“Unpacking” is my approach to exploring the deeper or hidden meanings of Hebrew words. It’s a combination of gematria (Jewish numerology), letter meanings, grammar, and intuition.
Netzach (נצח) Persistence, Endurance, Eternity
5786 is the 4th year of the current shmita cycle, and in the Kesharim K’doshim school of mussar — Netzach is the meta-soul trait for year 4. Learn more about my approach to the 7 years of the shmita cycle.
"God set lights in the vault of the sky, to shepherd the day and the night."
Know that perseverance on our own path lights the way for others.
Kesher Pittsburgh 5783 Rosh Hashanah Machzor
Netzach holds all of these potential definitions:
root letter meanings: To be victorious, conquer, win, triumph, overcome, surpass, excel, defeat, beat, vanquish ►argue, dispute, quarrel ► superintend, oversee, manage, direct ►conduct an orchestra ►make everlasting/illustrious, perpetuate, commemorate ►sparkle, shine, glorify
My direct translation: gateway of endless possibilities
Gematria
50+90+8= 148
Nachatz (נחץ) to press on, urge; N’chatz to squeeze in, strap
as root letters: To press, urge, hurry, stress, emphasize
Chetzan (חצן) bosom; externalize;
as root letters: To turn outward, expose to another
Chameq (חמק) to enclose, encompass, gird; to turn round, to go away
as root letters: To evade, turn hither and thither, turn aside/away, elude duty, slip away, shun, hide, run off, sneak
Meekah (מקח) a taking or receiving
as root letters: To bargain, haggle, barter, negotiate
Sahpach (ספח) To pour forth; to anoint; to appoint; to erupt; to attach oneself, to adhere to; Seepach of river, cast out alluvial soil, make new land
as root letters: To join, attach, add, adhere, crowd together ►pour out ►make new land ►be afflicted with psoriasis
1+4+8 = 13 (מ) mem (water)
1+3= 4 (ד) dalet (door)
Netzach (נצח): Justice must stand between the vessel and the gateway of the future to ensure that we attach ourselves to goodness, so holiness may pour forth to become our new land. What we make space for is what we value. What we value is what we cultivate. What we cultivate is what grows into the future we leave behind. That is eternity.
How did I get to this and what are the sources I used? Read on…
Netzach (נצח) Persistence, Endurance, Eternity
Nun: נ
This is the vessel that holds eternal potential. It is a time capsule to help us learn from the past, to live in the present, for the sake of the future. What do we need to remember? What will you place inside that allows for the cycles of growth, decay, and seeding required for something to endure eternally? (KhM)
Number: 50
Receiving vessel
Anavah: Humility
“No more than my space. No less than my place.” Alan Morinis
Noon (נוּן) Heb.: continue, to increase, propagate; posterity, Joshua’s father (the father of the successor of Moses); Noona (נענע) Aramaic: fish.
Tzadi: צ
The rock (tzur) that is earth is our foundation. What must be to hold what might be: justice. Justice (tzedek) means not only caring for, but honoring the fringes (tzitzit) through acts of justice (tzedakah). A truly just person (tzadik) is flexible — they know how to make space (tzitzum) for every one. And while “the moral arc of the universe bends towards justice*” — it never does so alone. (KhM)
Number: 90
The combination of a yud (י) and a nun (נ): the spark and the vessel.
Searching for the sparks of the broken vessel of creation
Ancient Hebrew pictograph: Trail; meaning: journey, hunt
The first letter formed by G!d/dess
Tzavta (צוותא) aramaic for joined, connection, entwine; said to be the root word of mitzvah (מצוה) sacred connective action
*Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Chet: ח
The tension between opposites is often where we find magiq. A gateway is an entrance, and exit, and its own space as a threshold. It is all potential in one. It appears dualistic, entrance/exit, before/after, inside/outside but is infinite. Without the structure there is just potential. With the structure potential is transformed into possibility. (KhM)
Number: 8
The life force
Gateway
Sacred tension/balance that creates wholeness
Infinite Non-duality
וְנֹ֕חַ מָ֥צָא חֵ֖ן בְּעֵינֵ֥י יְהוָֽה
But Noach found favor in the eyes of YHWH.
Noach (נח) is named as the first righteous person who builds a container (aka ark) that ensures the continuation of life when the world is destroyed by the flood. The only beings that survive the flood are those in the ark and those in the water, symbolized by the letter that precedes nun (נ), the letter mem (מ).
Add the letter tzadi (צ) to nun-chet (נח), and you get netzach.
Selected Sources:
KhM = original writing by Ketzirah haMa’agelet
The Book of Letters by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner
The Book of Words by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner
Hebrew Matters by Joseph Lowin
The Hebrew Letters Speak by Kohenet Nancy Handwerger
A New Oracle of Kabbalah: Mystical Teachings of the Hebrew Letters by Richard Seidman
