In today’s Torah portion, Vayechi, we read the beginning of the blessings from Jacob (Israel) to his sons. In particular this year the blessing of Judah stood out to me.
“Judah, your brothers shall praise you; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father’s sons shall bow down to you. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. He ties his foal to the vine, And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine; He washes his garments in wine, And his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes are dull from wine, And his teeth white from milk” (Genesis 49:8-12).
While this blessing contains many allusions to the Jewish people and, more importantly, the Messiah, I wanted to focus on the first word of the blessing: the name Judah. The Baal HaTurim makes an interesting note on the display of Judah’s name within a Torah scroll. Judah’s name: (Yod – Hey – Vav – Dalit – Hey) contains the name of HaShem (Yod – Hey – Vav – Hey) and, as such, must begin the column of the section of Torah which they belong to. The placement draws attention to Judah’s name and made me wonder: what is the significance of the Dalet in the name of HaShem? We know from ancient Hebrew that each letter represented a picture or description of something. In this case, Dalet represents a “door”.
On the sixth night of Hanukkah, I mentioned the Kabbalistic belief in the symbolism of the Hebrew letter Vav and how it connects the two Hey’s of HaShem’s name, bringing the glory of the first Hey (heavenly glory) to the second Hey (this world). In Hebrew word pictures, the letter Vav represents ‘a nail,’ which connects or binds things together. However, in Judah’s name, there is another letter separating the Vav and the second Hey, the Dalet, a “door” between heaven and earth. Who or what could this door be?
I believe there are at least two interpretations here. The first is that the “door” to becoming connected to HaShem is through Judah. This is the tribe that, today, is where we derive the term Jews and Judaism. Indeed, the Jewish people are called to be “a light to the nations” (Genesis 12:1-3, Isaiah 49:6). If we want to join ourselves to HaShem we must go through the Jewish people. They are the people through whom HaShem established His eternal covenant and who became His chosen people. We must be “grafted into the olive tree” of Israel if we want to become connected to HaShem (Romans 11:17-24).
The second interpretation takes us a level deeper. Our Messiah, Yeshua, says quite literally “I am the door” through which everyone must enter if he wishes to be saved (John 10:9). He also “stands at the door and knocks” (Revelation 3:20). He is the “door” which not only connects the Jewish people to HaShem but he is also the “door” by which we, as Gentiles, must enter in order to come into the sheepfold of Israel.
Bonus interpretation: Hebrew letters also represent numbers which is why gematria is often found within Hebrew as well as other ancient languages whose letters also represent numbers. In this case the letter Dalet is also the number 4. On the fourth day of creation, HaShem created the sun, moon, and stars for “signs and seasons and days and years” (Genesis 1:14). How interesting is it that He then designated a time every week for us to meet with Him, the Shabbat, which He gave that to Israel as the fourth commandment (Exodus 20:8-11).
©2023 Jesse Almanrode, Tentstake Ministries all rights reserved. No copying or reproducing of this article without crediting the author or Tentstake Ministries Publishing.