Below is a very brief summary of the allegory found in the Torah. A person very familiar with the characters and the stories will find it to be familiar, yet a bit confusing. Those who know modern Hebrew may recognize some of the verbal roots or שרשים (ShoReShym) to which the names are alluding. At the end of this summary, there are footnotes that give a brief explanation for each word referred to. However, the fullest understanding can be attained by referencing my dictionary (available here on this website).

 

The Hebrew word meaning “human being” is the name Adam (אדם ?aaDhaaM). This name literally means “the thinker.” It evolved from the verb DaaMAH (דמה)1 which means “to think and make comparisons.” In the Torah, Adam was created in the image of God (Elohim). The word Elohim (אלהים) is a plural of the singular noun Elo’aH (אלוה). Throughout the Torah, the word Elohim is used to refer to both God and to pantheons of gods. In ancient Israelite religion (with few exceptions), when this plural noun was used with a singular verb it referred to the one true Israelite God. However, when Elohim was used with a plural verb it referred to the pantheons of others. According to my etymological paradigm, since the word Elohim evolved from the verb LaaWaH (לוה to join, escort)2 it represents the aspect of God that escorts and guides a person through experience. The implications of Adam being made in the image of Elohim is that our thinking about experience (Adam) is thus made as an image of the guidance (Elohim) that God provides us in our daily experiences.

Adam was initially made male and female. The three-letter root for the Hebrew word meaning male is of the same root as the word for “clear minded > to remember.” This root Z.K.R. literally means “what is clearly apparent.” Not intending to be crass, as compared to a female, a man’s genitalia are readily and clearly apparent. Similarly in modern building construction, some parts are referred to as a male while other parts are referred to as female. The Hebrew word for female (N’Q!aeBhaH נקבה) derives from a root that in Arabic means “to bore, drill, make a hole, pierce; delve into and search.” Therefore, the male aspect of Adam (a person’s thinking) represents our thinking about those things in experience that are clearly apparent (זכר male)3 in experience. In contrast, those things in experience that are delved into for greater clarity and understanding are represented by the female (נקבה)4. This is what is meant allegorically when the Torah text says that Adam was made male and female in the image of God’s guidance.

However, Adam represents a later stage in the human being’s development. In Torah allegory, the human being’s pre-thinking stage is represented by the earth itself. Derived from a verb meaning “to run on and crush,” the word for earth (ארץ ?eReTs!)5 is closely related to the word ?aRTs!uTh (ארצות)5 – a talmudic word meaning “a person’s disposition” or “the way a person runs toward” the various opportunities found in experience. The Torah text tells us that in the beginning the earth was “still and disordered” (commonly translated as “unformed and void”). These same words can also be used to describe a human being’s behavior where the word for “still” (תוהו ToHu) means “dumbfounded” and the word meaning “disordered” (בוהו BoHu) also means “confused.”6

Unfortunately, in our being constantly confronted by complexities, dilemmas, and challenges, our minds fluctuate between making thoughtful decisions (Adam) and hasty, guesswork, and conjecture. The Hebrew word for snake (נחש NaaHhaaSh) literally means “the hasty one who feels about.”7 When Eve chose to listen to the snake and eat from the tree of knowledge of good and bad, she was choosing to listen to her inner snake – the tendency to guess, be hasty, and defer being thoughtful. Whereas Adam (her thinking) embraced the fruit (and its consequences) after the fact – in retrospect. Nevertheless, God had made Adam (a person’s thinking) from the dirt (עפר \g-Ph-R, dirt (see Arabic)) a root whose verb also represents “the ability to make detailed observations of experience.”9 Thus, God tells Adam that eventually he will return to the dirt - the ability to make thoughtful and detailed observations. In Hebrew, Eve is called Chavah (חוה HhaWaH). Her name derived from a verb meaning “bringing forth life.” However, another verb of identical spelling means “to point out and instruct.” Together, a person’s thinking (Adam) and a person’s ability to point out opportunities found in experience (Eve) give each person an ability to repeatedly look out into the world so as to acquire (Q!-N-H קנה) of many choices (קין QaYiN, Cain).10 However, as a relentless and repetitive behavior, the behavior represented by Cain ultimately kills off the ability to avail oneself of an opportunity (הבל HeBheL, Abel).11

