more on the vav and its importance

 the vav, the sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet

The author of the article below is rabbi Joel David Bakst. “He is the 8th generation of Rabbi Avraham Ragoler of Skhlov, the brother of Rabbi Eliyahu, the famed Gaon of Vilna, whose unique teachings and School of Kabbalah, have been a focus of,” his studies.  For readers who don’t know, the Gaon (genius) of Vilna is one of the most influential post-Middle Age rabbis and many, such as Benjamin Netanyahu, claim close connections to him as if he were a magic talisman.  Bakst believes as Eliyahu did that, “There can never be a contradiction between the esoteric (sod) and the exoteric (pshat)” and wants to spread this message to the Bnai Noach or noahides.

As you can see, this rabbi is alchemically processing ignorant Christians into the Noahide mindset.  Francis knows the (so-called) ‘power’ of the vav and not only has he employed it in his reform of Catholic education but also in his restructuring of the Novus Ordo’s hierarchy.  Most famously he demonstrated this knowledge publicly to Kabbalists at Yad Vashem. For those reading this blog post who downplay the significance of the vav, the former member of the FSSPX, Bp. Richard Williamson once again recently recommended to Catholics the Poem of The Man-God by Maria Valtorta.  This work of five volumes was placed on the Index of Forbidden Books in 1949 and again condemned in 1959.  However, that doesn’t stop Williamson from recommending it for nightly family reading time because all can benefit from it. Williamson was so impressed by Poem of Man God he said the following to Fr. Robinson at the SSPX seminary,

“One other thing Fr. Williamson said as rector of the seminary for twenty years now still in Argentina he said, ‘I would not hesitate to ordain whoever enjoys reading these books. Why? Because it a corrective, a complete seminary course apart from Canon Law and Church history.  This is a complete seminary course.  People who are non-Catholic who read it become Catholic.’ ”

source: Fr. Robinson on Maria Valtorta, at 24 min 17 seconds

So what does this have to do with the vav?  Glad you asked.  The Poem of The Man-God has a Talmudic/Kabbalistic philosophy running throughout it!  People are being served this wretched Kabbalistic dish and being told, whether from the left (liberals) or the right (conservatives), that this is Catholicism and it is good for you all the while it is poison for the soul.  The symbology of the vav even permeates the so-called secular world unbeknownst to many. 

 3 vavs = 666

One last thing to keep in mind as you read below, is that Francis puts the ‘heart’ at the center of his three languages and it is the cornerstone of the pedagogical revolution of Catholic education being carried out by Scholas Occurentes.  Francis like rabbi Bakst shares an affinity for Bnai Noach Noahides and twisting the message of Jesus the Christ.

Journey To the Center of the Torah:

The Secret In the Serpent’s Belly
by Rabbi Joel David Bakst

In Kabbalah it is fundamental that the written Torah -- the Five Books of Moses – is the cosmic key of creation. This is much more than a metaphor. Rather, along with the metaphoric and philosophical meanings the Torah first and foremost functions as a cosmic code to reality. Every letter, from the first bet of Genesis to the final lamed of Deuteronomy, forms one long formula that spells out the genetic-like code for all phenomena this side of the Ain Sof. These formulas are also known as the divine Names of God. Just as we, however, wear clothing when we are in public, so does the Torah. The royal “garments” of the Torah is what is known to the world as the “Bible” with its narrative containing “stories” and laws. These diverse strands of the Torah stretch across the expanse of the space-time manifold and weave a fabric that encases Her. However, the supernal body of the Torah in her bare essence – also known as the Primordial Torah --, remains hidden beneath these many textured layers of a multitude of dimensional fabrics.

There are, however, some areas in the fabric of the Torah where Her hidden light actually protrudes outward from beneath the covers. Although we are still viewing Her from the outside we can get a conceptual glimpse of what lies within waiting to be fully revealed. It is obvious that the Torah has a beginning and an end. The first letter of the Torah is the large bet of Beraisheet (“In theBeginning…”). The last letter is the lamed of the word “Yisrael” (“…in the eyes of all Israel)[1][1]. It has long been observed that these two letters – the lamed and the bet – when read backwards from left to right spell the word lev – a heart. Historically, the Torah is unquestionably at the heart of Jewish existence. Traditionally and kabbalistically, the Torah is the heart of Jewish existence.

Now, have you ever thought that the Torah must also have a middle? The sages have an ancient tradition[2][2] that when you count up all the letters of the Five Books of Moses there is one letter that resides in the middle of all the letters. What could possibly be the letter in the middle -- in the heart of the “heart” of the Torah? What will we find when we journey to the center of the Torah?

