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מלאכה (melachah) — pictograph word study

מלאכה

Meaning: work, occupation, craftsmanship

Letter by letter — the ancient pictures

מ Mem — value 40
Water, flow, womb, source; forty — the number of testing and transformation (flood, Sinai, wilderness) letter page →
ל Lamed — value 30
Learning, teaching, the shepherd's staff and ox-goad; aspiration — the tallest letter, the tower of the alphabet letter page →
א Alef — value 1
Oneness, primacy, the Master (aluph means chief); paradoxically silent — the source before all sound letter page →
כ Kaf — value 20
Palm, covering, capacity; likeness (the prefix ke-, 'like'); twenty — the joined hands (10+10) letter page →
ה Heh — value 5
Breath, revelation, behold!; the lightest letter — being itself; the definite article that makes anything 'the' letter page →

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