Every week this year, Wonders Magazine has been hosting a special article from our guest editor, Rabbi Arieh Trugman, who is one of HaRav Ginsburgh’s most longstanding and dedicated students. Rabbi Trugman is the author of dozens of books mostly based on the teachings of HaRav Ginsburgh.
Thanks to his lucid and easy style, his articles have helped many around the world better understand the depth of Kabbalah and Chasidut as taught by HaRav Ginsburgh.
In preparing the Jewish people to receive the Torah at Mount Sinai, God instructed Moses to relay the following message to the people:
You have seen what I did to Egypt, and that I have borne you on the wings of eagles and brought you to Me. And now, if you hearken well to Me and observe My covenant, you shall be to Me the most beloved treasure of all peoples [Am Segulah], for Mine is the entire world. You shall be to Me a kingdom of ministers and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Children of Israel.[1]
The Hebrew word the Torah uses for “treasure,” segulah (סְגֻלָּה), also means “a special property.” This word is also used as the name of one of the Torah’s cantillation marks—the symbols used to instruct the reader on how to sing the Torah’s text—the segolta (סֶגוֹלְתָּא), which looks like three dots arranged in a triangle and placed above a word. It is also used as the name of one of the vowel marks, known as the segol[2] (סֶגוֹל), which is the 60-degree rotated version of the segolta and looks like this ∵ and is placed under a word. Since both symbols are based on three dots, there is a good foundation to state that the word for “treasure,” segulah, is also related to the number three. In this article, we will focus on the connection between the Jewish people’s designation as God’s beloved treasure, the number three, the triangular form, the Torah, which is known as a tripartite Torah, and its giving on Mt. Sinai on the third month of the year, Sivan.
The Segol the Patriarchs
Kabbalah teaches that the segol’s three dots refer to the three emotive sefirot: the upper right-hand dot represents loving-kindness (chesed), the upper left-hand dot represents might (gevurah), and the bottom dot represents the unifying property of the sefirah of beauty (tiferet).[3] Thus, this vowel symbolizes the ultimate harmony and balance in creation. Each of these sefirot is in turn associated with one of the three Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, respectively.[4] The archetypal souls of the Jewish people’s founding fathers are the source of the nation’s later division into three: Kohanim (Priests), Levi’im (Levites), and Yisraelim (Israelites).[5]
Incorporating what we have just discussed, Israel’s designation as God’s “special treasure” can now be understood on a much deeper level, especially given the fact that God calls Israel an, “Am segulah” (a treasured people) another three times in Deuteronomy.[6] Israel thus possesses the balance, harmony, and strength of the number three, through its connection to the Torah.[7]
The Talmud characterizes the Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai in the following manner: “Blessed is the Merciful One Who gave our Torah, which is divided into three divisions [Torah, Prophets, Writings], to a people divided into three divisions [Kohen, Levi, Yisrael], through a third [child; Moses, born to his mother Yocheved, after Miriam and Aaron], on the third day [of abstinence] during the third month [of the year].”[8] This Talmudic statement further strengthens the association between God’s treasured Jewish people, the Torah, and the number three.
Three Bonds are Bonded Together
King Solomon states that, “A cord braided from three strands will not quickly be broken.”[9] Applying this verse to the three Patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the sages explain why there had to be three Patriarchs and why the Jewish people had to be divided into three: “three strands will not quickly be broken.” Indeed, the rabbis interpret the verse to prophesy that the Jewish people “will never be broken.” What other nation has been able to withstand thousands of years of persecution and plots of annihilation with greater success than the Jewish people?
On an even deeper level, the triad of Israel, Torah, and God are described in the Zohar as being fundamentally linked: “Three knots are knotted together: Israel to Torah and Torah to God.”[10] This statement echoes the sentiment expressed in Ecclesiastes quoted above: “a cord braided from three strands will not quickly be broken.” Just as the Rabbis interpret the verse to mean that Israel “will never be broken,” here too they understand that Israel, Torah, and God are eternally bound together.
Rectification and Permanence
A more fundamental understanding of the number three is, “rectification” (תִּקּוּן) and “[a state of] permanence” (קִיּוּם).[11] According to the Torah’s inner dimension, these goals are symbolized and activated through the three axes of the sefirot. In Hebrew, the word meaning “permanence” or “sustainability” (קִיּוּם) has the same letters as the word “axes” (קַוִּים), and the two middle letters of the word for “rectification (תִּקּוּן) also spell “axis” (קַו), alluding to the middle axis or column of the sefirot, the one that integrates opposites, thus creating unity and harmony.
This idea is especially important in understanding the sefirot and their alignment. Initially, the sefirot were aligned in a different formation than now. Instead of aligning along three vertical axes, they formed concentric circles, like layers of an onion; the highest sefirah, the crown, was the most external sphere, while the lower sefirot were concentrically one within the other. Then, the sefirot arranged themselves in what Kabbalah refers to as axes, which is also termed “straightness.” In the World of Chaos (תֹּהוּ), which preceded our own, the sefirot aligned one below the other, or according to some, in two vertical axes, one on the right and one on the left. The Arizal explains that in our world, The World of Rectification (תִּקּוּן), the sefirot are now aligned along three axes. This alignment of the sefirot is not merely a visual representation of rectification; rather, the three axes and all that they symbolize are the driving forces motivating reality to strive to reach its ultimate purpose of rectification (tikkun).
