Perhaps the innovation of an alphabet—a system where fewer than thirty symbols represented every sound in a language was inevitable. After all, it had already occurred at least once in Egyptian, if not again in Ugaritic. Though in Egyptian it never reached true alphabetic status, being reserved for the spelling of foreign terms, names, and the like, while Ugaritic all too early disappeared from the scene of alphabetic writings. The first true graphemes of alphabetic writing, those that became our simple ABCs, however, heralded something far more significant than just a better way to do written language. They comprised a sophisticated, indeed an ingenious system of ideographic expressions that has escaped recognition of even the most astute of scholarly inquiry. I intend to demonstrate this proof over the course of these discussions. However, to begin, I need to acquaint you with the alphabetic script of Proto Canaanite.
Proto Canaanite follows upon the heels of Proto Sinaitic, the first vowelless, alphabetic script. And while we don’t have an abundance of Proto Sinaitic inscriptions, we have even fewer of Proto Canaanite. Scholars have attempted to make a case for a direct development from Proto Sinaitic to Proto Canaanite, however there are substantial hurdles. Proto Sinaitic had nearly thirty characters in its repertoire, while Proto Canaanite had only twenty-two. And while similarities between the two scripts exist there is not substantive support to the idea of a gradual transition from the one alphabet to the other.
The problem is compounded by the absence of an authoritative script in Proto Canaanite. The script is evidenced by only a handful of inscriptions, most of which are extremely brief and were produced by amateurs. A given instance—the earliest example we have of a complete alphabetic script evidenced in the Isbet Sartah is by all accounts the work of a practicing student, and manifests errors in letter order as well as letter construction. Equally unskilled, making up a significant portion of Proto Canaanite inscriptions, markings on arrowheads are ostensibly the work of their owners—commoners. Their inscriptions follow the pattern— “arrow of so and so, son of said person.” They indeed witness the adoption of alphabetic writing by a lay populace, but they do not tell us how the script was actually envisioned by its inventor or inventors. To discover that we must first arrive at a semblance of the original script by drawing from extant inscriptions of Proto Canaanite and its sister script, early Phoenician.
To acquaint you with the script of Proto Canaanite or early Phoenician from which it is indistinguishable except by location, we will reconstruct the script using one of its descendent forms—the English alphabet. It may seem surprising, but the Latin Alphabet we use in the English language today is not that dissimilar to Proto Canaanite. On the other hand, you will notice very little similarity to the Hebrew script to which language it is nearly identical. The reason—the early alphabet was employed in Aramaic, the trade language of the day, and borrowed by the Greeks, then by succeeding nations, the Etruscans and the Romans. The alphabet when adopted by global empires largely retained a resemblance to its earlier form, while isolated alphabets, those of local cultures, saw radical reformations of their letter structure. Arabic’s elegantly calligraphic script is a case in point.
Before introducing the script, I want to make note of the content of the graphics I use. Representing both Proto Canaanite and early Phoenician characters, the first line of characters indicate prevalent samples that have been taken from the various inscriptions that we have discovered to date. The second line of symbols indicates how the Canaanite or early Phoenician letters are to be compared with their Latin or English equivalents. So moving on, the task at hand is to retrace the alterations of each letter of the alphabet, while at the same time collecting a significant sample of each, in order to arrive at an adequate resemblance of the original script of Proto Canaanite.
Leading off the alphabetic script, the first letter was called Alef, meaning ox. In the first instance of the symbol we witness in Proto Sinaitic the development of the letter A from a crude representation of an ox’s head. In Proto Canaanite the symbol developed an extended crossbar. Sometimes the arrow portion of the figure was illustrated backed away from the vertical stroke appearing more like a letter K. Both forms are indicated in Proto Canaanite and are significant. Differences in symbol construction perhaps owed to scribal choice, with certain regions or schools of thought favoring one form over another. Over time the crossbar of the letter A that earlier extended outside the boundary of the figure retracts and the figure rotates 90 or so degrees to appear as the letter A, the first letter of the English alphabet.
The letter B followed a similar transition flipping right to left and having more of an angular form, with one small stroke removed off the bottom part of the letter. Sometimes the head of the figure was somewhat more rounded, or the leg rather than bent, was tucked under the symbol. In various scripts the leg, rather than tucked under the symbol was actually folded in the opposite direction. The alternate symbol is illuminating as it points to dynamic features of the script involving complimentary structures in the alphabet’s design. The second letter of the alphabet was called Bet, meaning house, and developed from an initial boxed shape. In Proto Sinaitic the symbol was square or rectangular, resembling the floor plan of a house, but in Proto Canaanite the letter has been substantially altered, becoming more triangular.
