'Lamed' is for Lisa

An idea has been brewing in my mind for a while and I recently had some time to create it. I wanted to combine my love for papercutting with some Hebrew. I decided to cut out initials and started with the letter Lamed, the twelfth letter of the Hebrew alphabet (pronounced Lah-med). The letter has the sound of "l" as in "Lisa". It seemed like a good place to begin.

Lamed in gematria (a mystical tradition that assigns a numerological value to Hebrew letters) represents the number 30. As an abbreviation, it can stand for litre. Also, a sign on a car with a Lamed on it means that the driver is a student of driving (the Lamed stands for lomed, learner). When the Lamed is the first letter of the word it can be a prefix, indicating several different meanings: the infinitive "to," or toward or belonging to.

Finally, the Lamed is the tallest letter in the Hebrew Alphabet. The letter can look quite different in cursive Hebrew, Rashi script or with a serif. I drew a sans-serif letter and filled it with flowers, leaves  and one of my signature little birds.
My letters will be available unframed. They measure 12x17cm and fit perfectly into the mount of an IKEA 18x24cm RIBBA frame. Do let me know which initial you would like me to make next.

* This post has been shared on Amaze Me Monday, Inspiration Monday, Busy Monday, Monday Morning Blog Club, The Good. The Random. The Fun., Make it Pretty Monday, Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) and The Creative Circle.

The Tallest Letter

A Facebook group, Israeli shops to purchase from, was set up back in October, in the aftermath of the outbreak of war in Israel. It currently has 57.9K members worldwide who are keen to buy handmade items, jewellery, home decor, Judaica and more from Israeli sellers, many of whom are struggling to make online sales in these difficult times.

I was happy to share my papercut pictures in the group and am pleased to say that they were well received. Along with some Chai papercuts, I have also sent these letter Lameds to a customer in the US.

I have posted about the Hebrew letter Lamed before. It is the twelfth letter and also the tallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet. The letter has the sound of "l" as in "Lisa". I drew a sans-serif letter and filled it with flowers, leaves and one of my signature little birds.

The blue and yellow backing paper colours were my customer's choice.

My papercut Hebrew letters are drawn and cut entirely by hand. They fit into a standard 8" x 10" frame with a mat opening of 4.5" x 6.5". You will receive your papercut UNFRAMED.

If you would like a papercut letter, please just let me know by sending me an email or by commenting on this post. Please be sure to note which colour backing paper you would like too.
Each letter costs $40 + postage and packing.

* This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun., Love Your Creativity Link Party and Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday).

'Aleph' is for Ayelet

It's been quite a while since I posted one of my Hebrew letter papercuts and this one is a tiny one! My good friend Ayelet was celebrating her 50th birthday. A group of us got together to mark the day and, rather than buying a group gift, our brief was to give Ayelet something that could fit into a matchbox! I decided that I wanted to make Ayelet a papercut, so that's what she got inside her matchbox, along with some sweet photos of our children together from over the years.

The Hebrew name Ayelet means deer or gazelle. It starts with the letter Aleph, pronounced ah-lef, and is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It is written as א and spelled as אלף. This letter is actually the source of the Greek letter Alpha, as you can see by the similarities in the two letters' names, and the English letter "A" is therefore ultimately derived from Aleph as well.

In Modern Israeli Hebrew, the letter is sometimes silent (word-finally always, word-medially sometimes: הוא‎ "he", ראשי‎ "main", ראש‎ "head", ראשון‎ "first"). Its pronunciation varies in different Jewish communities.

The root of the word Aleph is also connected to many other words in the Hebrew language. The world "eleph," for example, means a thousand. The word "aluf," which also comes from the same root, means a (military) "general," or a "champion". The letter Aleph has connotations of greatness!

Since the letter Aleph is the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet, it therefore symbolises oneness and unity. In Judaism it is often associated with the oneness of monotheism. Every letter in the Hebrew alphabet also has a numerical value, or gematria, so naturally the numerical value assigned to Aleph is one. You may see this most commonly when the Hebrew year is written out. For example, last year, 2021, the Hebrew year was 5781 - תשפ"א. The Aleph in it represents the one. When an Aleph is used at the beginning of Hebrew years, it means 1000.

The Bible begins with the second letter of the alphabet, bet. There is a midrash (an ancient rabbinic interpretation of scripture) that says the letter Aleph is rewarded by being allowed to start the Ten Commandments. (In Hebrew, the first word is אנכי, which starts with an Aleph.) Aleph is also the first letter of the Hebrew word emet (אמת), which means truth. In Jewish mythology, it was the letter aleph that was carved into the head of the golem that ultimately gave it life. (In Jewish folklore the golem was a creature created by magic, often to serve its creator.) 

Ayelet also received one of my papercut cards on her birthday. I cut out her name in Hebrew letters and added the 50 to mark her age. As I have already mentioned, the name Ayelet means deer or gazelle. The name was taken from the phrase אילת השחר (ayelet hashachar), literally "gazelle of dawn", which is a name of the morning star. The phrase ayelet hashachar is found in the Bible at Tehillim 22:1. The entire verse reads: "la-menatzeaḥ al ayelet ha-shaḥar mizmor le-David."

