Once and Future Spelling

Jerusalem is by far the most frequently named city in the Bible (albeit never mentioned explicitly in the Pentateuch). Including the twenty-six (the gematriya of the Tetragrammaton – God’s holy four-letter name) times the name appears in its Aramaic form, the Holy City is mentioned 667 times. What many people fail to note is that a mere five times, the name Yerushalayim is spelled fully, with the letter yod between the lamed and final mem.

(There may be a halachic application of the spelling of the city’s name: as a get [divorce document] must be written exactly, some halachic authorities require the common Biblical spelling, as opposed to the current norm of using the extra yod.)

Rabbenu Beḥayye [1255–1340], in his commentary on Numbers 19:13, offers a conceptual explanation of the meaning of the yod: as the suffix “ayim” in Hebrew is reserved for things which appear only in pairs (e.g. body parts: einayim [eyes], etc.), “Yerushalayim” refers to two Jerusalems: the earthly and the heavenly. The missing yod, Rabbenu Behayye asserts, refers to the heavenly Temple (which is above the earthly Temple, as our Sages taught). The missing yod signifies that since the destruction of the (earthly) Temple, Jerusalem is incomplete.

According to Rabbenu Beḥayye’s elucidation, the once and future spelling of the name Yerushalayim is with the additional yod. This was the original spelling, and when Jerusalem and the Temple are rebuilt (speedily in our days), the yod will be returned.

Given Rabbenu Beḥayye’s approach, it is fascinating that two of the times Yerushalayim is spelled fully are in connection with its destruction [Jeremiah 26:18; Esther 2:6], as if to hint that the destruction carries with it the promise of rebuilding.

May we assist Yerushalayim in returning its extra letter, through helping her reach her destiny of uniting the People of Israel.