DOT... LETTER... WORD...
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  • Home
  • New Poems, Stories, Songs
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  • Poetry
    • Youth Poems
    • Two Poems about Brooklyn
    • Tefillin
    • Little Psalms
    • The Absence of Stone
    • Some Other Poems
    • Some Other, Other Poems
  • Music
  • Rav Kook
  • Jewish, Spiritual & Beautiful
  • About Myself
  • Contact
  • What Does "Dot-Letter-Word" Mean?
  • Sefirot Sample
  DOT... LETTER... WORD...
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What Does "Dot-Letter-Word" mean?

First there is a dot, beyond words, beyond sounds, beyond thoughts, beyond ideas...
Then it coalesces, it descends into the mind, it begins to appear, it crystallizes, it gains identity, it is a crystal, a hard entity, a letter.
Then it expands, it unfurls, it explains itself, it speaks, it reveals a thought, it stands open to scrutiny, a word.

From a Hasidic Teaching:

            Holy passions that were shattered and fell are repaired by a constricted light. That constricted light is a black dot.
            They shattered because there was too much light, which overwhelmed a person so that his holy passions were directed into fallen, unholy channels….
            There is a sign, a letter, the foundation. It is the light that repairs the shattered vessels….
            The light of the black dot … shines when it is illuminated by the light of the mind. Then the dot shines. Those are words: “My mouth will speak wisdom.” And then light shines onto the heart.
     Likutei Halachot: Orach Chaim, Hilchot Tefillin 2

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