The letter C also had an earlier angular form and was rotated appearing like an upside down V, or equivalently resembling an inverted checkmark-like symbol where the two legs are of unequal length, and the figure somewhat rotated. The upside down V design is particularly significant and has a direct correspondence to an underlying design concept in the construction of the script. This inverted V symbol was called Gimel, meaning camel. The early voicing of the C was hard G. Camel was “gamal” in Hebrew, and the name of the third letter was a derivative called Gimel.
The letter D similarly had an angular form appearing like a triangle. The use of the triangle as a character symbol of the alphabet draws from a predisposition to employ geometric forms in the early alphabet. The shape of the letter indicated a flap or door, and was called Dalet. The same letter, adopted by the Greeks, was called Delta, which we connect today to the shape of a triangle, as in a delta wing aircraft. In the English script the letter has been rounded and rotated 90 degrees.
What is going on is that as the alphabet migrated from its early Semitic roots through ancient and classical Greek and on to its Latin form today, two things consistently occurred. Angular forms were often replaced by rounded forms, and letters flipped directions. The letters flipped direction mostly because the direction of writing itself changed. Classical Greek and the Romance languages were written as we write English today, from left to right. However, early Middle Eastern languages like Arabic and Hebrew were written from right to left, and still are today. This was an innovation itself. A few hundred years earlier there was no definite rule to writing. Script was written up or down, or from right or left. Indeed, in the same inscription letters might even switch directions. In one particular practice, script was written “boustrophedon,” or as an ox plows, from right to left, then from left to right, back and forth across stone or clay or whatever surface these early scribes had to write on.
Returning to the task of assembling an authoritative script of Proto Canaanite, the letter E was similarly flipped right to left and written with an extended leg and slanted bars, or in its other case sometimes the entire letter was slanted, the bars perpendicular to the figure. It is easy to recognize the letter E in the ancient glyph. Scholars point to a human stick figure from earlier Proto Sinaitic as being the prototype of this E symbol. Notwithstanding, the E shaped reconstruction of the symbol is noteworthy, indicating a more definitive concept relevant to details of the script that will have to await explanation in a later post. The letter E represented a different sound than it did in Proto Canaanite when it was called the letter Heh and indicated an H sound. Changes of this sort occur often. As the alphabet was adopted by other languages and cultures, letters came in and out of use, and symbols were adopted for different sounds than those they originally intended.
Moving on to the next letter, the F though appearing to relate to the design of the letter E, was actually quite distinct in its original construction. Earlier, the letter was bent in the middle, its prongs angled upward by about 45 degrees. It appeared this way in the Hebrew national script in the first thousand years BCE. However, it also appeared with the prongs fully rotated ninety degrees, or directly upward. This form actually drew from an anterior, more symmetrical symbol shaped like a Y. Initially, the top of the Y symbol was rounded like a bowl. This letter was called Vav, meaning peg, or nail, and indicated an appending or branching action.
We have already observed that letters sometimes got out of order, as was the case with the letter G, which we already visited when we observed the letter C, or Gimel. The two similar sounds, C and hard G, where differentiated in the Latin alphabet by a small tick on the figure. However what may surprise you is what originally occupied the position of the letter G. In Proto Canaanite the seventh letter was the equivalent of the letter Z, as can also be seen in the order of the Greek letter Zeta. However, the Z sound became unnecessary in Latin and was dropped from the alphabet. Later it was reintroduced into the script for our Z sound and so was appended to the end of the alphabet. The zigzag shape of the letter Z is actually late, showing up in Phoenician, but not evidenced in Proto Canaanite’s brief inventory. One reason is that another letter, the Nun, in this same period was almost equivalent to Z’s zigzagging form, and would have been a cause for confusion. The earlier form of the letter Z resembled a capital letter I with bars on top and bottom, and was called Zayin, meaning weapon or arms. Often the bars were quite extended, the symbol describing a strong sideways motion in its form. The form indicated a particular action, a significant concept in the construction of the early alphabet. Eventually, the upright took on a more slanted orientation, which when combined with its extended bars became the zigzagging form we observe today in the English letter Z.
