Mantzepach – The Mystery of the Five Final Letters
Mantzepach – The Mystery of the Five Final Letters
The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters, plus five final letters, known as MaNTZePaKh:
ם – Mem sofit (final) – its gematria is 600
ן – Nun sofit (final) – 700
ץ – Tzadi sofit (final) – 900
ף – Peh sofit (final) – 800
ך – Kaf/Khaf sofit (final) – 500
Why are they called final letters?
The Holy Zohar explains it as follows. The final letters are upright, concealed, and hidden in the Higher World. After Adam’s sin, the Higher Light was concealed—and these letters were hidden at that same time, until Avraham came and grasped them through the Ruach HaKodesh that rested upon him. Yitzchak then inherited these letters. Yitzchak passed them on to Yaakov, and Yaakov to Yosef. When Yosef died, the Jews went into exile, and the letters of MaNTZePaKh were concealed.
MaNTZePaKh is called “Chamesh otiyot stumot – keneged chamesh leshonot ha-Geulah” – (five sealed letters, corresponding to the five expressions of Geulah that fill the void).
It is also said that these letters correspond to the five pieces of matzah that are hidden.
The final letter is also connected with the end of the world, and with the five kfulot: the five pieces of matzah—the afikoman (that is, the portion of matzah hidden during the Pesach Seder). According to Kabbalistic tradition, the afikoman is broken into five pieces, hinting at the five levels of the soul.
“Kfulot” means “multiplied” or “doubled” letters. Each of the expressions in Tanakh relating to our forefathers, as well as to Yosef and David, contains two identical letters (which may be final letters).
For example, regarding Avraham: “And the L-rd said to Avram: ‘Go forth for yourself’”— לך לך – Lech Lecha (Bereishit 12:1);
Regarding Yitzchak: “And the man grew richer and richer”— מאוד מאוד (me’od me’od)—(Bereishit, Vayeitzei 30:43), and so on.
MaNTZePaKh and all five kfulot
– Avraham – “Lech Lecha” / kaf twice /
the letters are connected with Avraham’s salvation from Ur Kasdim, as it is written: לך לך – “lech lecha”—(go forth for yourself). (Bereishit 12:1)
– Yitzchak – “Me’od Me’od” / mem twice /
the letters are connected with Yitzchak’s salvation from the Philistines, as it is written: לך מעמנו כי עצמת ממנו מאוד — “lech me’imanu ki atzamta mimenu me’od”—(leave us, for you have become mightier than us). (Bereishit 26:16)
– Yaakov – “Hatzileini Na” / nun twice /
the letters are connected with Yaakov’s deliverance from Esav, as it is written: הצילני נא מיד אחי מיד — “hatzileni na miyad achi miyad Esav”—(save me from my brother Esav). (Bereishit 32:11)
– Yosef – “Pakod Pakadti” / peh twice /
the letters are connected with the Exodus from Egypt, as it is written: פקד פקדת אתכם “pakod pakadti etchem”—(I have remembered you). (Shemot 3:16)
– David – “Tzemach Tzamachti” / tzadi twice /
the letters are connected with the future redemption, which will come when the reign of the fourth kingdom comes to an end, as it is written: צמח שמו יצמח — “Tzemach Shmo… Yitzmach”—(Tzemach is his name, and he will sprout forth from his place). (Zechariah 6:12)
The five letters of Mantzפach – symbols of the five righteous men
Khaf sofit is the symbol of the first righteous man, Avraham. The Almighty gives him a test—the first of those recorded in the Torah—when He says, “Lech Lecha”—“go forth for yourself.”
Mem sofit is the symbol of the second righteous man, Yitzchak. When the Philistines ask Yitzchak to leave, saying that they have begun to fear him, they utter the phrase: “atzamta mimenu me’od” (leave, because “you are much mightier than us”).
Nun sofit is Yaakov’s letter. Yaakov pleads with the Almighty to help him stand against Esav. Knowing that his brother is approaching him with 400 warriors, he asks: “Hatzileini, na”—(please save me from the hand of my brother).