Imagine you are looking out into the black abyss of deep space laminated with endless white lights. You are gazing at a billion brilliant galaxies each with a billion stars aflame all being projected upon the celestial canvas of the universe. Now, take that image and imagine instead that you are traveling through the letter/numeral sequencing of the primordial Torah. In the words of the Kabbalah this is the divine white light penetrating the primordial black light -- “black fire upon white fire” – God’s cosmic ink inscribed upon celestial white parchment. These fiery lights are the internal genetic code of space and time, past and future –– and you are about to land in the center of the spiritual universe, right in the middle of the heart of the Torah. And behold, where we have set down is in one of the last places one would think -- yet as we have come to expect.

The middle letter of the Torah has landed us in the book of VaYikra – Leviticus -- in the middle of the halachic laws of kosher animals! Yet, even stranger is the specific subject matter in which this middle letter is found. In the beginning of chapter 11 of the section of Shemini, it is written, “HaShem spoke to Moshe and to Aaron, saying to them. Speak to the Children of Israel, saying: These are the creatures that you may eat from among all the animals that are upon the earth. Everything among the animals that has a split hoof… that one you may eat of.” Forty one verses later it is stated, “Every swarming creature that swarms upon the ground – it is a [spiritual] abhorrence, it shall not be eaten. Then in verse 42[3][3] we come to, “Everything that crawls on its belly… you may not eat them for they are a [spiritual] abhorrence”. The word in Hebrew for “belly” is gachon – spelledgimal, chet, vav, and nun. “Everything that crawls on its belly” is referring to a snake. It is this vav of gachon that is the middle letter of the Torah. We have journeyed to the center of the world and landed in the belly of a serpent!

The strangeness is not over yet. If you look into the Sefer Torah, the actual scroll of the Torah written by a scribe, you will see that this middle vav stands out from all the other letters and words because it is written larger than the other letters. Its elongated form is not due to a scribal embellishment. Rather, the Torah scroll must have this elongated vav in order for it to be halachically kosher to read from in the synagogue. This elongated vav is a “macro” vav as opposed to the usual “micro” vav. . It is an intrinsic component in the Torah’s cosmic blueprint. On the deepest level, this “belly” is not just any snake, but as we will see this macro, elongated snake-like vav is emanating from the Primordial Holy Serpent, the source of the highest good!

We have reached the signpost that indicates that we are in the middle of the Torah. Now, let’s take a peak over the edge but be sure to hold onto the railing. We are going to be looking down into the hidden parts of the Torah as if we were to peer over the edge into the sheer drop of the multi-layered strata of the Grand Canyon. For those who have gazed into the Grand Canyon you know that what little the eye can grasp is beyond words and beyond pictures. For those who gaze down into the vortex of the Torah what little that can be understood is also beyond words and certainly beyond pictures. Even then, what you are about to glimpse is nothing more that a black and white photocopy of one of most hidden, yet most extensive and far reaching secrets throughout the entire Torah: The secret of the macro vav in the belly of the Torah.

According to the rabbis there is an aspect of the serpent – the elongated vav -- that also signifies supernal truth and hidden knowledge. A little of the mystery of the macro vav is revealed in the Zohar’s Book of Concealment[4][4]:

The Holy [macro] Serpent is the fountainhead, root and essence for all of God’s sacred, revelatory Light from which emanates all dimensions of reality. This is the ray of Light of the Ain Sof that extends into the Ztimztum. This ray of light is what becomes the “supernal pathways of the image of the elongating [macro] Serpent who stretches out on both sides with its tail [united] in its head, its head “returning upon its shoulders”.[5][5]

The kabbalists explain: This [serpent] is the sod of the Cosmic Balance, the Supernal Da’at (the middle brain of the Godhead). This is Leviathan, [which splits into its two aspects of] the straight serpent and the curved serpent. Its root is from the penetrating and surrounding Light of the Ain Sof. The aspect of the straight serpent that stands in the “middle” is the letter vav in the word gachon (belly) which is in the middle of all the letters of the Torah. And because it is the central axis that extends from end to end [of reality], therefore the vav of “belly” is an elongated macro vav.

Now, from this supernal da’at emanates the entirety of the Torah. From here also is the source of Moshe’s soul. Therefore Moshe is also called by the appellation of Leviathan the “straight” serpent as it is written in the Zohar. And it is this Supernal Da’at that is the source of the Concealed Light through which one can see from one end of the universe to the other. It is this radiance that [emanates as] the secrets of the Torah. Moshe our Teacher, who emanates from the macro vav of the “belly” – leviathan the straight serpent, the Supernal Da’at – drew upon this Concealed Light throughout his entire life.[6][6]

The full explanation and ramifications of these concepts require years of study as well as developing a very intimate and sacred relationship with the Torah. We can, however, point out an observation or two for the reader who is capable of “understanding from the source of his own knowledge” (“maveen m’da’ato”).