Why am I changing the order of the alphabet? Because thirty-five hundred years ago or so, and perhaps earlier, the alphabet had a set order. Mostly, that order has remained the same for thousands of years, though as I have just demonstrated some changes did occur. Linguists are very interested to understand why the alphabet from a very early period of its existence followed a specific order. What was the intent of this sequence the alphabet anciently demonstrated? That’s a mystery I will elucidate at length in these discussions, though I will give you the gist of the argument now. The alphabet, particularly Proto Canaanite, derives from a sophisticated geometric system. That system may be older than Proto Canaanite, descending originally from a numerical system extant in Proto Sinaitic where there were likely twenty-seven original symbols, or three sets of nine symbols that served a numerical purpose. That is why the alphabet in antiquity followed an exact order. The alphabet essentially functioned as a numeric set. The idea that the letters served as numbers is not a new idea. The Greeks had this utility. Greek letters represented both letters and numerals. In the Tanakh, the Jewish Bible, the Hebrews demonstrate this same numerical usage in acrostic verses of Psalms and Proverbs, where the first verse begins with the letter A, the second with the letter B, and so on. However, their date is in question. The oldest texts of the Tanakh are the Dead Sea Scrolls, and they only date back at most to 150 BCE., not nearly early enough to establish this practice as original to the Hebrews. However, new evidence that I will introduce strongly proposes that the practice originated with the Semites, not the Greeks.
Picking up the alphabet where we left off, the next letter in the sequence following the letter Z is the letter H. The letter H in Proto Canaanite was drawn as a boxlike symbol with a horizontal line dividing it into two equal parts. Removing the upper and lower bars of the symbol we observe the connection of the symbol to the letter H. The symbol was also evidenced by an alternate design where the box image was graphically broken, with slanted upper, middle, and lower bars between the two uprights of the symbol. Additionally, sometimes the figure was portrayed with only two bars slanting between the uprights. The symbol perhaps meant to describe the concept of shattering, as breaking the structure of the box. This eighth letter in the alphabetic sequence was called Het and indicated a guttural H sound as in German “Bach.”
The next letter in the alphabetic sequence is iconically similar—a circle with a horizontal stroke across it, or alternatively a cross through it. We use a similar symbol to mean disallowed. The strike through the symbol, similar to the strike through the previous boxlike symbol, should rouse some suspicion. The boxlike Het was key to unlocking the underlying design behind the construction of the Proto Canaanite script. The symbol of the circle with a strike through it, or two strikes as was more often the case, is the letter Tet, meaning “mud” or “mire.” The letter Tet was rare in Proto Canaanite. Theta is the equivalent letter in the Greek, but the symbol was not needed in Latin and accordingly was dropped from the script, and is also not found in English. Het and Tet are examples of two letters that have mystified scholars. It is not known what the name Het signified, and though scholars know the meaning of the letter Tet, they do not know what the symbol intended to represent. Not surprisingly, both of these symbols are fully illuminated once the principles underlying the construction of the alphabetic script are understood.
The letters I and J come from the same parent letter—the Yod. Both symbols were used for the same sound, and only later in the Latin script did they become distinguished by two distinct sounds. The shape of the letter J in particular references the original symbol, though the rounded portion of the symbol is inverted. The symbol had a half bar at the top of the symbol, a feature still evident in the capital J that is sometimes depicted with a bar at the top. Additionally, the symbol had a bar halfway down the symbol. The symbol emulated the arm cocked in a gesture meant to illustrate the throwing and releasing action of the hand. The meaning of Yod is expectedly “hand.” And though the evolution of the symbol is somewhat convoluted, the connection to its meaning and parent letter is obvious.
Following the letter J, the next letter, the letter K, was originally flipped right to left and was slanted. The slant developed because the earlier version of the symbol lacked the leg extending beneath the symbol. Instead, the symbol appeared like a V shape with a vertical stroke extending from the intercept upward.
The name of the symbol is Kaf, meaning palm, and indicated an opening motion as of the palm of the hand, or the fronds of a palm tree. Other than the early addition of a trunk to the figure and rotating the symbol, the form of the letter has changed little in the last several thousand years.
The letter L, however, is a different story. Today the letter L is blatantly angular, but originally it was illustrated less so. In fact, in some instances of the symbol the grapheme is represented as a purely spiraling form. The letter also had a form where only the end of the symbol spiraled or was rounded. And sometimes the letter approaches a sharp angle, much more familiar to the form of the letter L in English today. The symbol is called Lamed, signifying “to train,” and represents a shepherd’s crook. Some very early instances of the letter, and I mean Proto Sinaitic, manifested this form. However, it developed at an early point in Proto Canaanite a more circular, spiraling form that was significant of an action component in the construction of the script.