In Avot, the association of the number three with permanence and stability is enshrined in the famous statement: “The world stands [depends] on three things: on Torah [study], on the service [of God], and on [doing] good deeds.”[12]
Three: Balance and Harmony
Sefer Yetzirah notes that in nature, balance and harmony exist among the three fundamental elements comprising the physical world: air, fire, and water. Sefer Yetzirah does not mention earth as it presumes earth to be a combination of the other three. The primary three elements correspond to the three so-called Mother letters: alef, mem, and shin. Alef is the first letter of air (אֲוִיר), mem is the first letter of “water” (מַיִם), and shin is the dominant letter in “fire” (אֵשׁ).[13] Sefer Yetzirah also divides the twenty-two Hebrew letters into three groups: three Mother letters, seven double letters (letters possessing two pronunciations, a hard and a soft), and twelve simple letters.[14] The three Mother letters have special significance because they are not only the source of the three elements—fire, air, and water—but also of the three axes of the sefirot.
Sefer Yetzirah, in fact, is replete with concepts organized in sets of three, and in many ways this structure is the thread that holds the entire text together. This is highly significant for our discussion as Sefer Yetzirah, the most ancient Kabbalistic text, has had an enduring and seminal influence on all Jewish mystical thought. The opening statement concludes, “and He created his universe with three books: with a text, with a number, and story.” In Hebrew, the words text, number, and story all share the same root as the word “book” (סֵפֶר) and along with their other meanings also allude to three different aspects of the Hebrew letters: “text” alludes to the letter’s form; “number” relates to the letter’s numerical values; and “story” hints to the letter’s names.[15] All three of these correspondences reveal deep secrets about the letters.
In addition to Sefer Yetzirah’s varied uses of the number three, perhaps its most important appearance—from a structural perspective—is when depicting the Hebrew letters manifesting in three ways: in space, time, and soul/consciousness, known in Hebrew as “world, year, and soul” (עוֹלָם שָׁנָה נֶפֶשׁ). This structure is employed throughout the book to establish multiple correspondences between the letters’ three groupings—three, seven, and twelve—and between the many connections these numbers have in space, time, and soul/consciousness.
The Merging of Dimensions at Sinai
The giving of the Decalogue at Mount Sinai was accompanied by several natural and metaphysical phenomena. The Torah describes this momentous event with these verses, “It came to pass on the third day in the morning, there was thunder and lightning and a thick cloud upon the mountain, and the sound of a shofar exceedingly loud…. And all the people saw the sounds of the thunder and the lightning and the sound of the shofar and the mountain smoking.”[16] Rashi comments that all the people were able to see that which is normally heard, something which cannot ordinarily happen.
Kabbalah explains that as God uttered the Decalogue, the people perceived the dimensions of physical and spiritual reality as one harmonious whole. Symbolically, the mystical tradition relates that all the heavens opened and were revealed at Sinai. Further stressing this unity, we are taught that at first God uttered all the words of the Decalogue simultaneously and only then repeated them word by word.[17]
In the verse mentioned above, the Hebrew word for “smoking [mountain]” (עָשַׁן), is comprised of three Hebrew letters, which form an acronym for the three dimensions of reality described by Sefer Yetzirah.[18] The letter ayin (ע) stands for the Hebrew word for “world” or “space” (olam, עוֹלָם); the letter shin (ש) represents the Hebrew word for “year” or “time” (shanah, שָׁנָה); the letter nun (נ) represents the Hebrew word for “soul” or “consciousness” (nefesh, נֶפֶשׁ), a dimension, according to the Sefer Yetzirah, as real as the other physical dimensions.
Albert Einstein was able to reveal just one hundred years ago that time can also be considered a dimension and that the three dimensions of space and one dimension of time form a unified space-time continuum. Although science has yet to deem “soul” a dimension per se, quantum physics now recognizes that consciousness is not a passive observer, but a critical determinant, of reality. This in fact is the cutting edge of physics today.
The Jewish People’s Mission
Having explored the importance of the number three and its connection to Israel’s Divine appointment, we return now to the idea of Israel being a treasured people. Israel is chosen to bring Divine light to the world, as stated by Isaiah that Israel is to be “a light to the nations.”[19] Along with this task comes an enormous amount of responsibility and the great need to accept this mission with a true sense of humility. This is alluded to when God tells Israel they are the least of the nations, which is understood not just numerically, but also in terms of the humility needed to succeed in bringing unity and peace among all peoples:
For you are a holy people to Havayah, your God; Havayah your God has chosen you to be His treasured people, out of all the peoples upon the face of the earth. Not because you are more numerous than any people did God delight in you and choose you, for you are the least of all the peoples.[20]
Therefore, the challenge of the Jewish people is to be able to integrate these teachings about the number three and its inherent meaning of rectification, harmony, and balance, and to adopt a true sense of being God’s treasured people with a real sense of responsibility and humility. Israel being a light to the nations is not for self-aggrandizement, but rather a call to dedicated service for the benefit of all mankind. Only when there will be peace, harmony, and unity across the entire globe, will the Jewish people consider their mission complete.
[1]. Exodus 19:4-6.
[2]. Zohar 3:119b; Or HaTorah, Yitro pp. 804-806.
[3]. The Hebrew Letters, p. 62.
[4]. Ibid.
[5]. Or HaTorah, Beha’alotcha, pp. 354-8..
[6]. 7:6; 14:2; 26:18.
[7]. For a host of insights regarding Israel being an “Am Segulah” see Yaiyn Yitzchak, parashat Yitro.
[8]. Shabbat 88a.
[9]. Ecclesiastes 4:12.
[10]. Zohar 3:73a.
[11]. Sod HaShem LiYerei’av, p. 82.
[12]. 1:2.
[13]. Chapters 2 and 3.
[14]. Chapters 3 through 5.
[15]. The Hebrew Letters, Introduction: Form, Name, Number.
[16]. Exodus 19:16 and 20:15.
[17]. Rashi on Exodus 20:1.
[18]. Chapters 4-5.
[19]. 49:6.
[20]. Deuteronomy 7:6-7.
