On Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, we traditionally eat foods whose names carry a positive symbolic connotation. Just as we taste foods as positive symbols at the festive table on Rosh Hashanah, so we can find good signs in the year’s number too. As Rosh Hashanah 5773 (ה’ תשע”ג) approaches, let’s take a look [...]
Tag Archive 'gematria'
The Rock that God Can Carry
Posted in Shelach on Jun 14th, 2012
A famous philosophical conundrum, asks, whether God can create a rock that He cannot lift? The answer to this conundrum is that indeed, God can create such a rock and yet, He can still lift it if He so pleases. The first half, the possibility of creating a rock that He cannot lift, represents God’s [...]
Rectifying the Sin of the Spies
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 13th, 2012
Moses sent twelve spies to spy out the land of Israel prior to the expected entry of the Jewish nation into the land. Instead of praising thelandofIsraeland instilling hope and ready anticipation for their entry into the land, ten of the twelve spies brought back a disheartening report of what they saw and relayed their [...]
“This is He”: The Outside and Inside of King David
Posted in Questions in the Bible on May 24th, 2011
The description of David, “reddish with beautiful eyes” (“אַדְמוֹנִי עִם יְפֵה עֵינַיִם”) equals “kingdom” (malchut, מלכות, 496). That’s what it takes to be a king and rule over a kingdom. The entire verse, “And he sent and brought him, and he was reddish with beautiful eyes and goodly appearance, and God said, Arise anoint him [...]
Rectifiying Edom and Ishmael
Posted in Uncategorized on Mar 17th, 2011
The two great exiles of the Jewish People in our days: Edom (אדום, 51) and Ishmael (ישמעאל, 451) equal 502 = “Cursed be Haman” (ארור המן) = “Blessed be Mordechai” (ברוך מרדכי). The joyous wine of Purim takes us to a place where we are unable to distinguish between “Cursed be Haman” and “Blessed be [...]
Snake Spine
Posted in Uncategorized on Mar 15th, 2011
In the Torah there are many applications to the “law of similars.” One of them is that in order to kill a snake you must be like a snake. In gematria, Mashiach (משיח, 358) equals snake (נחש). As extreme opposites they are in fact similar, numerically identical. In Kabbalah, a number is defined as the [...]
The Language of Creation
Posted in Uncategorized on Mar 14th, 2011
The Torah has body and soul, law and mystery. Both derive from a common source: the Hebrew language. The first text of Kabbalah is the first text of Hebrew grammar, the Book of Formation. All the myriad laws of the Oral Torah are the product of intense and detailed analysis of the syntax of the [...]
Mid-Points
Posted in Tweets from the year 5771 on Feb 24th, 2011
613 = lights. Its mid-point, 307 = light beauty = Rebecca. Adam = 45. Eve’s original name (before the sin), Chayah = 23, Adam’s mid-point. The mid-point of 307 is 154 (7 times 22), the final (even) mid-point of 613. The average value of 613, 307, 154 is 358, Mashiach. 613 is the mid-point of [...]
Self-Diminishment
Posted in Tweets from the year 5771 on Feb 24th, 2011
God loves one who diminishes himself. “You are the least of all peoples” – you diminish yourselves. The Zohar says that “he who is small is great.” The smaller you are the greater your reward. Reduce yourself to a point. You are now a volume – become a plane, then a line, then a point. [...]
Chemistry Lesson
Posted in Tweets from the year 5771 on Feb 24th, 2011
The 4 elements of the ancients, fire-air-water-earth, correspond to the 4 modern elements, carbon-oxygen-hydrogen-nitrogen, respectively. The element of earth is the power of growth in the earth, primarily nitrogen. Our atmosphere is a mixture, 3 parts earth to 1 part air. Coals are carbon – fire. Diamonds are concentrated carbon – fire. Most important: All [...]