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Zayin, the crowned letter

The twenty-two letters · article 8 of 23

Value seven. Moses found G-d binding crowns to the letters, and Zayin is among those that carry three.

Zayin is the seventh letter and has the value seven. Sefer Yetzirah places it among the letters of the teeth, with Samekh, Shin, Resh and Tzadi. In Torah scrolls, it is one of the seven letters the Talmud names Sha'atnez Getz, Shin, Ayin, Tet, Nun, Zayin, Gimel and Tzadi, which each carry three small crowns. The Talmud calls these crowns ziyunin; one may bring this word close to the name of the letter, though the text does not say so.

In Sefer Yetzirah, Zayin is one of the twelve simples. G-d "made the letter Zayin reign and bound a crown to it," and through it formed Te'omim, the Twins, in the world, the month of Sivan in the year and the right foot in the body. The book arranges the twelve simples on the twelve diagonal borders of space, which extend without end and are "the arms of the world."

In tractate Shabbat, after "Heh Vav, this is the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He," the children read the following letters in one stretch: "Zayin Chet Tet Yod Kaf: if you do so," that is, if you do good to the poor, "the Holy One, blessed be He, feeds you." Zayin gives zan, to feed. The first reward of the one who gives is to be fed himself.

Tractate Menachot relates, in the name of Rav, that when Moses went up on high, he found the Holy One, blessed be He, sitting and binding crowns to the letters. He asked: "Master of the world, who holds back Your hand?" G-d answered that a man would come after many generations, Akiva son of Yosef, who would derive from every stroke heaps of laws. Moses sat at the end of eight rows in Rabbi Akiva's class and did not understand what was being said; his strength failed. When a student asked Rabbi Akiva where he had a certain law from, he answered: "It is a law given to Moses at Sinai," and Moses' mind was set at ease. Finally, the Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva says of Zayin: it is the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, who feeds, zan, all His creatures every day, from the horns of the wild oxen to the eggs of lice.

Seven, the crown and the bread. In the scroll, Zayin carries three crowns from which, says the Talmud, heaps of laws will be derived; for the children of Shabbat 104a, it announces that G-d feeds the one who gives; in Sefer Yetzirah, it forms the month of Sivan. A small letter, which the tradition crowns and from which it expects much.

Source text

בשעה שעלה משה למרום מצאו להקב"ה שיושב וקושר כתרים לאותיות

At the time when Moses went up on high, he found the Holy One, blessed be He, sitting and binding crowns to the letters.

Menachot 29b:3-6, Wikisource Talmud Bavli, CC-BY-SA.

Key terms

HebrewTransliterationMeaning
זzayinseven; read zan, He feeds
זיוניןzioninsmall crowns of the letters
שעטנ"ז ג"ץchaatnez guetsthe seven letters with three crowns
זןzanHe feeds

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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