Shabbat Subject: the Yod, the smallest letter

[Lulav]

I thought I would offer us all a topic to discuss this Shabbat besides who is Messianic, what is Messianic and what does that mean?

So starting with a comment I received from a dear friend on another matter got me to thinking about this statement by Yeshua.

Matt-5:18

-------18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

-------18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

-------18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

-------18 Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yud or a stroke will pass from the Torah -- not until everything that must happen has happened.

The first two are KJV and NKJV, the third which I think explains it best is the NIV, the last, sadly the CJV. I should think that Stern would have gotten it the best but he must have been influenced by the NIV or similar and not gone all the way.

I understand this was a Hebrew idiom of the time:

"lo yod v'lo kotso shel yod"

and is interpreted as: "not a yod or a thorn of a yod", meaning "not the most insignificant or unimportant thing".

So I got to thinking, I'd seen the list of letters in the Torah before but had to go and track them down again, I was wondering if the Yod was the single most used letter in the Torah, and what do you know? it is!

[SIZE=+1]Letters in the Torah[/SIZE]

[SIZE=+2]א[/SIZE] - 27,057 Alef
[SIZE=+2][SIZE=+2]ב[/SIZE] - 16,344 Beit
[/SIZE]2,109 - [SIZE=+2]ג[/SIZE] Gimmel
7,032 - [SIZE=+2]ד[/SIZE] - Dalet
[SIZE=+2]ה[/SIZE] - 28,052 Heh
[SIZE=+2]ו[/SIZE] - 30,509 Vav
[SIZE=+2]ז -[/SIZE] 2,198 Zayin
[SIZE=+2]ח[/SIZE] - 7,187 Chet
1,802 - [FONT=&quot] ט[/FONT] Tet
31,522 - [FONT=&quot]י[/FONT] Yod

I'm not going to list the others as it took too long but the highest of the other 12 is 25,078 for the Mem.

So what does that mean? I don't know yet, I thought we could discuss it and everyone add any facts you know regarding the letter yod.

Here's a few I know to get us started.

• Yod or Yud is the 10th letter of the Hebrew alphabet
• It is the smallest
• yod dalet which are the letters that spell 'yod' are also the same for 'hand'.
• The 'pointer' used in the Synagogue for Torah readings has a small (usually silver) hand with one finger pointing on top) is called the 'yad'
• In Modern Hebrew the letters contain flourishes which must have been used in Yeshua's time as this is what he is referring to. The Yod is made up of 9 distinct parts.

Part #9 is called by various names but one is 'kotz' and means a small stick or thorn. Some believe that a Torah written with one of these missing on one yod renders it invalid.

 

[visionary]

YOD is the first letter in God’s Hebrew name YHWH.

The sacred name of God. In Hebrew "four-letter word" or symbol meaning yod-ye-vau-he (YHWH) and signifying Yahweh. It is pronounced in Hebrew as "Adomai," and written generally as JHYH with variations of JHVH or YHVH. In English it became Jehovah. Tetragrammaton

Yod looks like a hand and arm in pictograph.

The Yod (I or Y), with the form of a point and the numerical value of 10, expresses the originally undivided unity and principle of extension of all things. It signifies, therefore, the beginning, communication, and end of all things.
Verbo

The letter YOD can also be found in every letter of the Hebrew Alphabet.

The first letter is י, Yod, the Germ, the Life, the Flame, the Cause, the One, and the most fundamental of the Jewish phallic emblems. Secret Teachings of All Ages: The Tree of the Sephiroth

The Yod, shaped like a comma or a dot, represents the principle or origin of all things.

Yod. He shall obtain an ephemeris of the motions of the planets for the current time. Let him discover aspects and contacts between the locations of the planets in the sky, and the planets in his Lamen. Ceremonial Magick | Esoterism

Ketiv has an extra Yod which Hebrew scholars indicate that it means humble, meek.
Without Yod the Torah is considered invalid http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Grammar/Unit_One/Aleph-Bet/Yod/yod.html

 

[Steve Petersen]

Matthew 5:17-19 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.



