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| Detail from “The School of Athens” a fresco by Raphael (1483 – 1520) [Click image to call up all published instalments] |
I don’t remember why I first looked up the letter Chet in the Hebrew alphabet (or aleph-bet), but I thought it interesting enough to write about.
Chet is the eighth letter and it has a shape like a doorway where the blood of the lamb was daubed during the first passover. It is said to be the letter of life (Chayim) and living (Chayah).I remember growing up learning about all the stories of the Old Testament and New, the enslavement of the Israelites and their deliverance after the ten plagues that befell the Egyptians. I had a big yellow book with illustrations titled “My Book of Bible Stories” that detailed all of these events, culminating with the miracle crossing of the Red Sea and the shattering of the Pharaoh’s armies when the waters closed back over their chariots and the sea bed.
