Glila, Galut, Geula, Gilui, Galilee, Golan, Gal – What binds them all together? (Post/Podcast)

Comment: A podcast is below the post. See also links to YouTube below.

Biblical Hebrew assigns names to objects that are meaningful, not merely with respect to their physical properties (as my research testifies; Math Unveils the Truth. Evron’s Video), but also with regard to their functionality, and ultimately their destination, physically and spiritually.

In an earlier post (here), we related to the biblical (and modern Hebrew) Gag (גג), meaning roof (read Hebrew right to left). We have demonstrated the gigantic spiritual significance that the Jewish faith attach to Gag, as an epitome for the disconnect between the two worlds, created “in the beginning” (Genesis 1:1):

“In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.”

No wonder, therefore, that this combination of a single double letter, גג, comprising the second most rare letter in biblical Hebrew (the most rare is Tet, ט), appears repeatedly in such names as Hagag, Hamman the Agagite, Gog and Magog (find details therein).

In this post, we address another combination of a two-letter Hebrew word, Gal (גל), comprising the third letter in the Hebrew alphabet, Gimel, plus the twelfth letter, Lamed (למד). Probably not accidentally, the name of the latter comprises letters of the Hebrew root, L.M.D, source for various Hebrew words all related to… learning.

This two-letter combination, Gimel and Lamed, surprisingly appears repeatedly in numerous words that seem not to share anything in common. Examples:

The Sin of the Golden Calf (Egel, עגל), the Sin of the Spies (Meraglim,מרגלים ), Exile (Galut, גלות), Redemption (Geula, גאולה), Revelation (Gilui, גלוי), Rolling over (Glila, גלילה), Wave (Gal,גל).

This same combination of letters is also embedded in names of two regions of Eretz Israel — Galilee (Galil, גליל) and Golan (Golan,גולן), the only two regions addressed in an account of the signs of End-times by Raban Gamliel (of first century CE, quoted in Mishna, Masechet Sotta, Ch. 9).

In this post, we explore whether all these words indeed share same rare combination, Gimel+Lamed, by random, or, conversely, perhaps some deeper significance is lurking underneath these seemingly unrelated words. Furthermore, we explore why Gal stands in stark contrast, indeed as the opposite, of what Gag symbolizes, namely, an epitome for the process of revelation (of what?), and of the final establishment of linkage between “the heaven and the earth”.

We start with a basic tenet of the Jewish faith, embedded in biblical Hebrew (as we shall soon see) and in the Hebrew Bible — God exists; However, God is concealed; And it is the task of the Jewish people, throughout the unfolding of Jewish history, to reveal Jehovah to the nations of the world, from the time of receiving the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai to End-times, with the final redemption, when “…Jehovah dwells in Zion” (Joel 4:21).

This tenet is pervasive throughout biblical Hebrew and the Hebrew Bible. Let us address some examples.

“World” in Hebrew is Olam (עולם), having same three-letter root, A.L.M, from which such words are derived as “unknown” (as in a mathematical equation, Ne-elam, נעלם), Mystery (Ta-aluma, תעלומה) and else.

Question: What does Olam hide?

Answer: Olam is testimony to the concealed existence of Jehovah. And in linking Earth with Heaven, via a historic process carried out in cycles, like waves (גל), the existence of God (currently concealed) is gradually revealed to humankind.

Another three-letter Hebrew root for the hiddenness of God (and also other uses) is S.T.R. From this root such Hebrew words are derived as to hide (Le-Histater), or a concealed spot (Seter, Mistor). In the Bible, prophet Isaiah (45:15) outcries:

“Indeed, you are a hiding God (El Mistater), God of Israel, savior”.

The book of Esther (אסתר), thence, becomes a historic testimony to the truth of the prophet’s outcry, and to its realization: Although Jehovah is not mentioned in Esther, not even once, it is amply clear that the “God of Israel” is “behind the scenes”, saving the Jews from the first ever attempt to inflict Holocaust on the Jewish people.

Similarly, we find in Psalms (89:47):

“Till when, Jehovah, will you hide thyself (Tistater), for ever?…”.

See also Psalms (90:1).

Interestingly, the English word, standing for the story of the unfolding of human affairs throughout the ages is…History (containing the Hebrew root for hiding, S.T.R). Obviously, “history” did not originate in biblical Hebrew.

The first appearance of Gal (גל) in the Bible may be regarded as epitome to the enduring role of the Jewish people throughout the ages.