Other related Hebrew name choices with the same meaning are Aya and Ayala. The masculine form of the name is Ayal.

* I have previously posted about the Hebrew letters Hey, Lamed, Mem, Nun and Resh. You can click on the name to read about each letter.

** This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun., Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop, Crafty Creators Link Party and Creatively Craft Link Party.

'Mem' is for Miriam

You may remember my posts about the Hebrew letters Lamed and Hey. This time I created a papercut of the letter Mem, in this case as a teacher gift for 'Miriam'. Mem is the thirteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has the sound of "m" as in "mum". In gematria (a mystical tradition that assigns a numerological value to Hebrew letters) Mem represents the number 40. It is associated with the following: 40 days and 40 nights, 40 years in the wilderness, 40 days Moses was upon Mount Sinai, 40 days of Selichot (repentance before Rosh Hashanah) and more. The Mikvah, or Hebrew ritual immersion, must contain at least 40 seahs of water (a unit of dry measure of ancient origin used in Halakha) to be a mikvah.

As an abbreviation, Mem stands for metre. In the Israeli army it can also stand for mefaked, commander. In Hebrew religious texts, it can stand for the name of G-d* Makom, the Place.

Traditionally Mem has several related meanings: "waters", "people", "nations", "languages" and "tongues". The name of the letter probably signifies water itself (the Hebrew word for water is mayim). Its most ancient forms bore a resemblance to waves of water. In Jewish mysticism it is the letter of "water", symbolising the "spring" of the Torah.

Five Hebrew letters are formed differently when they appear as the last letter of a word (these forms are sometimes called sofit forms). Mem, like Kaph, Nun, Pe, and Tzadi, has a final form, used at the end of words: its shape changes from מ‬ to ם‬. The open form is said to represent the revealed truth of G-d, whereas the closed form is said to represent the secrets.

Additionally, the Mem represents the womb - רחם (rechem) - which ends with a closed Mem. The closed Mem represents the nine months when the womb is closed. The open Mem represents the period of childbirth, when the womb is open.

My letters are available unframed. They measure 12x17cm and fit perfectly into the mount of an IKEA 18x24cm RIBBA frame. Do let me know which initial you would like me to make next.

* Jewish people do not write G‑d's name in a place where it may be discarded or erased. Treating G‑d's name with reverence is a way to give respect to G‑d.

** This post has been shared on Wednesday around the World, Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop, Wordless Wednesday Link Up, {wow me} wednesday, Little Things Thursday, Creatively Crafty Link Party, Share Your Cup Thursday, All Seasons and Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday).

'Nun' is for Na'ama

It's been quite a while since I wrote one of my Hebrew letter posts. I have previously posted about the letters Lamed, Hey and Mem. This time I made a papercut of the letter Nun, the fourteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The letter is pronounced somewhere between "nun" and "noon" and has the sound of "n" as in "now".
In modern Hebrew the letter Nun has two different forms - the regular letter נ and the special final letter ן used at the end of words. If we look at the word נתן (natan), gave, we see that it starts and ends with the letter Nun. This shows us that the letter represents giving and teaches us the reciprocal nature of giving. When one gives to another person, it comes back to him/her in some way.

The image of the Nun is believed to be derived from an Egyptian hieroglyph of a snake. The word in Hebrew for snake is נחש nahash, which begins with the letter Nun.

Each letter in the Hebrew alphabet (or aleph-bet) has a numerical value. The numerical value of the letter Nun is 50. Jewish sages say that 50 years old is the age of advice. This is an age when someone is wiser and knowledgeable and is able to give good advice to those around him.

Nun is actually the Aramaic word for fish and has been incorporated into the Hebrew names of several marine creatures such as דיונון (dyonun) squid and תמנון (tamnun) octopus. This teaches that this letter is also connected to the element of water.

Nun as an abbreviation can stand for nekevah, feminine. In medieval Rabbinic writings, Nun sophit (final nun) stood for "Son of".
Nun is also one of the seven letters which receive a special crown called a tag when written in the scrolls of Sifrei Torah, Tefillin, Mezuzot and the Five Megillot. The Hebrew name for this scribal feature is כתר keter. Both tag and keter mean "crown" in Aramaic and Hebrew respectively.

Finally, in the game of dreidel, a four-sided spinning top played during the holiday of Chanukah, a rolled Nun passes play to the next player with no other action. The four letters on the dreidel spell out: Nes (נ-miracle), Gadol (ג-great), Haya (ה-happened) and Po (פ-here).

This papercut letter was made as a gift for a friend, Na'ama. My letters are available unframed and can be cut in various sizes. Do you have someone you would like me to cut a papercut initial for?

* This post has been shared on All Seasons, The Good. The Random. The Fun., Inspire Me Tuesday and Creatively Crafty.