Six directions are included in the letter Vav ו (=6), which is: (Gen. 1:11)... a fruit tree making fruit... What is its fruit? The letter Yod י. For the letter Vav ו is a branch of a tree, which separates into six branches, and from six, to branches without number. Yod י is the fruit upon each-and-every branch, which is Vav ו.
Arose an Elder and said: ‘Rabbi! Rabbi! Go back upon what you said! The tree is Vav ו, and its fruit is Yod י – that is certainly so, but its branches above are higher Hei ה, and its roots are lower Hei ה. And one who separates a branch from it, is ‘one who cuts down the shoots’, and thus, he is cut down, from this world and from the next world.’