Silent and Super

The letter alef (א) is a spiritual letter and represents Hashem. This is seen in the following examples.

• The letter א has a gematria of one, and He is ה' אחד.
• The letter א spelled out is אלף. Hashem is the אלופו של עולם, master of the world.
• Many names and descriptions of Hashem begin with א: א-ל, אלה-ים, אדיר, אחד, אדנ-י and אהי-ה.
• The letter א is the only silent letter and regarding Hashem we say לך דמיה תהלה, of You silence is praise, because Hashem is beyond praise.
• Finally, א is formed from a ו and two י s. Adding these letters up, we get a sum of 26, the gematria of י-ה-ו-ה.

In kabbalistic sources, the names of Hashem, י-ה-ו-ה and אדנ-י are combined, where it is spelled י-ה-נ-ו-ד-ה-א-י. As we just mentioned, when we break up the letter א, we notice it is comprised of a ו and two י s. This alludes to the combination of these two names of Hashem as it begins and ends with a י (represented by the two יs in the letter א) and there are six letters in between (ו has a gematria of six).