The Hebrew Letters (excerpts): Chet

The Hebrew Letters (excerpts): Chet: Chet: The Life Dynamic of Run and Return

Chet is the letter of life (chaim, from the root chayah, whose most important letter is chet). We are taught in Chassidut that there are two levels of life "essential life" and "life to enliven." God Himself, as it were, is in the state of "Essential life." His creative power, continually permeating all of reality is "life to enliven." So in the Jewish soul: the essence of its root, at one with God, possesses the state of "essential life." The reflection of the light of the soul which shines below to enliven the body and its physical experience is at the level of "life to enliven." The second level of life, life as we know it in general, manifests itself as pulsation, the secret of "run and return."