When the world is composed of information, the manner in which that information is structured holds the utmost significance. Within the context of the inner dimensions of the Torah, this ‘information universe’ is coded with the Hebrew letters. Each letter would constitute a quantized unit of meaning, a semi-autonomous sign. In the process of articulating these signs we may come to discover that grammar augments the reality being created.

With the regular forms of the 22 Hebrew letters, they may continue to flow, to be laid down in a succession, without needing to stop. For instance, I can keep writing or speaking with letters that do not signal in advance that they are the conclusion to any series of letters. While the letter series might stop for the simple reason that a word unit has been spelled out, the final letter cannot be said to be an end point until I proceed to the space between words and then to next letter that comes after (in the next word).

There is an important exception to this that shows how the system of letters contains its own internal punctation, its own end points, which is when we deal with the double forms of five of the Hebrew letters: Mem [ם], Nun [ן], Tzadi (Tzadik) [ץ], Pei (Fei) [ף] and Kaf [ך]. They are altogether known by the acronym ‘mantzepak’  [מנצפ’ך]) which brings the total to 27 characters. These double letters are also called final letters in that they are, as a general rule, the ‘endings’ of a word. No more letters can be added in a set or series (which made up a word) after them.

In terms of data processing architectures, these five letters act as markers for breaking up certain data packets into definite chunks. If we were to conceive of a series of uninterrupted letters as one data burst, then the terminus of that stream would be designated by the insertion of one of these five ‘model’ endings. Taking this a bit further, if we were to conceive of the letter series or data stream as a certain narrative that is being transmitted, then the intermission in the story or its conclusion would be found in these five final letters. Now let’s say that the story that we are experiencing is not to our liking and we would very much like to change it or simply have it end. In such a case, from a kabbalistic perspective, we would have to deploy one of these five ‘letters’ to accomplish this.

All of this can help make sense of an odd statement from the Midrash known as Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer (Chapter 48) where we are informed that ‘the five double [or end] letters in the Torah allude to five redemptions.” Without going through all five, we can summarize the text and say that the story lines of Avraham/Abraham, Yitzchak/Isaac, and Yaakov/Jacob are redirected and redeemed with the encoded allusion to the final or double form of the letters Kaf, Mem and Nun. In the Torah’s record of each of their lives, one of these three letters shows up in the story to indicate that a redemptive change is happening. These are life altering signs. However, it is the two remaining (Pei and Tzadik) that will be the focus of our attention.

Where do we find a suggestion of an ‘end’ to the archetypal exile in Egypt? According to the Midrash, the ‘confirmation code’ phrase was given over to Moshe/Moses in Shemot/Exodus (3:16) where God says: “…I have surely remembered you and what was done to you in Egypt.” Being remembered and not forgotten is a reference to a Divine promise to take the people out of bondage. The translation of “pakod pakadati” as “surely remembered” does not really capture the doubling of the expression in the original Hebrew. It would read more like “remember–I have remembered” where each of the two Hebrew words [פקד פקדתי] begins with the letter Pei [פ].

The most basic meaning of the name of the letter Pei is mouth (peh). The root Pei-Kuf-Dalet, which is used in both words, is a type of remembrance or ‘re-visiting’ of an issue which relates to birth. In the Zohar and its attending commentaries, it is pointed out that pekidah (remembrance) is juxtaposed with the Divine intervention into fertility issues of the Matriarchs. On a figurative level, this would be similar to someone who has creative talent which cannot find expression. Such a person cannot find a ‘mouth’ (Peh), a outlet through which to escape one’s inner confinement.

The exodus from Egypt is all about recovering one’s voice and finding an opening with which to express oneself (Pesach, “Passover” can be read as peh-sach, ‘a speaking mouth’). When I speak I give birth (i.e. externalize and actualize) my inner potential. Thus, the Midrash connects the double Pei as a double mouth (Peh). A doubling of this letter or sign is then considered like its ‘final form.’ The final Pei (Fei) would be akin to acquiring the means of one’s ultimate self-expression (one’s ‘final’ mouth). This final mouth is introduced via an expression ‘headed’ by two mouths (or two signs for the mouth which make up the acronym from the phase “pakod pakadati”).

Mystically, this suggests that my ultimate expressiveness operates in a twofold manner. One mouth aims above and another below. By ‘above’ we mean the metaphoric and the metaphysical, the universal and the global, while ‘below’ denotes a more literally grounded expression, the particular and the local. In other words, I seem to be speaking plainly and discussing ordinary things that fit with the course of conversation about the immediate context of the material existence of this world and yet everything that I say can also be interpreted with abstract tropological significance. My ‘two’ mouths are really two dimensions of the mouth. My discourse as the final form of my ‘mouth’ or expressive nature is all ‘double entendre.’

What about the ‘final’ final letter? If the Pei reflects the call-sign of the original collective redemption, then the Tzadik sofit or final Tzadik [ץ] would function as the clue to the future final redemption. Here the Midrash cites a verse from Zechariah (6:12) which commentators understand as a reference to Moshiach (the Messiah) and the ultimate world revolution: “…behold, there is a man, sprout [tzemach (צמח)] is his name, and he will flourish [yitzmach (יצמח)] in his place….” To be a sprout in Kabbalah, would compare with the scientific notion of emergence. Some new dimension develops out of what was already there. The prior reality provides the seed from which a novel reality can grow (the whole of which is greater than the sum of its parts). The emergent dimension would count as a quantum leap beyond everything that preexisted. Moreover, we can’t even calculate it as something which is a proportional effect to some cause (the plant sprouting is much more substantial than the seed that gave rise to it).

Just as we had a final Pei being constructed as a ‘doubling’ property, so too the tipping point of the Tzadik (‘proper connector’–literally ‘righteous one’) produces an exponential growth due to its own ‘doubling’ power. The final redemption is a developmental process that leads to accelerated and limitless growth. The ultimate manifestation of that growth can be seen as the proliferation of interconnectivity in that (as we have stated in the previous articles of this series), a Tzadik sofit (the ‘final Tzadik,’ the messianic, the tipping point for connectivity) produces an ever extending reshet or network. When combined (we will still mention the exodus from Egypt in the times of the final redemption), the Pei (relating to the mouth) and Tzadik (relating to connective networks) will form a ‘communications network.’ The mouth (mode of discourse) that is connected with everywhere and with everyone via a supermassive network, opens up the possibility of a universal language and the falling of all barriers to communication.

In Part Four we will address the topic of strong verses weak links as a means of growing this network.

http://www.interinclusion.org/inspirations/the-power-of-networks-part-4/

http://www.interinclusion.org/inspirations/the-power-of-networks-part-2/

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