Jacob, at the command of his father, Isaac, travels to Paddan-Aram to his family-relative, Laban, to look for a wife (Genesis 28:5). Approaching destination, Jacob encounters Rachel, Laban’s daughter who was a shepherdess, reaching the well to water Laban’s flock. Jacob hurriedly rolls over the stone that covered the well’s mouth (Genesis 29:10):

“…and Jacob went near, and rolled (ויגל) the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock…”.

And the Jewish people are tasked, throughout ages of Jewish history, to repeat the same act of Jacob, allowing the nations of the world, over and over again, to “drink” fresh water while the well’s mouth is still covered. This task of the Jewish people started with receiving the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, and will end at End-times, when “Jehovah dwells in Zion” (Joel 4:21), hidden no more.

How is Gal connected to all these?

Gal, גל, which originally means wave, is a symbol for the historic development, carried out in cycles (like waves) of exile and redemption, Galut and Geula, first from Egypt, then with the destruction of the First Temple, then with the destruction of the Second Temple. With each wave, ignorance of God (“concealment of God”) is slowly dissolving, knowledge of Jehovah becomes more prevalent, and progress is achieved towards the ultimate outcome (Joel 4:21).

Each and every biblical Hebrew word relating to this historic process, which the Jewish people was tasked to fulfill via the Covenant, is affiliated with Gal (גל). From the exile in Egypt and away from the Promised Land (Galut), to the two sins of the Children of Israel on their way to the promised land (Sin of the Egel; Sin of the Meraglim, which caused a mini-exile of forty years in the Sinai desert), to exiles following the destruction of the two temples, to redemption (Geula, return from exile to Eretz Israel), to the War of Gog and Magog and ultimately to the final outcome, revelation (Hitgalut). Each of these descriptive words of historic processes has embedded within it the rare combination of Gal. And this historic progress is moving us towards the end of Jehovah concealment, the disconnect between heaven and earth, to be replaced by the ever-lasting time of Jehovah’s revelation (Hitgalut, Gilui; Malachi 3:1):

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he shall clear the way before me; and suddenly shall the Lord, whom you seek, come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he shall come, says the Lord of hosts”.

Finally, why Gag (גג) symbolizes disconnect between “Heaven and Earth”, while Gal (גל) represents the opposite?

Simply:

Gag (גג) comprises two identical letters. The physical world (Earth) is all there is. This implies stagnation, stalemate, standstill — no progress, no development, no learning. Transition from the first to second (identical) letter is immaterial. Nothing is changed. The physical world is all there is.

The first letter of Gal (גל) is the same as that of Gag, representing the physical world (Earth). However, the second letter, ל, is different. It is named Lamed (meaning learning), and perhaps expectedly its upper left part is pointing upward, towards Heaven. Gal implies a dynamic process, progressing in waves, connecting heaven and earth, learning of God requirements and moving forward towards the total and general knowledge of Jehovah so that the God of Israel is concealed no more (Isaiah 11:9):

“They shall do no harm nor destroy in all of my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of Jehovah as the water covers the sea”.

Podcasts:

English:

Hebrew:

גְּלִילָה, גָּלוּת, גְּאוּלָה, גִּלּוּי, גָּלִיל, גּוֹלָן, (Podcast) מה קושר את כולם יחד

Comments:

To further learn how Galilee (Galil, גליל) and Golan (Golan,גולן) are part and parcel of End-time scenarios, and therefore part of the historic process leading to “Jehovah dwells in Zion”, view lecture by Rav Ynon Kalazan (Hebrew): Rav Ynon Kalazan on Signs of End-times and Current Events

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was an astronomer who, with his observations based on a new telescope that he had invented, helped spread the new Helio-centric world view initiated by Copernicus (to replace the Geo-centric world view that dominated world-view for 1500 years prior; see Wikipedia, Geocentric Model). Galileo was engaged most of his life in learning the cyclic motion of celestial objects, combining his observations with mathematics. It is indeed surprising that Galileo carried a name that implies, in Hebrew, cycles. Galgal in Hebrew is “wheel”, Maagal is “circle”, and Galil in biblical Hebrew means Galilee (a region in Eretz Israel), but also, in biblical Hebrew, something that turns around an axis, like door. In modern Hebrew Galil means “cylinder”. See: Galileo Galilei.
To learn how seriously Jewish scholars have persistently held the faith-based belief in the correspondence between biblical Hebrew names and properties of objects that the names stand for, refer to my post: Why a Jewish Rabbi wondered that Sun in Hebrew not named Eretz (Earth)?
Interestingly, Small-Gematria of Gag and Gal are equal (6). The latter value represents, in Jewish tradition, the physical world (like the six sides of a cube).