Variant spellings - CHI ? HAI - HI

Biblical source - And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living [chai] (Genesis 3:20).

The letters featured in this painting are CHET YUD. Taken together they spell CHAI.

Each of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet has a special meaning and a story to tell. Here a few brief ones about the letters on this painting.

CHET is the 8th letter of the alphabet and has a numerical value of 8. CHET is pronounced like the CH in BaCH. Kushner's description is the best that I have found of what is necessary to create the sound of CHET. It is the "top of your throat and the bottom of your throat fighting against one another" (Kushner, Lawrence. 1990. Sepher Otiot: The Book of Letters. Woodstock: Jewish Lights Publishing. 39).

Usually the CHET is composed of 2 ZAYINS. But the 16th century kabbalist master, Luria, stated that the CHET consists of a VAV on the right and a ZAYIN on the left. Each Hebrew letter has a numerical value. GEMATRIA is the numerical manipulation of the values of the letter to explain the meaning of a word or phrase. The combined value of the VAV (6) and ZAYIN (7) is 13 which is the value of the word ECHAD - ALEPH (1) CHET (8) DALET (4) = 13. ECHAD means ONE. It is also the highest prime denominator of the name of God - YUD (190) HEY (5) VAV (6) HEY (5) = 26 =13 = ONE.

YUD is the 10th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and has a numerical value of 10. YUD makes a sound like the Y in Year. YUD is a simple point. It is the smallest letter in the alphabet and yet is frequently associated with the very large concept of EMANATION, the highest level in the Four World paradigm of Kabbalah.

YUD has the important job of being the first letter of the Tetragrammaton - YUD HEY VAV HEY. Zohar states that, in this context, the YUD represents the head of all creatures (Zohar. 1984. Tr. Harry Sperling et al. New York: Soncino. 3:130).

In the Sephrotic tree the YUD symbolizes WISDOM - the stage of concealment which precedes its development into a state of expansion in UNDERSTANDING. It is then contained and represented in the letter HEY. (Zalman, Shneur. 1981. "Igeret Hateshuvah." Likkutie Amarim Tanya. Brooklyn: Kihot. 359).