ended-131 Drawings
By Your Children -- .—
KISIMMO:
Sec rets Of The
Alphabet
Elizabeth Applebaum
AppleTree Editor
n Prague, a rabbi was at work on a strange being:
a golem to protect the Jewish people.
Rabbi Judah Loewe, who lived in the 16th century,
was said to have fashioned his creature out of clay,
then brought it to life through the use of a word, emet,
truth, written on the golem's forehead. And when the
clay man's work was done, Rabbi Loewe would, erase
the first letter of emet and leave only met, or dead.
If the thought of learning Hebrew gives you more
chills than the notion of the golem, read on. In fact, the
language is replete with astonishing tales that will take you on a won-
drous adventure ...
I
* Seven letters in the Torah have tiny, three-pronged crowns at their
tops. These crowns are called login. There are numerous midrashim,
or legends, as to why these tagin are atop certain letters. For exam-
ple, the letter ayin is a symbol for am, people, (which begins with the
letter ayin). Am Yisrael, the people of Israel, are said to be loved by
THE BIG STORY on page 62