Truth and Death
Anything else?
In high school, during a Judaism class, our Rav introduced us the word Truth. Emèth (אמת) in Hebrew. This word has fascinated me, and now I’ll explain you why.
A special order
Emeth consists of three letters. The aleph (א), mem (מ) and tav (ת). These are not three random letters. According to the Hebrew alphabet, these letters are the first, middle and last of the alphabet. This means that the truth is something that stays the same from start to finish.
Do you think this is a fortuity? Well, you know how to say lie in Hebrew? Sheker (שקר). Here are three consecutive letters, signifying the lies have a limited duration.
Death
Even more interesting is that if you remove the aleph, the last two letters form the word Meth (מת), death. As if the essence of the truth is one: eventually death comes to everyone. Thrilling, right?
Kabbalah
I’m not a fan of Kabbalah, not because i do not recognize it as true, but because I think it’s too commercialized nowadays and distorted from its true essence. In most cases, when someone tries to teach you some Kabbalah, probably is like someone trying to teach calculus to a kindergarten child.
Well, Emeth is also linked to the Kabbalah. It is said that in Prague, during a persecution of the Jews, Rabbi Yehudah Loew created a giant to protect the community, called Golem. The story also says that the Rav gave life to the Golem by writing on her forehead Emeth, and then take away his life by removing the first letter, thus leaving Meth.
There are many other meanings and stories on this word, but I will stop here.
So?
I have had enough of these three things to make me fall madly in love with this word. If you already know me, I have probably already told you this thing a hundred times. I also wanted a tattoo, but the Jewish religion forbids them. I settled for a necklace that I almost always wear.
So when I wake up in the morning and I look myself in the mirror, I always remember two things:
- Live a truthful life.
- Today could be the last day of your life.
