Gematria
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. (January 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
Gematria (Rabbinic Hebrew גימטריה gēmaṭriyā, from the Greek γεωμετρία; English since the 17th century) is the numerology of the Hebrew language and Hebrew alphabet, and is used by its proponents to derive meaning or relative relationship. Several forms can be identified: the "revealed" form, which is prevalent in many forms of Rabbinic Judaism, and the "mystical form," a largely Cabbalistic practice. The word itself comes from the Greek word 'geometry' and the concept or system is the same as the Greek isopsephy and the Arabic Ḥisāb al-Jummal. There is also a gematria of Latin-script languages, dating from the early Middle Ages, and very possibly back into Roman times, too. Recent times have also seen an emergence of new gematrias, though these lack a length of exploration that more ancient versions have seen.
| Part of a series on Kabbalah |
|
 |
|
| Subtopics | |
|---|---|
| Sephirot · Qliphoth · Raziel · Ein Sof · Tzimtzum · Tree of Life · Seder hishtalshelus · Jewish meditation · Kabbalistic astrology · Jewish views of astrology | |
| People | |
| Shimon bar Yochai · Moshe Cordovero · Isaac the Blind · Bahya ben Asher · Nahmanides · Azriel · Isaac Luria · Chaim Vital · Jacob Emden · Jonathan Eybeschutz · Chaim ibn Attar · Nathan Adler · Vilna Gaon · Shalom Sharabi · Chaim Joseph David Azulai · Shlomo Eliyashiv · Baba Sali · Ben Ish Chai | |
| Texts | |
| Zohar · Sefer Yetzirah · Bahir · Heichalot | |
| Categories | |
| Kabbalah · Judaism · Jewish mysticism · Occult | |
|
|
Contents |
[edit] 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, in at least one instance, to suggest that the author of a biblical text was keenly aware of mathematical principles and properties. Specifically, gematria has been employed to contend that the author of Kings, who according to traditionalists is Jeremiah, was aware of the approximate value of Pi. A plain reading of 1 Kings 7:23 suggests that its author believed that 3, rather than 3.14159..., is the value of Pi. 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).
However, gematria may be used to counter the argument that this verse is an example of Biblical ignorance. In Jewish tradition, words appearing in portions of the Books of the Prophets are occasionally read (Kri) differently than they are written (Ktiv). This phenomenon is not particularly common. Some traditional biblical scholars, such as Rabbi Judah Loew, the 16th century Maharal of Prague, attribute the Kri/Ktiv dichotomy to the original authors of the Books of the Prophets. In this instance, the written form of the word meaning "circumference" is spelled קוה (Kuf, Vav, Hey) for the molten sea's circumference. Yet, the read form is spelled קָו (Kuf, Vav). The numerical value of קוה is 111 (Kuf = 100, Vav = 6, Hey = 5), while that of קָו is 106 (Kuf = 100, Vav = 6). The ratio of these two numbers (111/106 = 1.047169) closely approximates the ratio between Pi and 3 (1.047197). If used to calculate Pi, a value of 3.141509 is obtained, which is approximately 99.997% of the known value. The Vilna Gaon, a Rabbinic luminary of the 18th Century known for a remarkable mathematical prowess, is often credited with this discovery. Compare this with a phenomenon found in the Greek Pythagorean motto "God is ever a geometer" (ἀεὶ ὁ Θεὸς ὁ μέγας γεωμετρεῖ)—counting the letters of the words reveals the first six digits of pi.
[edit] 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 are the twenty-two solid figures that are composed of regular polygons. There are five Platonic solids, four Kepler-Poinsot solids, and thirteen Archimedean solids. 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. However this use of the finals is not universaly agreed to, and traditionally 500 is expressed as 400+100 and so on.
Another use is that words which have the same numerical value, share the same qualities, and reveal still other aspects of the Divine.
Yet another form, albeit reversed from the conventional, involves finding words that use or are similar to the letters which representing the current calendar year, and associating those words with predictions for the year.
[edit] Code
The basic translation code is as follows:
| Decimal | Hebrew | Glyph |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aleph | א |
| 2 | Bet | ב |
| 3 | Gimel | ג |
| 4 | Daled | ד |
| 5 | He | ה |
| 6 | Waw | ו |
| 7 | Zayin | ז |
| 8 | Heth | ח |
| 9 | Teth | ט |
| 10 | Yodh | י |
| 20 | Kaph | כ, ך |
| 30 | Lamed | ל |
| 40 | Mem | מ, ם |
| 50 | Nun | נ, ן |
| 60 | Samekh | ס |
| 70 | Ayin | ע |
| 80 | Pe | פ, ף |
| 90 | Tsadi | צ, ץ |
| 100 | Qoph | ק |
| 200 | Resh | ר |
| 300 | Shin | ש |
| 400 | Taw | ת |
| 500 | Kaph | ך |
| 600 | Mem | ם |
| 700 | Nun | ן |
| 800 | Pe | ף |
| 900 | Tsadi | ץ |
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.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- WebGim - An interactive gematria calculator, which includes results from Torah verses. (Hebrew)
- Peter's Gematria Site - examines the application of gematria to the European languages from the Medieval period onwards, particularly in respect to esoteric communities, such as the Freemasons.
- Gematria Synonymous Calculator - Hebrew gematria calculator that finds synonymous phrases.
- Letters of several alphabets and their numerical amounts
- Gematria calculator, finds match to Biblical verses (in Hebrew)
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