We are about halfway through the English alphabet, though Proto Canaanite having a shorter script brings us further along. The next letter, the Mem, meaning water was written similar to the M today with strong angles, but with an introductory stroke and running the last stroke below the symbol. Such is how the grapheme was formalized in the Hebrew national script. However, earlier in Proto Canaanite the symbol evidenced more of a vertical zigzagging stroke, a stepping down or cascading motion significant of a dynamic action in the structure of the grapheme.
Following the form of the Mem, the next letter, the equivalent of the letter N, had one less up-down stroke. For hundreds of years the Nun parroted the letter Mem in the Hebrew script, as well as in the succeeding national scripts. However, originally the letter Nun, “fish,” had no more connection to the letter Mem, “water,” than to any other letter. Originally the Nun intended a strong directional component—a stroke with a single jog in the middle. Some scholars have suggested the shape of a lightning flash in the form of the symbol. The verbal sense of Nun is “to propagate,” referring to the propagation of seed, but could equally have referred to the propagation of motion, as of lightning, a wave, a fish in water or of a serpent on land. An aside—the earlier representation of the symbol was that of a serpent. One can still see the essence of this motion in the jogging form of the letter N. It is likely that the letter Nun began to mimic the letter Mem when what the Nun initially intended—a dynamic of motion at the heart of the script itself, was less well known, and perhaps even forgotten.
Returning to the alphabetic sequence, for a second time a letter has been moved from its initial order in the alphabet. Originally, the letter that followed the equivalent of the letter N was not O, but the letter X. The X symbol was drawn, however, as three horizontal lines, like the Greek letter Xi, where in the Greek alphabet it indicated the same order, following the equivalent of the letter Nun. In classical Greek the Xi had a small horizontal dash in the middle. Consequently, like connecting the dots, the horizontal line above, the middle dash, and the horizontal line below suggested the shape of an X, and it became such in the Latin script. However, formerly the dashes were essentially equal in length. The Proto Canaanite symbol was built of three strong horizontal stokes with a single vertical stroke as if an axis traversing the figure. Sometimes the vertical stroke exceeded the upper bound of the horizontal bars, but mostly the vertical stroke began even with the upper bar and extended below the figure. The symbol was called Samek and meant “prop” or “support.”
The alphabet resumes its normal order with the letter O—the shape of a circle. The circular form is prevalent in Proto Canaanite and was indicative of a predisposition to use geometric forms in the alphabetic script. The circle is used no less than three times in Proto Canaanite. First in the letter Tet, here in the instance of the letter O, and it will appear again in the equivalent of the letter Q. Early samples of the letter O sometimes included a dot in the middle of the circle. Scholars suggest the dot may have derived from a similar Egyptian hieroglyph for the sun. Alternatively, the dot may have had reference to the pupil of the eye, as the earliest grapheme of the O was ovoid, resembling the shape of an eye. Furthermore, the name of the symbol, Ayin, signified “eye.” The symbol has had little to change since it gained its circular form thousands of years ago.
The transformation of the letter P, however, is more complex. Even the form it assumed in classical Greek was substantially removed from its Proto Canaanite ancestor. Don’t get confused, the letter in the Greek alphabet that looks like the letter P is actually the equivalent of the letter R. Around thirty-five hundred years ago the letter P or its equivalent Peh, meaning “mouth,” was represented in Proto Canaanite by a single curved stroke. Alternatively, the symbol was constructed of a horizontal bar with a curved stroke coming off the right end of the bar. When adopted by the ancient Greeks this same duality of forms persisted, though the letter was rotated 90 degrees. In some cases of the symbol a bent stroke joined a vertical bar, simulating the bar and curved stroke of the earlier symbol. In classical Greek the symbol descends from the curved stoke, becoming an upside down U shape. The same shape is modified, becoming more angular and square in form, the upper bar extending beyond the edges of the figure. Thus evolved the symbol Pi familiar to mathematicians and aficionados of geometry. However, when the symbol first appeared in Latin it was more like the letter Peh, though the curved portion of the symbol was almost entirely closed. The symbol was formed by two strokes, an upright bar and a rounded head, in other words a return to the straight and curved components of the letter Peh, perhaps a residual memory of the earlier symbol. Today in the English alphabet the P, fully closed, hides the existence of its earlier dual construct.
