Hebrew Letters, Gesture & Language

A Woven Pattern of Symmetrical Letter Pairs in the First Verse of the Hebrew Text of Genesis
©1996 Stan Tenen
Genesis 1.1


WOVEN PATTERN OF SYMMETRICAL LETTER PAIRS IN THE FIRST VERSE OF GENESIS

 Genesis 1:1 AABA


All letter pairs are introduced in the same AABA pattern (shown near the right, above.) The  Yod-Bet pair is reversed because it is woven between the initial Bet and the ZadiFinal which forms the large framing Alef that encompasses the whole verse. The numbers near the letter pairs on the right represent each letter’s position in the alphabet counted in Base-3 or Ternary. (Ternary counting is similar to computer Binary except  ternary uses three symbols; 0,1,2, instead  of  binary’s two symbols: 0,1. Alef is count 000.)


THE LETTERS OF GENESIS 1:1, IN ORDER, ON A “BEAD CHAIN.”


Genesis 1:1 Windings
All the letters are paired only when the bead chain has 7-turns (6-turns around plus 1-turn back through the center.)
The tightest (most elegant) spiral that allows all the letters to be paired has 8-positions per turn, as shown below.


As the bead chain is curled up, the letters are arrayed so as to align pairs of the same letter Bet-Bet, He-He, Shin-Shin, MemFinal-MemFinal, etc.) or pairs of letters in symmetrical positions in the alphabet. Thus the “odd” Lamed at position (102) in the alphabet, which has no twin, is paired with the “extra” Resh at position (201) in the alphabet. The ternary numbers (102) and (201) are symmetrical mirror images of each other. The same is true for the He (011) and the Mems (110), the Vav (012) and the Tovs (210), and the Bet (001) and the Yods (100).

Genesis 1:1 Toroidal Autocorrelatoin
7-turn toroidal "spiral" autocorrelation of Genesis 1:1


In the  "AABA" woven pattern (repeated below), the initial Bet (001) also pairs, in a different way, with the ZadiFinal (222) because (222) in reverse count is (-001). The ZadiFinal and the initial Bet connect together to form a large, seventh, Alef, which encompasses the whole verse. The large Alef is the head and the tail of the oroboros, “the snake that eats its tail.” This pattern accounts for all of the letters in the first verse of Genesis.


Genesis 1:1 AABA

What makes this so important is that these patterns are so strong that if any letter had been miscopied, added, or omitted, it could be uniquely replaced by reference to the pattern of the other letters alone.

The 7-turn spiral pattern and the “AABA” pattern of the letters whose Base-3 positions are mirror images, when combined, enable us to “repair” any lost or miscopied letter.

For example, if one of the Tavs were missing, we would notice that Tav-Vav pairings were defective when compared to the regular “AABA” pattern of all of the other pairs of letters with mirror image Base-3 counts. There are three He's (011) and one Mem (110). The same is true for the three Resh's (201) and the one Lamed (102), etc. If we believe that the pattern is not likely to be broken, then the “AABA” pattern of the other Base-3 pairs tells us to expect to find the same pattern for the Tavs  (210). 

If this is true, then if we find that there are two Tavs, we know that there must actually be a total of three Tavs in the first verse of Genesis. If we do not find three then there must be one missing. Further we know that, if the pattern of the other letter pairs holds, there must be one pairing of Tav (210) with another Tav AND there must be one pairing of a Tav (210) with the one Vav (012) which also must be in the first verse. If instead of a questionable Tav, we have the expected (from the pattern of the other letters) three Tavs and we do not see a Vav, then we know that a Vav must be missing. The symmetry of the spiral pattern even suggests where we should replace the (hypothetically) missing Vav to return the first verse to its intended reading.

If any letter had been miscopied, it could be detected because it would not have a Base-3 twin and it would not be one of the letters whose Base-3 counts are symmetrical. (A symmetrical letter can only be paired with a twin of itself.) Likewise, there would likely be other letters that almost formed the regular “AABA” pattern but with a letter seemingly missing. The odd letter, the missing letter, the “AABA” pattern and the toroidal/spiral pattern all combine to enable us to“repair” the text if it has been damaged and needs its letters “re-paired” with each other. (Pun intended.)

There are some situations were the patterns that we have found in the letter sequence of first verse of Genesis will not enable us to unambiguously correct errors. Usually only one letter can be corrected, because if there are two or more errors the first verse is not long enough  to express a pattern strong enough to be trusted and explicit. When more of the text can be examined and these patterns can be refined from a much longer sequence of letters it should be possible to correct more potential errors. On average we estimate that each verse allows for the correction of one letter. Thus the greater the number of verses, the more potential errors can be corrected. This assumes that the patterns continue in a coherent fashion. There is independent evidence from researchers at UCLA and Hebrew University that there are letter level patterns throughout the Hebrew Bible. Meru’s findings suggest how and why these patterns arise and what they may mean.
The presence of error-correcting patterns is by itself significant. There is no meaning to correcting a meaningless pattern. 

These patterns strongly imply that the Hebrew Bible has significant meaning encoded in the sequence of letters that make up the texts. Kabbalists have always claimed that this was so, but it has been hard to prove.  Even statistical evidence of letter patterns does not really help because statistics do NOT provide meaning.

The patterns we have found are likely statistically verifiable, but that is not the most significant finding.  Statistical patterns can be due to meaningful or meaningless causes. The patterns Meru Foundation has found are meaningful in themselves regardless of statistical tests. The patterns in Genesis generate an elegant model of Continuous Creation that helps to explain and explicate many Kabbalistic teachings that have eluded understanding and it generates the letters of the Hebrew alphabet in a way the confirms the traditional claim that they are natural, universal, and applicable as a bridge between physics and consciousness. 

Read the related article, Genesis and the Sepher Yetzirah, which uses principles developed in the above essay.

 

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