There exists two types or modes of the letter vav that signify two different aspects of the snake/serpent. The micro vav signifies the serpent as it is generally known in the world, especially in the Western culture and in the “Judeo-Christian” tradition. Relative to the elongated vav the smaller version reflects its spiritual “smallness” and present state of constriction. The macro snake/serpent, however, signifies the same serpentine energy but in its fully-grown and spiritually maturated state. The Jewish concept of the spiritually maturated Holy Serpent and its corollaries actually precedes that of the evil snake and its associations as we have generally come to know it in the world since the “fall” from Gan Eden.

What makes this arcane subject confusing is that there appears to be many different names for this one entity. Additionally, the quality and character of these different manifestations often appear to contradict each other. However, the enigma of the serpent becomes more understandable and accessible when we realize that the macro vav and the micro vav, both with their numerous manifestations and symbolisms, are not separate phenomena. Rather, they are all different aspects of a single continuum. The Primordial serpent, the snake of Gan Eden, the Leviathan, the penetrating Ray of Light emanating from the Ain Sof, and the Supernal Da’at of the Godhead are different dimensions of a virtually endless spectrum of the Divine Consciousness, all in different phases of growth and maturation, purification or contamination. The higher states are all represented by the sacred macro vav hidden inside of the belly of the worldly and profane serpent. In messianic times and beyond it will be redeemed and revealed in all of its glory and awesomeness.

In ancient Hebrew the letter vav was not pronounced with a “v” sound as it is today. This is essentially a Ashkenazic Jewish tradition that most likely was a cultural influence from the Germanic languages the Jews were exposed to as they began migrating to Eastern Europe over a thousand years ago. It is generally agreed that the original sound of the vav was a “w” and not a “v”. Until the recent influence of revitalized Modern Hebrew this is how Hebrew pronunciation was taught in Oxford University and in Christian seminaries around the world (along with the “th” sound for the letter tav instead of the now accepted “t” sound, e.g. Shabbat instead of Shabbath or Sabbath). In fact, there are Sephardic Jews today who continue to pronounce the vav with the sound of a “w”. Virtually all Yemenite Jews still pronounce the vav as a “w”.

Now, here is one of those enigmatic Torah synchronicities that, in spite of it bordering on the incredulous, it is indeed a fact. When you spell out the name of the letter vav in Hebrew it is written vav-vav (or vav-aleph-vav), pronounced “vav” – the name of the letter. When you spell out the letter in its original form it is written “wou -wou” (or wou-aleph-wou) and pronounced “wow”. The original pronunciation of the letter “vav” is “wow”. Aleph, beth, gimel, daleth, heh, wow … . What will we find in the middle of the Torah? Where will we be when we journey to the center of the universe? What lies hidden in the belly of the serpent? These are questions that we can investigate for a lifetime even when explanations of the macro serpent appear at hand because the descriptions and ramifications are so awesome and mind-boggling that all we can begin to say is “Wow”!


[1][1] Much has been written concerning the large bet as well as the combined numerical value of these two letter/numbers -– 32, which is well known as the 32 Paths of Wisdom and the 32 times the divine name E-lohim is mentioned in the first chapter of Genesis.
[2][2] Talmud tractate Kiddushin 30b
[3][3] The value and concept of the numbers 11 and 42 are both well known in the Kabbalah for their distinctive properties.
[4][4] Sifra DiZtenuta Chapter 1
[5][5] The image described here is that of a uroburos: the motif of a serpent swallowing its tail that is found in various cultures around the world. The Jewish uroburos, however, is unique in that is a serpent whose straight body splits into two tails with one curving around to the right and the other curving around to the left in order for both to connect with its head. Here, this sacred archetype is revealing the paradox of the "dual unity" that lies buried in the soul of the Jewish people and teachings of the Torah. Herein lies the mysteries of the masculine and feminine energies, the "straight light" and the "curved light" of God’s Divinity, the two leviathans & the split Messiah: Mashiach ben Yoseph and Mashiach ben David. This unique "split uroburos" is essentially only discussed in the Kabbalah school of the Gaon of Vilna.
[6][6] Leshem Shevo VeAchlama Sefer Dayah p.179

Related:

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• the magic #6 at Yad Vashem or the ravings of a madman