One last hiccup—we insert at this point the only other letter besides Tet that has disappeared from the alphabet. That letter is the Tsadi. The grapheme might be described like the figure of a hammerhead shark with a kink in its tail, although some early examples of the letter are simpler, appearing like a sideways T symbol. The Tsadi represented a “snare” or a “hook,” and graphically demonstrated an object that might easily get hung up or latch onto something. Sometimes the symbol was made very extended, as if the tail end of the symbol was to depict a trip line snaking off to one side. Interestingly tsad signifies “side.” Other vocabulary is telling as well—tsada is “to lie in wait” (as with malicious intent), while tsud signifies “to hunt.” Hence, my comic allusion to a hammerhead shark, as to the hunt or to fishing does not fall far from the mark.
The normal sequence of the alphabet ensues with the letter Q. The equivalent of the letter Q is Qof. It is not clear what the symbol portrayed. Qof meant monkey, but quf signified”coming round”—circuitous motion. The form of the symbol can be retraced by enlarging the small tic of the Q, extending it across and outside the circle, and standing the letter upon the stroke as in the stance of a roadway sign. Rare occurrences of the figure demonstrating the Qof without the stroke running through the circle exist, however, the stroke was customary. The form of the Qof was later modified in various Semitic inscriptions by cutting the circle in half like a top spinning on its axis and other similar modifications, however the original circular design was passed on to the modern English script in the shape of the letter Q.
Following the Q, the letter R is regressed by making the rounded head of the letter angular and removing the extra leg from the bottom of the character. The resulting symbol Resh, meaning head, looked like a triangular flag on a pole. The head sometimes appeared rounded. Though seemingly random, the construction of the symbol had direct relevance to concepts inherent in the design of the Proto Canaanite script involving action correspondences between symbols, which I have committed to explaining in a subsequent post.
Coming after the letter R, the letter S traces its ancestry to a symbol with sharp angles manifesting a zigzagging form. Additionally, this ancestor of the letter S had an extra stroke and was rotated a quarter of a turn looking much like a stretched W. The letter was called Shin and meant tooth. A similar symbol had a rounded appearance depicting the female breasts, Hebrew shad. Both instances of the symbol are recorded in Proto Canaanite, though the angular W form is by far the more dominant. In classical Greek the equivalent symbol was the letter Sigma, rotated ninety degrees and somewhat modified from its Semitic ancestor.
Lastly, the letter T is transformed by dragging the horizontal bar down to the middle of the letter. The letter appeared early as a plus sign, or alternatively rotated 45 degrees like an X symbol. Both versions were present in Proto Canaanite, though the plus symbol appears to be more principal. This letter was called Tav, meaning mark, the final letter of the Proto Canaanite alphabet.
What do we do with the rest of the letters? Well, X, Y, and Z already found their places in the alphabet—X as Samek after the letter N, and Y as Yod in the place of both I and J, and Z as Zayin in place of the letter G. The rest of the letters U, V, and later W, are all distinct modifications of the letter Vav standing for differentiated sounds of the letter. Additionally, the Vav is a natural fricative of the f sound, and hence its connection in position to the letter F. So, if you take into account these modifications, the order is much the same. We inserted two letters, Z and X, back into their original slots. We added two letters that are foreign to the English alphabet, Tet and Tsade. Other than that, we condensed the letters F, U, V and W in the letter Vav, condensed I, J and Y in the letter Yod, and C and G in the letter Gimel. In summary, we added two letters to the twenty-six, which would make twenty-eight, but we condensed nine letters into three losing six to finish with twenty-two letters.
As I committed at the first, we have reassembled from the trappings of the English alphabet with only a couple of additions and some simple alterations the script of Proto Canaanite. Proto Canaanite is the forbearer of the ancient script of Phoenician, the grandmother of all subsequent, enduring systems of alphabetic writing. I have created a body of work showing the varieties of forms of the Proto Canaanite letters and their connections to our modern alphabet. Consequently, we are now ready to open up the mystery of the invention of the alphabet and observe the geometric base and action principles underscoring the construction of the alphabet.
Power is a number six. Power is about control, the domain of Gevurah, the sixth of the sefirot—left-center on the tree. Power inherently opposes freedom. Freedom is about allowance, the realm of Hesed, the fifth sefirah. These two, power and freedom, are opposites on the Tree of Sefirot. Power restrains freedom, while freedom has the effect of diluting power.