Allegorically, each story in the Torah presents the reader with archetypes that demonstrate both human potential and our shortcomings. We have the ability to approach life with an increased willingness to give forth of ourselves to experience (אברם ?aBhRaM Avram),12 but we often choose to hold back and curse in the face of opportunities (לוט Lot).13 We have a tendency to succumb to feelings of brooding uncertainty (סדם S'DhoM, Sodom)14 and feeling overwhelmed (עמורה \gaMoRaH, Gammorah).15 Nevertheless, by spreading our wings in pursuit of what is stirring in experience (אברהם Avraham),16 we can engage in a clear understanding and covenant (ברית B’RyTh)17 with God’s bringing forth of existence (Y-H-W-H) and with God’s guidance (Elohim). All of those potential experiences demand that we layer and stratify them – setting particular things as priorities over others (לבן LaaBhaaN, Lavan).18 The process of investigating and following through with experience (יעקב Ya’aQoBh, Jacob)19 sometimes feels like we are entangled in a wrestling-hold with what God initiates in experience, while at other times, it enables us to remain visually fixed on those things (ישראל Yisrael).20

During the course of our lives, when we acknowledge (ידה YaaDaH) God’s bringing forth of existence (יהודה Y’HuDhaH, Judah),21 we have the option to blame God – becoming annoyed (ער \aeR),22 complaining in being reluctant (אונן ?oNaN),23 and by choosing to be indifferent-apathetic (שלה ShaeLaH);24 or we can otherwise choose to breach (פרץ PeReTs!)25 our reluctance and instead shine brightly, throwing ourselves (זרח ZeRaHh)26 into the experiences of our lives. However, when we choose life, do not for a moment think that it will be simple, easy, or uncomplicated. Life is replete with opportunities for us to visually narrow in upon as they appear to be narrowing us in (מצרים MiTs!RaYiM, Egypt).27 Under such circumstances, the choice will be whether to serve chaos (פרעה Pharaoh)28 or to send ourselves forth with ever-present mindfulness to serve God’s bringing forth of existence (Y-H-W-H). Each person being endowed with the abilities to bring particular things in experience to light (אהרן Aharon)29 and to draw upon specific aspects of experience (משה MoSheH, Moses)30 can make the best of each and every available experience and opportunity afforded them by God's bringing forth existence (Y-H-W-H) and God's guidance (ELoHiM).

By design, the events of our lives can be rather intimidating (חתי ChaeThy, Hittites).31 If we attentively listen to God’s bringing forth of existence and to God’s guidance, we will recognize that, like rain (מטר MaaT!aaR),32 God gives us targets and goals (מטרה MaT!aaRaaH)33 in their appropriate times – those that help us to aim (יורה YoReH)34 and others that eventually come to fruition even if a little bit late (מלקוש MaLQ!oSh).35 There is so much to examine (אמרי ?aMoRy, Amorites),36 much musing to do (סחון SiHhoN),37 and many calculated decisions to be made (חשבון HheShBoN).38 It is easy for “you to be tired and weary and to not be in awe of God’s guidance” (אַתָּ֖ה עָיֵ֣ף וְיָגֵ֑עַ וְלֹ֥א יָרֵ֖א אֱלֹהִֽים Deut. 25:18). We must remember with mental clarity (זכור)39 to not suppress our thoughts (שכח).40 For this lack of mental clarity will inevitably make oneself vulnerable to attack by Amalaeq (עמלק) – an afflicting and eclipsing of the ability to remain ever-presently mindful of what crowds in from experience.41 Like the Israelites in the final days of the Torah narrative, we find ourselves encamped on the plains of Moab (מואב Mo?aBh) merely yearning to give forth to experience.42 Of those who started this journey, the ones who get to enter the promised land are those who live their lives like Caleb the son of Y’phuneh (כלב בן יפנה) who doggedly seize and grab hold of life no matter which way they may be turned by it43 and those like Y’hoshua the son of Nun (יהושע בן נון) who linger with and dwell upon God’s bringing forth of existence, moving along with any situation with endurance and persistence.44