Tinywow - Rabbi Benjamin Blech - The Secrets of Hebrew Words-Jason Aronson, Inc. (1977) - 57615671
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Jacob 0Tinywow - Rabbi Benjamin Blech - The Secrets of Hebrew Words-Jason Aronson, Inc. (1977) - 57615671
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Jacob 0e Secrets of
Hebrew Words
e Secrets of
Hebrew Words
Rabbi Benjamin Blech
A JASON ARONSON BOOK
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Published in the United States of America
by Rowman & Lilefield Publishers, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of e Rowman & Lilefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.rowmanlilefield.com
PO Box 317
Oxford
OX2 9RU, UK
Copyright © 2001, 1991 by Benjamin Ble
Photographs copyright © 1991 by Bill Aron
First Rowman & Lilefield Edition 2004
All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmied in any form or by any means, electronic, meanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ble, Benjamin
e Secrets of Hebrew Works / Benjamin Ble
p. cm.
English and Hebrew.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-56821-918-0 (socover) ISBN 978-1-56821-918-9
1. Judaism—Essence, genius, nature. 2. Hebrew language—Alphabet—Religious aspects—Judaism. 3.
Gematria. 4. Bible. O.T. Pentateu—Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title.
BM565.B57 1991
296’.014—dc20 90-48735
Printed in the United States of America
e paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National
Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO
Z39.48-1992.
e Hebrew word for blessing,
(berakhah),
has the same numeric total, 227, as the word
(zakhor), remember.
Blessings need to be recalled at all times
and to be always anowledged.
I am the most blessed of all men
because God has granted me family,
precious beyond words and beloved beyond measure.
It is to them that I dedicate this book.
To my wife, Elaine,
my life’s partner and closest friend;
to my daughters, Tamar, Yael, and Jordana;
my sons-in-law Steven Harris,
Stephen Lubofsky, and Aryeh Klein;
my son, Ari;
and my grandildren,
Avital Shlomit, Eitan Shimon, and Talia Yonit—
the true joys and justification of my existence.
e word (mishpaḥati), “my family,”
in gematria is 838.
at is the total of the word (u-khetavti),
“and I have wrien.”
It is because of them—their goading,
their guidance, and their constant good wishes—
that I have been enabled to write this book.
Contents
Preface
A Note for Readers Who Don’t Know Hebrew
Hebrew Alphabet, Transliterations, and Numerical Values
PART I
ISRAEL, GOD, AND TORAH
Chapter 1 Israel
Chapter 2 God
Chapter 3 Torah
PART II
THE OPPOSITES OF LIFE
Chapter 4 Life and Death
Chapter 5 Truth and Falsehood
Chapter 6 Good and Evil
Chapter 7 Joy and Sorrow
Chapter 8 Love and Hatred
Chapter 9 Peace and War
PART III
THE BLESSINGS OF LIFE
Chapter 10 Wealth
Chapter 11 Wisdom
Chapter 12 e Soul
Chapter 13 Friends
PART IV
MAN, WOMAN, FAMILY
Chapter 14 Man
Chapter 15 Woman
Chapter 16 Family
PART V
BIBLICAL HEROES AND VILLAINS
Chapter 17 e Heroes
Chapter 18 e Villains
PART VI
PROPHECIES AND PREDICTIONS
Chapter 19 e Two Temples
Chapter 20 Final Redemption
Glossary
Index
Preface
Hebrew is a holy language.
On the simplest level, its twenty-two leers were used to serve as the
language of Torah. It is Hebrew that was used by God to convey His will
and His ways, His laws and His insights.
But Hebrew, according to our Sages, not only describes, it also creates.
(Bereshit bara Elohim et ha-
shamayim ve-et ha-areẓ), the first sentence of the Bible, tells us that “In the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Before the word
(ha-shamayim), the heavens, we find the word (et), whi is le
untranslated. It comprises both the first and the last leers of the Hebrew
alphabet. Indeed, in the beginning, God created the leers, and through the
leers and their respective rearrangements, God was able to create the
universe.
Scientists speak of maer being formed via the arrangement of
molecules. Mystics go a step further. Leers are powers of their own. eir
rearrangement gives us insight into the relationship between seemingly
different words and concepts. eir numerical significance, their gematria,
must also be understood, for words that share the same numerical total have
a kinship comparable to seemingly unrelated items that share hydrogen,
oxygen, or other basic elements.
e Torah, we are taught, is to be analyzed on the basis of four different
methods of commentary. ey are (peshat)—the simple meaning;
(remez)—allusion; (derush)—inference; and (sod)—secrets. e first
leers of these four approaes combine to form the word (pardes),
whi means orard. To study Torah properly is to be placed into a
veritable Garden of Eden, finding indescribable delight in an almost infinite
number of intellectual pleasures awaiting us.
