The Unpronounceable
Name
Judaism, and therefore Kabbalah, rests on the belief in a singular unity called God, the Divine Source of Infinite Light, beyond description or comprehension. Even physicists, who postulate the presence of a force underlying and unifying everything in the universe, call this unity the God particle.
In Hebrew, pronunciation depends on vowels, which are lines or dots surrounding the letters in various positions. For example, the letter tet/
, which has the sound “T,” could be pronounced TEE, TAY, TOO, TAH, TEH, etc. In both modern Hebrew and the Torah the vowels are not written but can be inferred. There is one major exception. The most sacred name of God, 
, sometimes represented in English as YHVH, cannot be pronounced, even in the Torah or in prayer, because it has no vowels that we know.
Only the Kohen ha Gadol, the High Priest of the ancient temple in Jerusalem, had the honor to pronounce the Name. Once a year, during a special service on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, he would enter a chamber called the Holy of Holies. The Ark of the Covenant, containing the tablets of the Ten Commandments, was kept in this most sacred area. In the Holy of Holies the Kohen would pronounce the Name YHVH/ as it manifested in that moment. The power of the Name would bless the people for the coming year. It is said that if the High Priest, despite his intense and painstaking preparations, somehow lost his focus and mispronounced the Name, he would die on the spot. He entered the Holy of Holies with a rope tied around his waist as a precaution so that in case that remote possibility actually occurred, the other priests could pull him out and send in a replacement.
Because no one today can pronounce YHVH/
, it is sometimes referred to in English as Yahweh or Jehovah.
YHVH/ is usually referred to by kabbalists as:
- HaShem, meaning “the Name,”
- The tetragrammaton, meaning the four-letter name,
- A permutation of YHVH pronounced Havayah,
- A variation of YHVH spelled YKVK,
- Dalet, meaning four.
Although there are many names for God in Hebrew, YHVH/ is the Name of Names. It represents the Unity, the force of Oneness at the core of cores that connects everything in the universe. Although we really cannot describe this infinite power in any way there are many secrets coded in the Name. They give a glimpse into the unfathomable nature of this concept of God that will help to enrich the practices in Part 2.
God Exists Beyond Time and Space
YHVH/
is a permutation of and encompasses the Hebrew words for past, present, and future:
If you take the word
WAS
HAYAH
superimpose on it the word for the present, what
IS
HOVEH
and superimpose them on it the word for the future, what
WILL BE
YIHIYEH
the word that results is:
YHVH
YHVH is the junction of everything past, present, and future. YHVH encompasses all time and space but is beyond time and space, symbolizing the process of both being and becoming.
Vertical Representation
The name looks quite different when written vertically.
yud 
hei 
vav 
hei 
Writing the name vertically helps relate the letters to the Tree of Life. The resemblance to the shape of a person in no way implies that God has a physical body but it helps us wrap our minds around ideas that we as humans cannot possibly fathom.
The Letters Represent Four Planes of Existence
The letters of YHVH/ represent the four superimposed worlds depicted in the Tree of Life. The tip of the yud/
, extends into Keter, the primordial realm of Adam Kadmon that gave rise to the Four Worlds.
|
yud |
|
spiritual/Atzilut |
|
hei |
|
mental/Briya |
|
vav |
|
emotional/Yetzira |
|
hei |
|
physical/Assiya |
Just as the four letters of the Name are ONE, the four worlds are mystically connected to each other creating the whole of existence. According to the Ari, as explained by Rabbi Chaim Vital in Gates of Holiness, humans are the only beings in creation who exist in all four worlds simultaneously. In Genesis (1:26) is written:
And God said: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”
“In God’s likeness” refers both to the male and female essence of the primordial human being and also to the idea that humans uniquely contain all four worlds. Humans alone were created near the light of the ten sefirot of the Tree to be able to access and cleave to the light and draw it down into the lower worlds. The worlds need the actions of humans to draw heaven to earth.
The Letters Represent the Partzufim
The letters of YHVH/
represent the faces, or personas that are often used to explain relationships between the sefirot within the Tree. You may recall that these “faces” are called Partzufim.
They are:
Crown of the yud/ (great) grandfather/Arik Anpin and Atik Yomin
Keter, the sefira that crowns the top of the Tree, corresponds to the apex of the yud/ in YHVH. This tip is also called a crown, the crown of the yud. The crown of the yud, as the closest point to divine light, receives the spark of inspiration for everything we choose to manifest and create in our lives.
Yud/ Father (Abba, composed of Chochma)
Abba receives the spark of inspiration from Keter in the form of the body of the yud/ in YHVH. In Abba, all thoughts and actions exist only in potential. In order for the potential to become manifest, the spark is carried to the left brain, Ema, the sefira of Bina.
Hei/
Mother (Ema, composed of Bina)
Ema and Abba are always together.
