Archives for January 2019

More about the Genesis alphabetic acrostic

January 25, 2019 By BethSheba Ashe Leave a Comment

Welcome to the fourth installment of my blog about gematria, the Merkabah and the birth of the alephbet, and a happy Hanukkah to you all.

Yesterday I gave you the Genesis alphabetic acrostic to contemplate, but today I’m going to attempt a brief potted commentary on it, although its really something I feel should be expounded upon by a more learned soul than myself. I’m not going to throw open all the gematria of the first two chapters of Genesis for you, because that would deprive you from the fun of finding out new things about the Torah for yourself, but I will point out the most interesting or pertinent information as I can.

Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over ‎the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over ‎every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

~ we already know that the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky were created with the Vav, and that the cattle and creeping things were created with the Zayin; so with the Cheth ruling at the head we have the word חזו meaning vision or appearance.

The verses of Genesis, and indeed all the Torah were first publicly numbered (as we find them today) by Robert Estienne (Robert Stephanus) in 1571, but the ‎move was not without criticism at the time from traditionalists. The manuscripts that he worked from did not ‎contain the chapter and verse divisions in a numbered form.

The progression through the alephbet in Genesis starts with a Beth (2) for the Seventh Palace (at the top) rather than an Aleph, though Aleph (1) is the smaller number. There are also two Alephs for the two Palaces directly to the left and right of the Beth, as if Beth had been split into two, like a new shoot, to form the Palaces of the Alephs; of Day and of Night. Beth is also the letter that begins the Book of Genesis with the word בראשית, which has the value of 220 [and 220/7 gives a pi approximation].

The Seven Palaces with Gate correspondences.

Kabbalah supports the idea that the Beth begins the acrostic with the Aleph coming afterwards. Note the the Aleph is called twice:

The Creator told her, “Aleph, Aleph, although the world was created with the letter Bet, you will be the head of all the letters, for there is no unification in Me, except in you. In you will all calculations begin, all the works of the people of the world, and the whole unification is only in the letter Aleph.” ~ Sepher Ha Zohar.

The letter Beth means “house” or palace and it was where Elohim was thought to dwell in the thick darkness of the watery expanse that the ancients believed surrounded the earth. It is from this Seventh Palace that he began his work to create the Heavens (or the Sky) and the Earth with his sacred signs.

If you’re exploring the gematria of Genesis it’s worth noting that gematria calculations are generally intended to come to fruition over several subsequent verses, so if you can’t determine what text is telling you in that verse, see if the values are carried over to the next verse. For instance:

[Genesis 1:2-3] פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם – וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ + אֽוֹר : the face of the deep – and darkness + light = 365
[Genesis 1:4] הָא֖וֹר + הַחֹֽשֶׁךְ : the light + the darkness = 248
365 + 248 = 613.

The Talmud tells us that there are 613 commandments in the Torah; 248 Positive Commandments (do’s) and 365 Negative Commandments (do not’s), however there is disagreement on whether 613 is the right number since the matter rests on gematria that would, if calculated with biblical gematria rather than Standard, result in the value 217, but on the other hand it may simply be that the use of Standard Gematria rather than Biblical Gematria is the norm in the Talmud. I cannot explain what 613 has to do with the Palaces of the Aleph or the Day and Night, so answers on a postcard please…

If I were to mnemonic the letters via the descriptions from Genesis they’d probably resemble something like this:

Beth ~ Gods house, everything in Heaven and Earth.
Aleph ~ Light/ Day and Night.
Gimel ~ Sky / Heaven.
Shin ~ Fire / Dryness / Heat.
Daleth ~ Doors into and out of the world.
Tav ~ the Measurement of Solar and Lunar Time.
Heh ~ Stars and Starlight.
Vav ~ Birds, Fish and Sea Monsters.
Zayin ~ Cattle and Insects.
Cheth ~ Sight, Vision, Appearance, Prophesy, Man.
Teth ~ Food.
Yod ~ Rest and Contemplation.
Kaph ~ Mist, Rain, Desire.
Lamed ~ The breath of Life, Ruach.
Mem ~ Pregnancy.
Nun ~ Life, but also Death for all living things under the Sun.
Samekh ~ the great River.
Ayin ~ Temptation.
Peh ~ Mating.
Tsade ~ Childbirth, because Eve is regarded as the first birth according to Kabbalah.
Qoph ~ Moon / Eve / female.
Resh ~ Sun / Adam / male.

