Rabbi Berekhya, Rabbi Ḥelbo, Ulla Bira’a, and Rabbi Elazar in the name of Rabbi Ḥanina: The Holy One blessed be He is destined to be at the head of a dance circle [ḥola] for the righteous in the future. That is what is written: “Pay attention to its ramparts [leḥeila]” (Psalms 48:14); leḥola is written.29The word leḥeila, its ramparts, should grammatically have been written with a dot in the heh, indicating the possessive form.
The fact that it is written without the dot makes the heh appear to be part of the word itself rather than a suffix. If so, the word would be similar to ḥola, a dance circle (Rabbi David Luria). They ascend to Him be’almut, and they point to Him, as it were, with a finger, and say: “For this is God, our God, forever and ever, [He will guide us beyond death [al mut]]” (Psalms 48:15); be’almut [means] with alacrity.
Almut, like those young women [ulemta], as it is written: “Amid the young women [alamot] playing timbrels” (Psalms 68:26). Aquilas translated: Immortality, a world in which there is no death.30Aquilas translated the Bible into Greek. He translated al with an ayin as though it was al written with an alef; al mut: no death. Al mut, in two worlds [olamot]; He will guide us in this world and He will guide us in the World to Come.