Power, on the other hand, is invested in self interest. Power leads to the accumulation of resources, of wealth. That is because power rules wealth. Power is literally above or over wealth. This is apparent in the tree where wealth equates to Hod, number nine on the tree, beneath power. Power is the heart of material things. Situated beneath it, wealth sustains power, upholding its existence. Together they create a pact—power seeking wealth and wealth sustaining that power. So to power is added more wealth, hence assuring more power. It is viciously cyclic, a symbiotic relationship if ever there was one.
Rule opposes creativity. Creativity belongs to Hokhmah, the second of the sefirot. Creativity breaks the rules—is open to anything. But creativity is also born of austerity, of lack. Wealth stagnates, there is no pressure to dream, to imagine. But in creativity is imagination, the power to see the possible. Creativity should not be overlooked as having the greatest potential to overcome the habitual march of power, or the unbridled flow of resources into the coffers of the super rich. Creativity naturally opposes the status quo, and arises at the prospect of injustice.
Rule imposes regulations upon the system, creating obstacles to mobility. Mobility is the face of Netsah, the eighth of the sefirot. Opposites always exist across the tree from one another, and on opposite sides of the tree. Mobility is healthy for society and for the economy in general. However, rule is necessary, as also is structure in the case of power. Mobility in the economic system sustains freedom, and freedom sustains creativity. Creativity, for its part, leads to freedom and freedom allows for mobility. This is the relationship of hierarchies on the tree—the lower sustains and supports the higher up, and the upper is the head—ruling, leading, bringing about and enhancing the manifestation of the lower.
The establishment line is so dominant—the propaganda machine incessantly drumming out the virtue of the elitist mentality, that we can scarcely think for ourselves. However, if we are to overthrow the corrupt system of power, this is where we must begin. Ideology correlates with Keter, the crown of the tree. Everything is initiated here—with a change in ideology. We must establish that a monetary system that promotes wealth to flow and to flow increasingly so into a very minute segment of society is categorically flawed. A system favoring but a very small percentage of the populace, while leaving the vast majority without enough to meet the barest of needs is unreasonable. When wealth is so concentrated there is little remaining to go around for everyone else to make do with.
The first symbols of the alphabet were crude drawings, almost childlike in their execution. For example, the sign for Resh, “head,” is the equivalent of a globe sat upon a pedestal, and the sign for Alef, “ox,” is the head of an ox complete with eye and mouth line. The letter Heh, a human stick figure, is thought to illustrate dancing or celebration, while the symbol for Ayin, “eye,” is straight forward—an almond shape with a center dot to indicate the pupil. Pursed lips indicate the letter Peh, “mouth.” Other symbols appearing more abstract may suggest a trend toward a geometric script—
the square motif of a house, an angular fish symbol, a zigzag to indicate a serpent.
Etched thirty-eight hundred years ago into a limestone cliff running along a remote route connecting the ancient cities of Thebes and Abydos, two brief entreaties herald the dawn of alphabetic writing¹. The two inscriptions, 
As proof, among the thirty or so inscriptions are twelve occurrences of four letters in the same sequence. Their picture values are house, eye, ox-goad, and mark. They have no significance as hieroglyphic writings, but when the same symbols are read with Semitic phonetic values they spell the word ba’alat, “goddess.” Like graffiti, Ba’alat marks a temple site alongside numerous hieratic and hieroglyphic inscriptions dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Hathor. Ba’alat is the equivalent Canaanite goddess. Linguists assigned the inscriptions the classification of Proto Sinaitic.
In Kabbalah today, between nothing and everything—between existence and non existence, exist the ten principal numbers, as well as their twenty-two corollaries, the principal phonemes of the alphabet. In their original design, dating back thousands of years, both the sefirot, the numbers, and the letters of the alphabet were arranged in an elegant scheme of mathematical balances and harmonic intervals. These structures were pervasive in the original paradigm of the Tree of Sefirot. The beginning of this mathematical elegance can be seen in the sum of opposite sefirot that always totals eleven. That total indicates a full range of existence. This same mathematical computation is discovered in the sum of Ein Sof, zero, and Malkhut, eleven. Indeed, this is what Malkhut actually signifies—the sum of existence. You’d think if you had to lose status as one of the sefirot, it wouldn’t be such a bad deal to be the summation of all existence!