Peh sofit is the symbol of Yosef. It is also his password. Only his name contains a final peh. Before his death, Yosef passes this password on to Yaakov’s sons. It is what the redeemer sent by G-d will have to say in order to bring the people out of Egypt. Because of Yosef, the Jews ended up in Egypt, for he was the one who summoned his father and brothers there to save them from the famine that had struck the entire world. And now, one could not simply leave Egypt—it was impossible. Egypt was a sealed and closed country. Yet thanks to Yosef, thanks to his password, the Exodus would indeed take place. His password was peh sofit. The words he uttered, and later Moshe as well, were “Pakod Pakadti” (“I have remembered you”—meaning that the Almighty had remembered the Jews). These words can also carry other meanings: remembered, punished, counted, elevated.
Tzadi sofit represents liberation from exile and is the symbol of Mashiach. His name, as stated in the book of the prophet Zechariah, is “Tzemach Shmo… Yitzmach” (that is, “the sprout that grows from itself”).
In the Amidah, in the blessing in which we ask for the coming of Mashiach, we say: “And may You speedily cause the sprout of David Your servant to flourish, and raise his glory through Your salvation...” It is clear that this is a paraphrase of the words of the prophet Zechariah.
Thus, there are five: the three forefathers, plus Yosef and David.
Yosef brings redemption from the first exile, the Egyptian exile; David brings redemption from the final exile, the one in which we now live.
The Maharal of Prague, discussing the word “pakod,” Yosef’s password, says that this word encodes the period of the Egyptian exile. The word “pakod” consists of three letters—“peh,” “kuf,” and “dalet,” and the Maharal examines the milui of these letters: “peh” (peh-heh), “kuf” (kuf-vav-peh), and “dalet” (dalet-lamed-tav). The gematria of heh is 5, vav is 6, peh is 80, lamed is 30, and tav is 400.
5 × 86 = 430. All our suffering connected with Egypt lasted 430 years. The Book of Shemot (12:40) states: “The time that the Children of Israel dwelled in Egypt was 430 years.”
One-fifth of 430 is 86. We have a tradition that during the final 86 years in Egypt, the Jews’ lives were at their most unbearable.
Thus, the password passed down by Yosef conveys both the length of the Jews’ stay in Egypt and the most horrific period of their enslavement.
The letter peh sofit symbolizes anger in Judaism. “Af” in Hebrew means anger. However, the word can also be translated as “nose.” The expression of the nose most fully and clearly reflects a state of anger. When a person is angry, his nostrils flare as though emitting heat. (Interestingly, the letter peh sofit is entirely absent from Birkat HaMazon. According to one tradition, whoever recites Birkat HaMazon with complete devotion and thoughtfulness will never be subjected to the anger of the Almighty.)
In Yosef’s name, peh sofit seems to help digest and overcome the Creator’s anger, to cope with it and withstand it. The terrible famine that descended upon the land did not occur by itself, but by His will. And only Yosef proved capable of feeding the entire world even under such impossibly difficult circumstances.
The Arizal taught that all spiritual and material changes in the world are brought about through the 22 letters of the Torah. The letters of MaNTZePaKh—five letters that have a final form, sofit—are connected with the manifestation of the strict attribute of Judgment. Of these letters, “nun sofit” – ן – expresses the manifestation of the harshest Judgment. Through it, Nachash was created, and even its shape resembles ן “nun sofit.”
(Compiled by Sila Tehillim based on a Zohar lesson on Pesach by Tzvi Nisanzon and a lesson by Chava Cooperman at “Ohalei Yaakov”)
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Tags: Passover, Afikoman, Awaiting Mashiach, Mantzepach, Hebrew Alphabet, MANTZEPACH — The Secret of Geulah, Mantzepach and 5 Pieces of Matzah, Mantzepach and Afikoman, Sod Torah – The Secret of MANTZEPACH, Matzah and Man Tzephach