(sod), the study of secrets, beons to us not only in our perusal of
lengthy texts. Words, simple words, used to describe our people or God, life
and death, man and woman, biblical heroes and villains, all contain
wondrous ideas, whi open up to us with but the slightest removal of the
“outer covering.”
is book is a beginner’s text. It is meant to whet the reader’s appetite
and interest. It is meant to acquaint you with the rewards to be found when
taking seriously the talmudic truth that the Torah “speaks in seventy
languages” and may be understood on countless levels. If, when you
conclude this sampling, you gain deeper love and appreciation for the only
language that could have served God’s purpose as a vehicle for the message
of Sinai, then I will feel more than amply rewarded for my efforts.
A word about the method of transliteration used. We have adopted the
Sefardi pronunciation. . We have not differentiated between
and ; both have been rendered as . . Both and have been
transliterated as k (not q for ). e sheva (:) becomes e in Sefardi
pronunciation (not i as in the Ashkenazi system). Ẓere (..) likewise is e in
adherence to Sefardi custom; not ei as in the Ashkenazi community. Only
where the vowel ẓere is followed by the leer yod, have we transliterated it
as ei. us ben for , but beit for .
A Note for Readers Who
Don’t Know Hebrew
You can gain a great deal from this book even if you don’t (yet) know
the Hebrew language.
Fundamental truths of our faith become abundantly clear as we study
words for their ri philosophical and spiritual meanings. How we refer to
things basically reflects how we comprehend their essence. Shakespeare may
have been right: “And yet words are no deeds” [Henry VIII]. Nonetheless,
they clearly are creeds—beliefs coued in the code of leers merged so as to
have meaning on many levels.
ose conversant only with English may be somewhat surprised by the
seemingly farfeted inferences, allusions, and even numerical
correspondences suggested as credible explications. Yet even English has
words that literate people recognize immediately as being composed not
simply of leers, but rather serving as acronyms. e word “radar” no
longer has periods aer ea leer to anowledge its original source, but of
course it comes from “Radio Detecting And Ranging.” If someone unaware
of the story behind the word were to be told that radar can be related to a
longer phrase of four words, that too would be farfeted. But ignorance of a
word’s parents does not justify moing the parentage once it is revealed.
Hebrew comes with “secrets” far more numerous than the usage of
acronyms. e most intriguing, perhaps, and the one oen least acceptable
to the western mind, simply because of unfamiliarity, is the code of
gematria. It may appear as a mere game to take note of the fact that two
totally different words, when translated into the language of numbers—for
every Hebrew leer also bears a numerical equivalent—share the same total
and hence have a relationship. e Hebrew word for ild, for example
is 44 . Of course, that 44 is the sum of a father,
(av)—3 and a mother, (em), 41 . It is not
simply man and woman, sperm and egg, that have merged; it is the
numerical essence, the gematria, that is as powerful as genetics in the act of
creation.
Gematria is simply a higher reality. When God created the original light
of creation, (et ha-or), its essence, not in terms of atoms and
molecules, genes or romosomes, but rather “leer numbers” was 613 (
= 200 = 613). at light, as
distinguished from sunlight, gave perfect clarity and understanding. So, too,
would God later oose to give precisely 613 miẓvot in His Torah.
Equivalence of numbers bespeaks equivalence of meaning.
So, too, shared leers suggest shared meanings. If (kever) means
the grave, then how profound indeed that these same leers but slightly
rearranged make the word (boker), morning. e concept of
immortality finds expression in the very word defining man’s final resting
place: the grave is but the “morning” of a higher form of existence.
Small ildren are soon taught that hydrogen, oxygen, and water have
something in common. When water is wrien H2O, we understand this
relationship readily. Gematria teaes us what the “hydrogen” and “oxygen”
components of every word really are.
Even Halakhah, the realm of legal categories, anowledges the validity
of numerical meaning. Concerning the nazir, the person who takes a vow of
consecration unto the Lord to abstain from wine and strong drink, the Torah
teaes: “All the days of his vow of Nazariteship, there shall no razor come
upon his head; until the days be fulfilled, in whi he consecrated himself
unto the Lord, he shall be holy” (Numbers 6:5). For how long does a nazir
remain in this state of holiness? e text simply reads (kadosh
yiyeh). It is the Talmud [Nazir 5a] that deduces that the period of
Nazariteship is for 30 days. How do we know? “Because the text says
(yiyeh)—and (yiyeh) in gematria is 30 ( = 10, = 5, = 10, = 5).”