The letter Daleth needs a little further explanation; as it is assigned to two Palaces, but only one of them – the one to the left – is being discussed in her verses. This Palace represents the door through which all things enter into the world from heaven. It’s twin on the right side is the door through which all things exit the world and enter heaven. In these verses, though they seem to be about the creation of trees and vegetation in the world, the take away is that it is the first time God has caused anything to live upon the earth and so it is the first time one of these doors are used.

A note to say about Teth. Because these verses begin with the word “behold” הִנֵּה֩, which is a word that indicates there is gematria to follow, we must total the gifts that Elohim has given to man.

One more matter of note is the origin of the letter Tsade. This has long been an open question to attract a great deal of debate so I feel quite free to offer the unusual but logical suggestion here that the letter Tsade may have started off life as an image of an ancient vaginal specula.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this installment as you navigate your way through the gematria of the Torah. Tomorrow I’ll be discussing the relationship of the tabernacle and first temple to the Seven Palaces, and on Thursday this will be followed by a discussion about the implications for the long planned for Third Temple. So stay tuned for more numerical liquid gold.

[Originally published DEC 4, 2018, 9:39 PM
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/more-about-the-genesis-alphabetic-acrostic/]

The conventions of biblical gematria.

January 25, 2019 By BethSheba Ashe Leave a Comment

Yesterday I called the biblical art of gematria ‘sophisticated’, and today I’d like to elaborate a little upon that theme.

You’ll all be familiar with the concept of written grammar, but have you ever paid mind to numerical grammar? It is by convention to numerical grammar that we structure our mathematical calculations the way that we do. For instance, understanding the sum [ 220 / 7 = 31.428571r ] requires us to know which elements of the sum are arranged where and for what reason. And before we do any calculation we also need to be familiar with the signs for math functions (like +, -, *, /, $, %, !) . Therefore, because we require knowledge of the conventions, we need some degree of formal education in order to do math, and the same is true for biblical gematria. There are numerical conventions for biblical gematria; it has a type of numerical grammar.

Most indicators have a logical relationship ‎with their mathematical function, for instance:‎“et” = add, “not” = disregard, “on the head” = ‎the first syllable of a word, “bruise” = put two ‎words together, “the heel” = the end syllable of ‎a word. So we’re going to be taking you on a bit of a whirlwind tour around the Torah, to alight on some of the common conventions of biblical gematria. As promised, today we’re going to look at an unusual bit of gematria in the story of Ephraim and Manasseh; Genesis 48:14.

This calculation has something of the feel of a cryptic crossword clue about it. When we read it we should be looking for logical relationships ‎between the words in the sentence:

וישלח ישראל את־ימינו וישת על־ראש אפרים והוא הצעיר ואת־שמאלו ‏על־ראש מנשה שכל את־ידיו כי מנשה הבכור

“But Israel stretched out his right hand and laid ‎it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, ‎and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, crossing ‎his hands, although Manasseh was the firstborn.”‎

The value of the names are exactly the same, until just ‘the head’ of the names are considered;

מְנַשֶּׁ֖ה הַבְּכֽוֹר ‘Manasseh the firstborn’ = 331
אֶפְרַ֙יִם֙ ‘Ephraim’ = 331

Israel is touching both Ephraim and Manasseh which indicates the sum of the three names are to be added, but the text specifies that he is only touching them עַל רֹ֤אש “on the head” which by convention means we should add ‎‎‘the head’ or first parts from each name, therefore we take the Peh and Aleph from Ephraim and the Mem from Manasseh:

יִשְׂרָאֵ֨ל‎ ‘Israel’ (244) + (‎‏(81) אֶפְ‎ of ‎‏(אֶפְרַ֙יִם֙‎ + (‎‏ (40) מְof ‎מְנַשֶּׁ֑ה‎) = 365 (days).

