cleft

Everyday

1. A cleft is a narrow crack or split in rock or ground, often deep. tree →
2. (old use) Split open, as in a cleft stick. tree →

In the lessons

in stories, a narrow gap in rock or a mountain that a creature passes through

Examples

• The goat jumped across the cleft in the rock. tree →
• Snow lay in the mountain clefts. tree →
• We hid in a cleft in the cliff. tree →

Note

nothing for maths

In Jewish tradition

In Exodus a cleft is a narrow crack in rock. As a verb in the Psalms and Job, to cleft means to split, as God cleft a channel for the flood or split the land.

Interpretation. Tradition reads Moses in the cleft as showing that people cannot see God's face but can know God's goodness. Moses is allowed to see only God's back. The Psalms and Job are read as showing God's power over rock, earth and water.

Examples

• And it shall come to pass, while My glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with My hand until I have passed by. (Torah EXO.33.22, JPS 1917) tree →
• Who hath cleft a channel for the waterflood, or a way for the lightning of the thunder; (Writings JOB.38.25, JPS 1917) tree →
• In the clefts of the valleys must they dwell, in holes of the earth and of the rocks. (Writings JOB.30.6, JPS 1917) tree →
• Thou hast made the land to shake, Thou hast cleft it; heal the breaches thereof; for it tottereth. (Writings PSA.60.4, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

nothing for maths