Sometime I muse that all the teachings of the Kabbalah are really nothing more than everything the Hebrew language contains inherently. This teaching about creation with words is a good example.

In English (and other languages), you have objects, material, physical, things, stuff. How do you say any of that in Biblical Hebrew? You don't. No word matches the meaning of any of those. When Jews wanted to translate the words of foreign philosophers into Hebrew, they had to abduct words meant for desires, clay and rain and twist their arms into becoming code words for Greek concepts.

In Hebrew, there is only the word. Davar (that's how you say word in Hebrew). Whatever exists is a word. If there's more than one, they are dvarim. The tree is a word, the earth is a word, the heavens are a word and you and I are words, too. So is running, eating, speaking and even being. Nothing is a thing, everything is a word.

Makes sense. After all, G_d said "Be light!" and light came into being. So what is light? Nothing more than G_d saying that light should be. And the same with every other creation: They are all words, Divine words. Not static things that are just here because they are here, but articulations of G_d speaking, telling a story about a world that exists only because He is telling a story about it

What is a word? It is a thought in crystal form. A person perceives the world a certain way, feels about it accordingly and articulates that in his thoughts. Then when he wants to communicate those thoughts to those outside of him, he condenses them into a stream of spoken droplets, or frozen crystals upon a page.

So, too, when the Great Isifier desires to create a world that would seem outside of Himself, He condenses His thoughts of this world into tight packets of creative energy, combining and mixing them to generate all that is.

(Hey, it's not much different than what's happening on this computer right now. Think about it: Everything you see and hear on this machine is generated by combinations of words in the programmer's code.)

Kabbalists know that the 22 letters of the Hebrew Alphabet are hard-wired to those 22 articulations of energy that are sustaining the universe. They master ways to manipulate those letters in order to heal fractures and fissures in the cosmic whole. It's dangerous stuff, so these secrets are transmitted only orally. Some of it has been written down, but their true meaning can only be understood by someone who has received the tradition from a teacher.

Nevertheless, any child--or even an adult--that learns to read the Hebrew letters, and says the words of our Torah out loud with joy and with love, that child also brings light and healing into the universe. The same with our prayers, which were arranged by prophets and sages according to the hidden knowledge. In that way, everyone can be a Kabbalist, and the whole world can be healed.

Hold on. It will take us a while, but we're planning to bring you the whole set of 22 letters in episodes coming up.