Exodus Rabbah VI: 1. …When God gave the Torah to Israel, He inserted therein positive and negative commands and gave some commandments for a king, as it says: ‘Only he shall not multiply horses to himself... Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away; neither silver and gold (Deut. XVII, 16-17)’. But Solomon arose and studied the reason of God's decree, saying: ‘Why did God command, " He shall not multiply wives to himself? Is it not " That his heart turn not away "? Well, I will multiply and still my heart will not turn away. Our Sages said: At that time, the yod of the word yarbeh ['shall not'] went up on high and prostrated itself before God and said: ‘Master of the Universe! Hast thou not said that no letter shall ever be abolished from the Torah? Behold, Solomon has now arisen and abolished one. Who knows? Today he has abolished one letter, to-morrow he will abolish another until the whole Torah will be nullified? ' God replied: ' Solomon and a thousand like him will pass away, but the smallest tittle will not be erased from thee.’ …For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods (I Kings XI, 4). R. Simeon b. Yohai said: It had been better for Solomon to clean sewers than to have this verse written of him; for this reason did Solomon say of himself: ’And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness and folly’ (Eccl. II, 12). Solomon said: ‘Because I tried to be wiser than the Torah and persuaded myself that I knew the intention of the Torah, did this understanding and knowledge turn out to be madness and folly.’

 

[Lulav]

Matthew 5:17-19 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.



Exodus Rabbah VI: 1. …When God gave the Torah to Israel, He inserted therein positive and negative commands and gave some commandments for a king, as it says: ‘Only he shall not multiply horses to himself... Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away; neither silver and gold (Deut. XVII, 16-17)’. But Solomon arose and studied the reason of God's decree, saying: ‘Why did God command, " He shall not multiply wives to himself? Is it not " That his heart turn not away "? Well, I will multiply and still my heart will not turn away. Our Sages said: At that time, the yod of the word yarbeh went up on high and prostrated itself before God and said: ‘Master of the Universe! Hast thou not said that no letter shall ever be abolished from the Torah? Behold, Solomon has now arisen and abolished one. Who knows? Today he has abolished one letter, to-morrow he will abolish another until the whole Torah will be nullified? ' God replied: ' Solomon and a thousand like him will pass away, but the smallest tittle will not be erased from thee.’ …For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods (I Kings XI, 4). R. Simeon b. Yohai said: It had been better for Solomon to clean sewers than to have this verse written of him; for this reason did Solomon say of himself: ’And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness and folly’ (Eccl. II, 12). Solomon said: ‘Because I tried to be wiser than the Torah and persuaded myself that I knew the intention of the Torah, did this understanding and knowledge turn out to be madness and folly.’

 

[Lulav]

Gosh I thought our members would like a break from all the 'Messianic' topics?? Why not discuss something more important?

Well I will continue to add thoughts and hope will pique someones' interest.

The yad or yod in Ancient Hebrew is represented by a hand. Now is that a clue?

Let's look at some words that begin with this smallest letter.

The ancient symbol for yad is an open hand attached to an arm and like the Beit, the first letter of the whole Bible faces inward ( to the left) so does this ancient yod. If we think of this hand this yod as a hand it could be said it is pointing to the left to the letters following it.

I have been searching but I can't seem to find any list anywhere that contains the names of people in the bible with the scriptural reference. If anyone has one or knows where to find one, I'd appreciate it.

Now there are lists available like Hitchcocks but they do not give where the names appear in the Bible. I need names and where they can be found, or at least the first place.

 

[Hoshiyya]

Yod is not the smallest in the original paleo-hebrew though.

 

[pat34lee]

Yod is not the smallest in the original paleo-hebrew though.

I'm glad somebody else brought that up first. I had the same problem with a few teachers that make word pictures out of modern Hebrew letters.

 

[AbbaLove]

I have been searching but I can't seem to find any list anywhere that contains the names of people in the bible with the scriptural reference. If anyone has one or knows where to find one, I'd appreciate it.

Now there are lists available like Hitchcocks but they do not give where the names appear in the Bible. I need names and where they can be found, or at least the first place.

Over 4,500 subjects and proper names are defined and analyzed with corresponding Scripture references. Smith's Bible Dictionary is linked to Torrey's New Topical Textbook, Baker's Evangelical Dictionary, Easton's Bible Dictionary, Hitchcock's Bible Names, and Nave's Topical Bible. The first edition was published as a three volume set in London and Boston, in 1863.

Smiths Bible Dictionary Online
"His Bible Dictionary is still the premier work 150 years later and used by every Bible Scholar in the English speaking world!"

"William Smith was born in 1813 at Enfield England, to Nonconformist Christians. Basically these were the Puritans-Pilgrims of two-and-one-half centuries previous. They were the BIBLE Christians of England and Wales, who would not "conform", or follow the authority and customs of the Church of England, even though this was the "State Church!"
His parents were devout and Evangelical and seemed that it would lead William directly into theology at the earliest age, but his was to be a longer path."

To read the rest of his biography scroll halfway down this link …
CHRISTIPEDIAâ„¢, Sir William Smith, Author of Greatest Bible Dictionary, BRIEF BIO