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Tet, the letter of good

The twenty-two letters · article 10 of 23

Value nine. The first Tet in the Torah is that of "it is good." Seeing a Tet in a dream is a good sign.

Tet is the ninth letter and has the value nine. Sefer Yetzirah places it among the letters of the tongue, with Dalet, Lamed, Nun and Tav. In Torah scrolls, it is one of the seven Sha'atnez Getz letters that carry three small crowns. The Talmud observes that it does not appear even once in the Torah before the word tov, "good," in the fourth verse of Genesis.

In Sefer Yetzirah, Tet is one of the twelve simples. G-d "made the letter Tet reign and bound a crown to it," and through it formed Aryeh, the Lion, in the world, the month of Av in the year and the right kidney in the body. The book also lists the twelve foundations of the simples: sight, hearing, smell, speech, taste, union, action, walking, anger, laughter, thought and sleep.

In tractate Shabbat, the children's sentence goes on: "if you do so, the Holy One, blessed be He, feeds you, is gracious to you and does good to you." Tet gives metiv, to do good. The one who does good to the poor receives, letter after letter, good in return.

Tractate Bava Kamma reports the teaching of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi: "One who sees a Tet in a dream, it is a good sign for him." The Talmud discusses: if it is because tov begins with Tet, many verses of misfortune also begin with Tet, such as "I will sweep it with the broom of destruction," or "her gates have sunk into the ground." It concludes: Tet is a good sign "because Scripture opened with it first for good." From "in the beginning" until "G-d saw that the light was good," no Tet is written. The Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva reads Tet as tit, the clay in G-d's hand, "as clay in the hand of the potter": the whole world was drawn from it, and everything returns to it.

Nine, good first. The Talmud does not say that the letter is good by nature, since it also opens words of ruin; it looks at the first time the Torah uses it, and that first time is the light declared good. Sefer Yetzirah associates it with the month of Av; the children of Shabbat 104a, with the good G-d does to the one who gives. A first occurrence, in the Torah, sets the meaning of a letter.

Source text

א"ר יהושע הרואה טי"ת בחלומו סימן יפה לו מ"ט אילימא משום דכתיב טוב אימא (ישעיהו יד, כג) וטאטאתיה במטאטי השמד חד טי"ת קאמרינן

Rabbi Yehoshua said: one who sees a Tet in a dream, it is a good sign for him. Why? If it is because tov, good, is written, one could also say: I will sweep it with the broom of destruction. We are speaking of a single Tet.

Bava Kamma 55a:4-6, Wikisource Talmud Bavli, CC-BY-SA.

Key terms

HebrewTransliterationMeaning
טtetnine; first letter of tov, good
טובtovgood
מטיבmetivHe does good
אבAvthe month Sefer Yetzirah associates with it

Sources

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In the same section

The letters, stones of creationThree mothers, seven doubles, twelve simples. For Sefer Yetzirah, G-d formed the world by engraving and combining twenty-two letters.Alef, the first letterValue one, a breath. Alef complained that it did not open creation; G-d reserved for it the first word at Sinai.Bet, the houseValue two, the letter that opens the Torah. Closed on three sides, open to the front: a house, and a blessing.Gimel, the one who givesValue three. The foot of Gimel stretches toward Dalet, for the one who does good runs after the poor.Dalet, the poor oneValue four. Dalet makes itself available to Gimel, but turns its face away, so that the gift is given in secret.Heh, the open doorValue five. This world was created through Heh: open below for whoever wants to leave, with an opening above for whoever returns.Vav, the hook and six directionsValue six. A straight line that joins, the hook of the Tabernacle pillars, and the seal of the six directions of the world.Zayin, the crowned letterValue seven. Moses found G-d binding crowns to the letters, and Zayin is among those that carry three.Chet, life at the summitValue eight. Scribes draw a hump on the roof of Chet: He lives, at the height of the world.Tet, the letter of goodValue nine. The first Tet in the Torah is that of "it is good." Seeing a Tet in a dream is a good sign.Yod, the smallest letterValue ten. The world to come was created through Yod, for the righteous there are few, and their heads are bowed.Kaf, the palm and the crownValue twenty. Kaf is the palm and the pan of the scale; the children of the house of study read in it the crown promised in the world to come.Lamed, the heart that learnsThirty, the letter of Tishrei in Sefer Yetzirah. Rabbi Akiva reads its name as a heart that understands knowledge.Mem, water and the hidden wordForty, mother of water in Sefer Yetzirah. Open in the middle of a word, closed at the end: a revealed word, a hidden word.Nun, the faithful one bent, then uprightFifty. Bent in the middle of a word, straight at the end: the humble faithful one and the upright one. For Rabbi Akiva, the lamp of the soul.Samekh, support for those who fallSixty, a closed letter that stood by a miracle in the tablets. The children of the study hall read in it: support the poor.Ayin, the eye of the TorahSeventy, a letter of the throat. The children read in it the poor; Rabbi Akiva, the eye of the Torah, light of every light.Peh, the open and closed mouthEighty, bent in the middle of a word, straight at the end. The children of the study hall read in it: open mouth, closed mouth.Tzadi, the righteous one bent, then uprightNinety. The Talmud adds the bending of the righteous to that of the faithful: hence the Torah was given with bowed head.Kuf, holiness that waitsOne hundred. The Talmud reads in it the Holy One who turns His face from the wicked, yet turns His crown toward him and leaves him an open door.Reish, the head and the fallTwo hundred. Head of all things for Rabbi Akiva, the wicked for the children of the study hall: the same letter carries the beginning and the fall.Shin, the fire with three branchesThree hundred, mother of fire in Sefer Yetzirah. It opens the name Shaddai, but also the word sheker, and falsehood has no feet.Tav, the mark of truthFour hundred, the last letter. For the children of the study hall, truth on wide bases; for Rabbi Akiva, the first to come forward.

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