Information AboutGematria |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT GEMATRIA | |
| hebrew alphabet | |
| judaism | |
| kabbalah | |
| mysticism | |
| numerology | |
| jewish mysticism | |
|
REVEALED GEMATRIA The most common form of ''gematria'' is used occasionally in the Talmud and Midrash and elaborately by many post-Talmudic Commentators . It involves reading words and sentences as numbers, assigning numerical instead of phonetic value to each letter of the Hebrew Alphabet . When read as numbers, they can be compared and contrasted with other words. A commentary almost completely dedicated to ''gematria'' is Baal Ha-Turim by Rabbi Jacob Ben Asher . ''Gematria'' is often used by the Maharal Of Prague and Hasidic Torah commentators (such as the "''Sefath Emmeth''" from Gur ). One fascinating application of ''gematria'' is its use by exegetes to suggest that authors of certain biblical texts were keenly aware of specific mathematical principles and properties. For example, ''gematria'' has been employed to contend that the author of Kings, who according to traditionalists is . This tentative conclusion arises from the fact that the verse describes the molten sea that was made in the Temple as being 10 cubits from brim to brim (diameter) and as being encircled completely by a line of 30 cubits (circumference). Since Pi is the ratio of a circle's circumference to the circle's diameter, it would seem that the author of Kings thought Pi has a value of 3, which makes no sense since even a rough measurement would show the difference (1.4 cubits is almost 2.7 feet). However, ''gematria'' may be used to counter the argument that this verse is an example of biblical error. In Jewish tradition, words appearing in portions of the Books of the Prophets are occasionally read (Kri) differently than they are written (Ktiv). Some biblical scholars, such as Rabbi Judah Loew of Prague of the 16th Century (the Maharal of Prague), trace the provenance of the Kri/Ktiv dichotomy all the way back to the authors of the Books of the Prohpets. In its written form (Ktiv), the verse uses the word KAVA (Kuf, Vav, Hey) for the molten sea's circumference. Yet, the word is read (Kri) as KAV (Kuf, Vav). The numerical value of KAVA is 111 (Kuf = 100, Vav = 6, Hey = 5), while the numerical value of KAV is 106 (Kuf = 100, Vav = 6). 111/106 = 1.047169. If 1.047169 (the value of the Kri divided by the Ktiv) is multiplied by 3 (the value that the author ostensibly attributes to Pi), the result is 3.14151, which closely approximates Pi . The Vilna Gaon , a Rabbinic luminary of the 18th Century known for a remarkable mathematical prowess, is often credited with the discovery of this ''gematria.'' MYSTICAL GEMATRIA ''Gematria'' is a system of recognizing a correspondence between the ten ''sefirot'', or fires of God , and the twenty two letters in the Hebrew Alphabet . This system is elaborated in many mystical Jewish writings such as the Zohar . One example of ''gematria'' is that there are twenty-two solid figures that are composed of Regular Polygons . There are five Platonic Solid s, four Kepler-Poinsot Solid s, and thirteen Archimedean Solid s. Since there are twenty-two Letters in the Hebrew Alphabet , a correspondence can be inferred between these two disparate categories. The art of ''gematria'' is knowing which solid is associated with which letter. Another example is that of Hebrew Numerals . Although there are twenty-two letters, there are twenty-seven numerals necessary to express each number up to 999 (one through nine, ten through ninety, one hundred through nine hundred). The mystical Hebrew numeric system notes that the missing final five letters of the numeral system match exactly with the five '''sofit'' (word-final) alternate forms of the Hebrew letters. Another use is that words which have the same numerical value, share the same qualities, and reveal still other aspects of the Divine. CODE The basic translation code is as follows: Some Kabbalistic uses of ''gematria'' recognize differing values for the final forms and assign multiples of 1000 for letters that are drawn larger than those adjacent to them. The following links give the gematria codes of: Greek Latin script languages (provenance - Agrippa, 1531) Latin script - basic code (provenance - medieval) SEE ALSO
EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|