Monday 28 February 2022

'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.

15 comments:

Kim Carberry said...

That is really pretty and what a lovely idea for a gift. How interesting to learn more about it too x

Amila said...

This is a beautiful card with a lovely design. I am glad I learned about the letter Aleph and about the Hebrew alphabet.
Have a great week! #MMBC

Carol @Comfort Spring Station said...

Those are beautiful cards - I always love your cut out art.

Jayne said...

Absolutely beautiful, you are so talented.
I always learn something new when I pop over here, it was very interesting learning the history and meaning behind Aleph. x

Tamar SB said...

That is so pretty!! What a sweet gift.

hels said...

Of course the name has connotations of greatness - the name given to me at birth was after the late grandmother Hinde Rayzel. Fortunately they called me Ayala Shoshana 😀

Catherine said...

Your paper cutting is so impressively intricate - I love the tiny bird :o)

#MMBC

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

What a beautiful and meaningful card and gift for your friend! Happy 50th birthday to Ayelet. I enjoyed learning about the significance of Aleph..so fascinating that each letter in Hebrew has great meaning.

Anne said...

That's a great idea for a special birthday. It must have been difficult to cut something so pretty so small. My ex husband always used to call me Gazelle because I always walked so fast! And my name begins with A!

VeggieMummy said...

I do love your paper cut cards and what a brilliant idea for a gift. xx

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Your friend has a beautiful name with so much meaning -- both the definition of the word and her initial. I truly enjoyed learning the deep history behind both. And the gift idea (fitting into a matchbox) was so clever; your group of friends sounds as creative as you are individually. What a lovely celebration!

Sum of their Stories said...

Such a lovely little card, what a fun idea to give gifts in a matchbox! And your info about the letter is so interesting, thank you so much.

Shiju Sugunan said...

What a sweet little card for your friend. Nice to know about the Hebrew letters.

Life as a LEO Wife said...

What a sweet gift! I love studying the Hebrew language and am a bit obsessed with gematria. I find it fascinating that the Hebrew alphabet has no vowels and are added later for pronunciation. The cutout is so pretty and dainty. Thanks for coming to share on Craft Creators at Life as a LEO Wife.
XOXO,
Niki ~ Life as a LEO Wife

Mihal Indyk said...

So lovely is it to read your thoughts from
א to ת may you always see the morning dawn , hugs from an old friend...

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