
Shin is not a letter of facile theories. It contains the primal power of fire. As one of the three “Mothers” of the Aleph Beit, Shin is one of the building blocks of the building blocks. It burns away superficialities and gets to the core of experience. And at the core of experience, when everything else is burned away by Shin’s holy fire, dwells shalom.
Even in times of doubt, or sickness, or grief, or war, when all seems dark, Shin burns like an ember in an otherwise cold fireplace. Fire lives in that ember, holding the potential that flames can spark back to life, that profound peace can blaze up and warm our hearts once again. If we are experiencing a “dark night of the soul,” Shin carries the promise that light and warmth are close at hand.
Shin challenges us to feel — at least for a few moments — satisfied, not grasping after anything else, not feeling that if only we had this or that, then we would be happy. We are intact, whole right now, Shin teaches, with nothing lacking. We have enough, nourished by Shaddai, the Sufficient One.
When Shin, the symbol of both change and peace, blazes its way into our lives, we are challenged to find shalom, wholeness, intactness, right in the midst of change. Everything is changing constantly, and yet at the center, there is something that does not change. This point of shalom, this still point, is the secret of Shabbat and the secret of Shaddai, being peaceful and feeling that what we have, at least for the time being, is enough. This is the key to simcha, joy.
A shanah, year, is marked by the changing seasons. Yet the thirteenth-century Zen master Wu-men wrote, “There is a spring that does not belong to yin and yang.”1 He taught that we can experience a season that is not subject to coming and going, to birth and death, to yearly cycles of change. It is possible to enjoy the spring that does not belong to yin and yang right now, even as we shiver in the winter rain or seek the shade on a hot summer day.
Inscribed on the mezzuzah by the threshold, the locus of coming and going, Shin stands as a reminder of the place where there is no coming or going. Shin teaches that change and peace share a common origin. As we make peace with change, find peace within change, then we actually experience the power of Shaddai. It is enough.
Nanao Sakaki writes:
Just Enough
Soil for legs
Axe for hands
Flowers for eyes
Bird for ears
Mushroom for nose
Smile for mouth
Song for lungs
Sweat for skin
Wind for mind2
This is Shin’s message: just enough. The world is offering us just enough. Just as we place our foot down, the ground meets it. As the alarm clock rings, we roll over and turn it off. As the baby cries, we pick her up. What else is there, after all, but this, our changing, changeless life?
Shin, as the letter of fire, calls for heat, for passion, for excitement, for fun. Shin invites us to cultivate simcha, joy. Rebbe Nachman said, “Always remember: joy is not merely incidental to your spiritual quest. It is vital.” He also said, “Finding true joy is the hardest of all spiritual tasks. If the only way to make yourself happy is by doing something silly, do it.”3
Shin, this profound letter of change and Shabbat and shalom and fire, also kindles silliness and fun. Enjoy! Enjoy!
Shin’s Shadow
Fire is powerful, with the potential to get out of control. Shin’s flames of passion can turn destructive. Anger, lust, and jealousy can burst into great conflagrations. People can get burned. Instead of providing light and warmth, Shin can burn down the house.
As always, balance is called for. The Hebrew word for heaven, 
, shamayim, is composed of the letter of fire, Shin, plus the word for water, 
, mayim. The water tempers the fire and the fire warms the water. Together, they create holy steam. To experience some of the simcha of shamayim, we must aspire to that middle place where water and fire coexist, each maintaining its power without raging out of control into damaging floods or destructive infernos.
Personal Comments
There’s something ancient and evocative about a campfire at night under the open sky. We stare into the ever-changing flames, hearing their crackle and hiss, feeling their warmth, smelling the rich wood smoke as it rises up. Enhanced by the fire’s magic, stories and songs and laughter naturally come forth. It becomes easy to imagine our ancestors, sharing their own stories and songs and laughter around similar fires, for hundreds and thousands of years.
There’s something ancient and evocative about the letter Shin, also. It, too, sparks ma’asiya, “story”; and shir, “song”; and s’hok, “laughter.” Like fire, it, too, is primordial and powerful. As I gaze at its shape on the page, imagining it as black fire on white fire, Shin fills me with a sense of awesome mystery. In the world of change, Shin reminds me of the power of Shaddai, Enough, the power of things as they are.
Summary for Shin
Numerical value: |
300 |
Meanings: |
Fire. Shalom, peace, wholeness. Shaddai, enoughness. Change. Simcha, joy. |
Application: |
Experience shalom even in the midst of change. |
|
Practice feeling satisfied, filled with “enough.” |
|
Cultivate joy. |
Shadow: |
Consuming or being consumed by flames of anger, lust, jealousy, etc. |
Reflection: |
How might I increase the amount of joy I experience in my life? |
Suggested action: |
Practice simcha by maintaining a half-smile on your face at various times during the day. Observe how this half-smile makes you feel and how it affects your interactions with others. |