Yod versus Kaph

י Yod The Active Hand	כ Kaph The Open Hand
Yod suffix signifies first person possessive, the idea of "mine."	Kaph suffix signifies second person possessive, the idea of "thine."

The letters Yod and Kaph have similar meanings. They both denote the hand, the difference being that while Kaph can signify the hand in general, it literally refers to the Palm of the Hand, and is often translated palm, hollow, handful, and spoon, the latter being a homonym of the name of the eleventh letter. Yod, on the other hand, is used to speak of the Power of the Hand, and is even translated as power in a dozen verses, such as Daniel 12.7 which speaks of the Yad Am Qadosh, translated as the Power of the Holy People (cf. GR 528). Yod corresponds to the English I, and happens to carry the same symbolic meaning. In its essence, Yod is the letter that represents the Ego, the Self the says I, Me, and Mine. For example, when combined with the Lamed prefix, which signifies To or For, we arrive at the word Li, meaing For Me or To me, which is simply analysed as:

לי (Li, For Me) = ל (Lamed, For/To) & י (Yod, Me/Mine)

When Kaph, on the other hand, is combined with the Lamed prefix, we arrive at the word לך (Lakah, For You). This is the beauty and simplicity of the Hebrew language where words are built like buildings reflecting the nature of the stones of which they are built. Truly, a holographic house!

The images above reveal how God integrated the literal meanings of Yod and Kaph with the grammatical function of the letters when He designed the Hebrew language. The symbolic meanings of Yod and Kaph cohere perfectly with the most basic and universal symbolic actions generated by our hand - taking and giving! This is another example of the overwhelming beauty and power of the Holy Tongue. The meanings of words are coherently constructed from the meaning of the constituent letters. God displays the names of both Yod and Kaph in the alphabetic verses from the end of Proverbs:

The emphasis of the Yod verse is the manipulation of objects - the purpose of the Yad (Active Hand) - whereas the emphasis of the Kaph verse is giving to the poor and needy, which is best symbolized by the Open Hand. Note that the verses symmetrically interchange the Yod and the Kaph. These letters are deeply interrelated.

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