And now we may ask ourselves “Why is the number of days in a year relevant to the story of Manasseh and Ephraim?” Much of the gematria in Genesis concerns the Solar and Lunar cycles, and we see the number 365 appearing many times in Genesis as the text discusses the cycles of the solar year. It’s first seen in Genesis 1:2-3;

365 = פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם – וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ + אֽוֹר
“The Face of the Deep” – “and darkness” + “light” = 365

We see 365 again in Genesis 3:3;

ומפרי העץ אשר בתוך ־ הגן
“And the fruit of the tree which in the middle of the garden.

[In my experience of the calculating art, typically the use of the words such as בְּתוֹךְ ‘middle’ or ‘’between’ denotes the function of division by 2 of the following noun, which in this case is הגן ‘garden’ 58. Therefore: 58 / 2 = 29 and when we add this to ומפרי ‘and the fruit’ 336 results in 365 (days in a year).]

365 is central to the story of Jacob and Esau [Genesis 25:27];

עֵשָׂ֗ו + צַ֖יִד + יַעֲקֹב֙

Esau 79 + hunter 104 + Jacob 182 = 365

This story in particular has strong typological similarities to the 3rd millennium BCE Sumerian text The Debate between Winter and Summer.

365 is a significant number to the Seven Palaces. When the sum of the middle column is calculated (282 if we do not ‎use gates) and then removed from the total number (1012 ‎for the entire wheel) this leaves 730 and also splits the ‎wheel into two sections.

730 = 365 days + 365 nights.

When the letters Yod and Ayin are doubled on their paths we find the total sum from the Palace of the Aleph to the Palace of the Daleth is 365;

Aleph (1) + (Yod x 2 (20)) + Resh (200) + (Ayin x 2 (140) + Daleth (4) = 365.

And we also find the same calculation with the opposite diagonal;

Aleph (1) + (Lamed x 2 (60)) + Resh (200) + (Nun x 2 (100) + Daleth (4) = 365.

Lastly, the Talmud Yerushalmi Tractate Rosh Hashanah ‎‎2:5 says:

”The Holy One blessed be He ‎created 365 windows that the world might ‎use them: 182 in the east, and 182 in the ‎west and one in the center of the firmament ‎from which it came forth at the beginning of ‎the Creation.”‎

That’s it for today. Continuing on tomorrow I’ll be discussing how the ancients thought about light, as well looking into the story of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. So stay tuned for more numerical honey.

The Lost Art of Gematria

January 25, 2019 By BethSheba Ashe Leave a Comment

Welcome to my blog. With this blog I’ve elected to speak upon Biblical Gematria, the Merkabah, and the birth of the alephbet. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to express them in the comments section below.

“If I were asked to characterize the gematria of the Torah, I would call it a sophisticated, frequent, secret and very clever art form that is interwoven with the plain text.”

There is a great deal of gematria in the texts of the Tanakh. There is more than any one scholar could investigate in a lifetime of study.

The gematria of Genesis appears concerned with the planets and of those things spoken of in 1:14. The story of Adam and Eve is much clarified by the gematria; enabling us to see that the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge was light. The gematria of 1 Kings concerns the conformations of the Temple and how they are harmonized with the Seven Palaces. Ezekiel is also much concerned with the Temple and the Seven Palaces with his gematria, but he also has a bit of a dig at the ruler of Tyre… pulling his whiskers. Job… that’s a pure joy in terms of gematria; a real work of art both behind the scenes numerically as well as in plain composition.