The Yud/ and Hei/, Abba and Ema together form a Name of God, written YAH/
Vav/
the son/man (Ze’er Anpin or Z”A, the next six sefirot)
Z”A represents the Kadosh Baruch Hu (K”BH)
Hei/ the daughter/woman (Nukva, composed of Malchut)
represents the Shechina/partner of the K”BH
Summary
|
letter |
partzuf/sefira |
universe |
|
apex of |
Arik Anpin/Atik Yomin |
Adam Kadmon |
|
|
Abba/Chochma |
Atzilut |
|
|
Ema/Binah |
Briya |
|
|
Ze’er Anpin (Z”A): |
Yetzira |
|
|
Nukva (NOK): |
Assiya |
The Letters Symbolize the Balance of Heaven and Earth
YHVH/
represents the balance between
Heaven: YH/ 
the divine masculine, also called K”BH Kadosh Baruch Hu, the transcendent God, the Creator and the potential of creation
and
Earth: VH/
the divine feminine or Shechina, the manifestation of creation, the Indwelling God-presence in us and every other aspect of the creation.38 Lecha dodi (meaning “come, my beloved”) is a mystical prayer sung on Friday evenings to welcome the return of the Sabbath/Shechina as the bride of the K”BH (see chapter 28: The Sabbath). The refrain, reflecting the seventh day, has seven words. The seven words are divided into two parts. The first part has fifteen letters. Fifteen is the gematria of /YH. The second part has eleven letters. Eleven is the gematria of /VH. Together they add to twenty-six, the gematria of YHVH.
It is interesting to note that the letter vav/, representing manifestation, even looks like an extension of the potential of yud/.
The Letters Symbolize the Different Levels of the Soul
Each letter of the tetragrammaton represents a different level in the anatomy of the soul.39 For the purpose of this book, the levels will be referred to collectively as the Neshama 
.
A Problem Solved
The inability to pronounce the Name aloud poses a problem, as YHVH/ 
appears constantly in both the Torah and in Jewish prayer. The solution is that, whenever the Name YHVH/ is written, it is pronounced as a different word entirely, Adonai, meaning “my Lord” or “Master.” Speech is a physical phenomenon. Because speaking 
the name Adonai is a physical phenomenon, saying Adonai/
instead of YHVH/ is considered part of the physical world, the realm of the divine feminine, the Shechina. In this context, the unpronounceable name YHVH/ symbolizes the transcendent God/the Kadosh Baruch Hu (K”BH), while Adonai/ symbolizes the God within the physical universe, the Shechina, the divine presence. Every time Adonai/ is pronounced when YHVH appears creates a union of divine masculine and /feminine. In Sephardic prayer books the two Names, YHVH/ and Adonai/ ,
are often written as one word.40 The final H/ of YHVH/, which symbolizes the physical world (assiya) expands and shelters the letters of Adonai.
Image 8—The Combined Name
The Names YHVH/ and Adonai/, representing divine masculine/
and feminine/, combine in another beautiful name for this union, 
.
Both the first letter of YHVH/ and the last letter of Adonai/ are yuds/
. Together they create the Name
YY/
often found in traditional prayers and blessings.
YY is also pronounced Adonai.
Returning to the Aleph
With this new information let’s reexamine the letter aleph/
, ONE, and see how it reflects the beautiful symbolism of the name YY/. Recall that the deconstructed aleph/
can be thought of as:
yud
vav 
yud
According to the Zohar, the yud/ above the vav/ (diagonal line) symbolizes YHVH/, Heaven/K”BH/Oneness.
The yud/ below the vav represents Adonai/, Earth/Shechina/the multiplicity of Creation.
Vav/ is the word “and,” so
The Aleph (ONE) can now be interpreted as follows:
Yud/, K”BH, the divine masculine/Heaven
and
Yud/, Shechina, the divine feminine/Earth
are ONE.
Aleph holds masculine and feminine, heaven and earth, the relationship of Oneness and all possibility of diversity in balance.
Aleph is like a yin/yang symbol. Yin is dark, feminine. Yang is light, masculine. The ancient Tao symbol for this union of opposites also shows that both equal halves are essential to create the whole.
The Gematria of YHVH/
Adding together the values of the letters:
|
10 |
Yud |
|
|
5 |
Hei |
|
|
6 |
Vav |
|
|
5 |
Hei |
|
|
26 |
We know, from the symbolic deconstruction of Aleph/1 that:
= 26 = 1
In Aleph, 26 = 1
א = 26 = 1
gematria of YHVH = 26
26 = 1
YHVH is ONE
These relationships have exquisite ramifications, soon to be revealed.
38 A beautiful example of the union of YH and VH is hidden in the refrain of Lecha Dodi.
39 Information on the anatomy of the soul can be found at http://www.chabad.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380651/jewish/Levels-of-Soul-Consciousness.htm.
40 The Sephardic branch of Judaism is descended from the Jews of Spain who were expelled in the Inquisition of 1492. The other main branch of Judaism, the Ashkenazik, originated in Eastern Europe.