Mem, Shin and the Vulcan Hand Salute

A local customer was looking for gifts to take to family members in the US. She learnt about my papercuts and contacted me about some Hebrew letters, ultimately ordering a letter "מ" and two letters "ש".  The pieces, backed in grey and navy blue, were very well received, my customer writing "Total success! Everyone loved their gifts! Thank you!".

I have written about the Hebrew letter מ, or Mem, before. Mem is the thirteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has the sound of "m" as in "mum".

The letter ש, or Shin (pronounced "sheen"), is the twenty-first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has the sound of "sh" as in "shy". It is shaped like a crooked English W. In gematria, which is a mystical tradition that assigns a numerological value to Hebrew letters, Shin represents the number 300.

The sole difference between the letter shin and the letter sin (pronounced "seen") is the presence or absence of a dot. If a dot appears to the upper right of the letter, pronounce "sh"; if it appears to the left, pronounce "s".

The letter Shin appears engraved on both sides of the head tefillin. On the right side, the Shin has three heads, while on the left it possesses four. The two different Shins represent the two ways the Torah was written: in stone and upon parchment.
The Shin is also the letter printed on the Mezuzah, a small box placed on the right doorpost of Jewish homes which contains a parchment scroll with verses from the Torah inscribed on it. On the Mezuzah the letter Shin stands for the word Shaddai, a name for G-d. When Jewish people leave their home, they touch the letter that represents the name of G-d and kiss their fingertips as a sign of reverence to G-d and His word.

A kohen (priest) forms the letter Shin with his hands as he recites the Priestly Blessing. In the mid-1960s, actor Leonard Nimoy used a single-handed version of this gesture to create the Vulcan hand salute for his character, Mr. Spock, on Star Trek. Apparently the directors told him to come up with some type of hand sign to use in the film. Being Jewish, this was the first thing Spock thought of, and they just went with it.

Photo credit: StarTrek.com

In the Hebrew language Shin as a prefix carries similar meaning to "that", "which" and "who".

The Shin-Bet was an old acronym for the Israeli Department of Internal General Security, and the name of the service is still usually translated as such in English. In Israeli Hebrew and Palestinian Arabic, the security service is known as the "Shabak".
A Shin-Shin is the Hebrew acronym for Shenat Sherut, meaning "year of service". In addition, a Shin-Shin clash is Israeli military jargon for a battle between two tank divisions.
Sh'at haShin (the Shin hour) is the last possible moment for any action, usually military. This corresponds to the English expression the eleventh hour.

Photo credit: https://bereanbiblejourneys.com

The letter Shin mimics the structure of a human heart, above. The lower, larger left ventricle (which supplies the full body) and the smaller right ventricle (which supplies the lungs) are positioned like the lines of the letter Shin. This is said to remind us that we are to love the Lord our G-d with all of our heart.

Photo credit: https://bereanbiblejourneys.com

When you look at a topographical map of Jerusalem, above, you can see that the three valleys that comprise the city's geography - the Hinom Valley, Tyropoeon Valley and Kidron Valley - all converge to form the shape of the letter Shin. G-d said he would put His name in Jerusalem, and from an aerial view, here it is!

Finally, according to Judges 12:6, the tribe of Ephraim could not differentiate between Shin and Samekh, the fifteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. When the tribe was at war with the Gileadites, the Gileadites would ask suspected Ephraimites to say the word shibolet; an Ephraimite would say sibolet and thus be exposed. From this episode we get the English word shibboleth.

* 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 The Good. The Random. The Fun., Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Senior Salon Pit Stop Link Party, Tuesday Turn About Link Party and Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop.

Aderet's Album

I made a Bat Mitzvah album for Shirel back in 2021. This time it was her younger sister Aderet's turn to celebrate and mum asked me to make an album for her as well.

Aderet plays basketball and the piano. She likes sushi and Aroma ice coffee (Aroma is the largest coffee chain in Israel). In addition, she feels very connected to tefillah (prayer) and her siddur (Jewish prayer book containing a set order of daily prayers), so mum thought it would be nice to somehow include that. The colours scheme for the planned party was turquoise, dark purple and lilac. Finally, Aderet wanted to me to add some music notes to the design, just like her sister Shirel had.

I have shown Aderet holding her turquoise siddur in one hand and a basketball in the other. Behind her is a piano and some sushi and chopsticks. An Aroma iced coffee is to her right and I added some music notes too, all in the colours Aderet requested.
Aderet's name appears in Hebrew at the top in gold lettering and the words Bat Mitzvah and date of the celebration are at the bottom.

The album opens the Hebrew way, from right to left.

I decorated five pages inside the album too. The opening page shows a basketball and hoop, followed by a piano and then a siddur, to illustrate Aderet's connection to tefillah. Some tiny sushi on a lilac platter came next and then a page with Aderet's favourite Aroma iced coffee.

Mum was delighted with the album when she received it. "Just got the album. It's gorgeous!" she wrote to me. Of course Aderet's Bat Mitzvah plans were disrupted by the war, as many gatherings were, but mum said that they were still hoping to hold a small event to mark the occasion. I hope that they were able to do just that.

* This post has been shared on Busy Monday, The Good. The Random. The Fun.

Elisha's Album

"I would love to order a Bar Mitzvah book for our son Elisha", my customer wrote to me. She and her husband had taken a good look at my blog and decided that they would like an album similar to the one I made for a young man called Jack back in 2022. They wanted me to show their son wearing tefillin, the cubic black leather boxes containing Biblical verses, with leather straps, that Orthodox Jewish men wear on their head and their arm during weekday morning prayer.

Elisha likes football and especially Liverpool Football Club, mum told me. He is also into Rubik's cube, reading, and Fanta Orange. She sent me some photos of Elisha and said that she liked the blue background I had used on Jack's album.

I have shown Elisha wearing tefillin on his head and on his left arm. He is right-handed, so wears tefillin on the bicep of his left arm. The tefillin box worn on his head is centered just above the forehead, with the two leather straps wrapped around the head, then hanging down over his shoulders.

He has a Rubik's cube in one hand and a football in the other hand. Next to him is a Fanta Orange and a small pile of books.

Behind Elisha is the Liverpool F.C. badge. The bird on the Liverpool crest is the Liver bird, a mythical creature that also serves as the iconic symbol of the city of Liverpool. The Liver bird has been representative of Liverpool for over 800 years and appears on the city's arms.

Elisha's name appears in gold letters at the top in English and Hebrew. The year of his Bar Mitzvah is at the bottom.

Five pages inside the album also cover Elisha's various interests. The first page shows the Liverpool F.C. badge once again and I added a red and white striped football scarf as well. Then I made a black and white football and put it in front of a goal. Apparently this type of football first got its famous black and white markings for the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. According to the adidas website, this ball was called the Telstar and was developed to help people see the ball more clearly while watching on television.
Another page in Elisha's album shows a can of Fanta Orange, along with an orange and a tiny slice. I then cut out a hand holding a Rubik's cube and, lastly, crafted some little books to illustrate his love of reading.

Mum was delighted when she received the album and said it was beautiful!
Elisha was supposed to celebrate his Bar Mitzvah in October but, as I am sure you know, war broke out here in Israel on the first Shabbat of that month. I hope he was ultimately able to mark his special day in some way.

* This post has been shared on  Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)