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    72 Names of Elohim Explained

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    Legal Forms and Practical Exercises by Prof. Estaniel

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    72 Names of Elohim Explained

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    lucio orio tan, jr.
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    Legal Forms and Practical Exercises by Prof. Estaniel

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    Legal Forms and Practical Exercises by Prof. Estaniel

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    74 views2 pages

    72 Names of Elohim Explained

    Uploaded by

    lucio orio tan, jr.
    Legal Forms and Practical Exercises by Prof. Estaniel

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    72 'Names' of G-d

    By Moshe Yakov Wisnefsky


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    The 3 verses of 24 letters each refer in sequence to the divine attributes


    of chesed, gevura, and tiferet.
    The 72 triplets become 72 "names" of G-d.
    The three consecutive verses fromExodus 14:19-21 each contain 72
    letters, an obviously rare phenomenon. The letters of these three verses
    can be arranged as 72 triplets of letters. But we are taught in Kabbala that
    if we reverse the order of the letters in the middle set, the 72 triplets
    become 72 "names" of G-d.

    In the story of the exodus from Egypt, three consecutive verses describe G-
    d's power as manifest just before He split the Sea of Reeds, which the
    Jewish people passed through on dry land while the Egyptians were
    drowned:

    "And the angel of G-d who had been going ahead of the camp
    ofIsrael now moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud
    went from in front of them and stood behind them. Thus [the pillar of
    cloud] came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel,
    making it cloud and darkness [to the Egyptians], but it gave light by
    night [to the Jews], so that the one came not near the other all the
    p. ii

    night. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and G-d drove
    the sea back with a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea
    dry land; thus the waters were divided." (Ex. 14:14)

    A name is a means by which one is made known to others.

    In Hebrew, these three verses each contain 72 letters. In


    the Zohar (II:51b) it is stated that these three verses refer in sequence to
    the divine attributes of chesed, gevura, and tiferet. The harmonious
    blending of these three principle emotive attributes forms the basic
    paradigm of how G-d relates to the world. Thus, they together form a
    composite name of G-d, since a name is a means by which one is made
    known to others, i.e. manifests his attributes.

    The fact that each verse contains 72 letters means that they can be aligned
    in parallel, forming 72 triplets of letters. In this configuration, the Zohar
    states, the first verse is to be written in its proper order, since it represents
    G-d's loving-kindness, or a direct revelation of G-d's goodness. The second
    verse is to be written in reverse order, from the last letter to the first, since it
    represents G-d's severity, which is an indirect revelation of His goodness.
    Although tiferet is a blend of both chesed and gevura, the third verse is not
    to be written half in the proper order and half in reverse order, as one might
    expect. There are two reasons for this: (1) in tiferet, chesed dominates
    over gevura, and (2) as the ideal blend of chesed and gevura, tiferet is a
    direct revelation of G-d's goodness and glory rather than an indirect one.

    (This array may be seen inter alia in the standard editions of the Zohar,
    volume 2, p. 270a.)
    BY MOSHE YAKOV WISNEFSKY

    Moshe Yaakov Wisnefsky is a scholar, writer, editor and anthologist, living in Jerusalem. He has
    recently produced two monumental works: "Apples from the Orchard: Arizal on the Weekly
    Torah" and a Chumash translation with commentary based on the works of the Lubavitcher
    Rebbe (Kehot).
    More from Moshe Wisnefsky | RSS
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