Gematria
In numerology, gematria (Hebrew: גמטריא or גימטריה) is the practice of assigning a numerical value to a name, word or phrase by reading it as a number. The letters have standard numerical values, but a word may yield several values if a cipher is used.
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Quotes
[edit]- When HaShem commanded him [Moshe] to go down to Egypt and liberate the Jewish people from bondage, he asked HaShem, "When I come to the children of Israel and I say to them, 'The God of your forefathers sent me to you,' they will ask me, 'What is His name,' What [לי מה־שמו מה] should I say to them?" … The final letters are the name HaShem-יהו״ה, while the beginning letters equal "The Secret of the Name" (Sod Shem–סו״ד ש״ם) [30-ל + 40-מ + 300-ש + 40-מ = 60-ס + 6-ו + 4-ד + 300-ש + 30-ם = 410]. Therefore, the beginning and final letters make up the phrase "The Secret of the Name HaShem–סו״ד ש״ם יהו״ה."
- Rabbi Yosef Gikatilla: Ginat Egoz. As translated in HaShem Is One: A Translation and Adaptation into English of the Wondrous Book Ginat Egoz, vol. 1, "The Name Ehe"yeh-אהי״ה which is drawn from the reality of the Name HaShem-יהו״ה", pp. 158–160. Rabbi Amiram Markel and Yehudah Shimon Markel. The Neirot Foundation (2020). ISBN 979-86-22-98878-3.
- Abulafia himself wrote an autobiographical account of this conversion attempt [of Pope Nicholas III] in his Sefer HaEdot (Book of Testimonies). In this account, he calls himself Raziel, an anonym that he frequently used, this being the name of the angel who taught the mysteries to Adam. Raziel (רָזִיאֵל) has a numerical value of 248, this being the same as that of Abulafia's first name, Abraham (אַבְרָהָם). As Abulafia himself indicates, this relationship is more than a simple gematria, but it is a mishkal (balance), since both the numerical value and the number of letters in both names are equal.
- Aryeh Kaplan: Meditation and Kabbalah, ch. 3, "Rabbi Abraham Abulafia", pp. 64–65. Weiser Books (1982). ISBN 0-87728-616-7.
- Lenny Meyer: The ancient Jews used Hebrew as their numerical system. May I? Each letter's a number. Like, the Hebrew A, Aleph [א], is 1. B, Bet [ב], is 2. You understand? But look at this. The numbers are interrelated. Like, take the Hebrew word for "father", av [אב]. Aleph, Bet. 1, 2. Equals 3. All right? Hebrew word for "mother", em [אם]. Aleph, Mem [מ]. 1, 40. Equals 41. The sum of 3 and 41? 44. All right? Now, Hebrew word for "child", all right? Mother, father, child. Yeled [ילד]. That's 10, 30 and 4. It's 44. Torah is just a long string of numbers. Some say that it's a code, sent to us from God.
Max Cohen: That's kind of interesting.
References
[edit]- ↑ "ילד Yalad—To bear, bring forth, beget, engender / Yeled—Child, son, boy, offspring [Footnote: "It should be noted that adding father, אב, 3 and mother, אם, 41 equals 44."]" Brian Pivik: Gematria and the Tanakh, ch. 2, "Gematria and the Tanakh", p. 70. Lulu (2017). ISBN 1-257-09404-1.