Biblical gematria was a sophisticated practice that knew formal and informal conventions. For instance, it is convention with some authors to signal the presence of gematria with a cue word like “Behold!”. And since biblical gematria existed at a time before the Greeks or anyone else had thought to standardize mathematical notation, words stood in to do the job instead. Touching something could signify addition (+), but eating from something is usually a sign of subtraction (-). To magnify something is to multiply it by 10, but to get between two things expressed division by two.

Traditionally, biblical gematria has been something of a secret. The same number set that appears on the Seven Palaces, is also the same one used in biblical gematria, and therefore it’s likely that the secrecy surrounding the Merkabah also wrapped around its gematria.

Secrecy is also the reason why gematria is something of a lost art.

On its own, the word (any word) stands in a void of isolation; bearing no relationship to other actors. It is simply a word and a number. Most of the time there is no intrinsic relationship between words that share a common number, other than what you would expect through randomness and chance. Happily, since ancient gematria was focused on presenting and preserving mathematics and not on numerology this poses us no issues at all.

All the number values for Biblical Gematria are the same as Standard Gematria except that the letter shin is counted as 3 (not 300), and the letter tav is counted as 4 (not 400). The finals are counted with their small values (i.e. ץ = 90, not 900). I’ve encoded a gematria calculator for convenience which is available at shematria.com, but if you’re using a pen and paper, then the number values for biblical gematria are these;

א 1 ב 2 ג 3 ש 3 ד 4 ת 4 ה 5 ו 6 ז 7 ח 8 ט 9 י 10 כ 20
ל 30 מ 40 נ 50 ס 60 ע 70 פ 80 צ 90 ק 100 ר 200

To really understand how clever the art of biblical gematria is, we need to view a few examples firsthand. So let’s start at the very beginning with Genesis 1:1;

בראשית ברא אלהים את השמים ואת הארץ

“In the beginning (220) created (203) Elohim (86) ath (+) The Heavens (98) vath (and +) The Earth (296).”

et and v’et are excluded from this calculation because et almost always signifies addition. The word bra is a verb and not of consequence to the calculations except to signify addition.

220 + 86 + 98 + 296 = 700.
יָמִ֖ים is the word for ‘days’ (100).

700 = 100 x 7 = The Seven Days of Creation. But perhaps the 700 is also representative of the Seven Palaces themselves? These palaces were considered to be the abode of God; each part under the governance of a letter of the alphabet, and each letter representing a quality of the heavenly and earthly life.

More instances of 700 that appear in the Tanakh are;

Abraham (248) + Isaac (208) + Israel (244) = 700.
Exodus 25:10-11 is as follows:אֲר֖וֹן = Ark = from ‘אָרָה’ meaning ‘to pick’ [fruit] or ‘to gather’ [myrrh].
עֲצֵ֣י = wood 170
שִׁטִּ֑ים = acacia 62
זָהָ֣ב = Gold 14
טָה֔וֹר = Pure 220.
According to the text, the ‘pure gold’ is overlaid both inside and outside the Ark, therefore we use the sum for ‘pure gold’ twice: Wood 170 + Acacia 62 + (Pure 220 x 2) + (Gold 14 x 2) = 700. Perhaps you know of more instances of 700? Why not drop me a line and let me know. If you’d like some homework, why not find out why 217 was a significant number to the ancients?

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Thank you for reading my first blog post with the Times of Israel. In my next blog post I’m going to be looking at a text that that does something very usual with the gematria when someone crosses his arms, so stay tuned for numerical honey.

Archives for January 2019

Welcome to the fourth installment of my blog about gematria, the Merkabah and the birth of the alephbet, and a happy Hanukkah to you all.

[Originally published DEC 4, 2018, 9:39 PM https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/more-about-the-genesis-alphabetic-acrostic/]

“If I were asked to characterize the gematria of the Torah, I would call it a sophisticated, frequent, secret and very clever art form that is interwoven with the plain text.”

[Originally published DEC 4, 2018, 9:39 PM
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/more-about-the-genesis-alphabetic-acrostic/]