What you must know, however, to appreciate the “secrets” of this book
are a few basics of Hebrew as they relate to leers:
1. Hebrew is almost always wrien without vowels. It is only
consonants that appear in the Torah; vowels are self-understood in
context.
2. For the purpose of gematria, only consonants are included for the
numerical count.
3. ere are two silent leers, the and the , whi receive their sound
from accompanying vowels. ey are, however, leers with
numerical equivalents ( = 1; = 70) and they must always be
counted when they appear.
4. ere are two vowels, the “ō” and “ū,” whi may appear either as
simple dots, in whi case they have no numerical equivalent, or
together with a (the dot over the turns it into “ö;” the dot inside the
renders it “ū”). When the “ō” or “ū” have this for “support,” the is
counted as its usual number, that is, 6.
All this sounds far more difficult than it really is. Simply put, every
leer that appears in a Hebrew text is also a number. at number is a
message.
I promise you that the “secrets” are fascinating. Probe with me beneath
the surface and uncover the hidden jewels of the Hebrew language that
illuminate the truths of our faith, our values, our people, and our God.
Hebrew Alphabet, Transliterations,
and Numerical Values
Part I
Israel, God, and Torah
(Yisrael, kudsha berikh hu ve-oraita ḥad hu)
Israel, God, and Torah Are One
Zohar, Leviticus: 73
Chapter 1
Israel
YiSRaEL
ISRAEL
e Jewish people are descended from the ree Patriars—Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, and the Four Matriars—Sarah, Rebecca, Rael, and Leah.
It is their greatness and holiness that have been transmied to every one
of the “Children of Israel.”
e name (YiSRaEL) bears within it the acronym for every one
of our spiritual forebears:
YiSRaEL
ISRAEL
e smallest leer in the Hebrew alphabet is the (yod).
e largest leer is the (lamed).
e very name of the Jewish people, (Yisrael), alludes to both its
humble beginnings as well as its glorious destiny:
(Lo me-rubkhem mi-kol ha-amim hashak Adonay ba-khem va-yivḥar ba-
khem ki atem ha-me′at mi-kol ha-amim)
“e Lord did not set His love upon you nor oose you because you were
more in number than any other people for you were the fewest of all
peoples.”
[Deuteronomy 7:7]
“Yet the smallest in number will be blessed beyond any other and I will
make of thee a great nation and I will bless thee and make thy name great”
(Genesis 12:2).
at greatness shall come through the very meaning of the leer
(lamed), to tea. We shall be the teaers of the world, “a kingdom of
priests,” hastening the arrival of that day when all humankind will proclaim
that the Lord is One and His name is One.
YiSRaEL
ISRAEL
e Ten Commandments were given to the Jewish people on two
tablets. All of Jewish law summarized within the Decalogue was divided
into two categories: e first five commandments deal with the obligations
of man to God, (bein adam lamakom), the second five relate
to responsibilities of man to fellow man, (bein adam le-
ḥavero).
A religious person is only deemed pious if his concerns embrace both
rituals as well as ethics, devotion to the One above as well as decency to
man created in His image below.
e Hebrew root for honesty and straightforwardness in human
relationships is (YaShaR). Indeed that is the first part of our description,
(YiSRaEL). Add to (YaShaR) the awareness of God, He whose
Hebrew name is (el), and together we have not only our name but also
the succinct statement of our mission.
YiSRaEL
ISRAEL
How were the Jewish people to be counted?
e Torah teaes us (Ki tisa et rosh
benei Yisrael) [Exodus 30:12]. e simple translation is usually rendered as
“When thou takest the sum of the ildren of Israel.” A more accurate, albeit
literal, translation is “When you li up the head [rosh] of the ildren of
Israel.”
We are counted in order to know that we truly count. Because we count,
we li up our heads proudly as the bearers of God’s words to humanity, the
conveyors of the teaings of Sinai to the world.
A Jew dare not grovel. Mordeai does not bow down to Haman.
Within the name (YiSRaEL) are concealed two other words:
(LY RoSh). I have a head; I have intelligence; upon Me is a responsibility
imposed upon a people who were , the first to willingly take upon
themselves the commandments of the Almighty.
YiSRaEL
ISRAEL
(ashrei yoshvei veitekha), “Happy are those who
dwell in y household” [Psalms 84:5]. True joy can only be found in
conjunction with closeness to the Creator and acceptance of His will.
e Torah begins with the word (bereshit) and ends with the
word (Yisrael). e very first and the very last words of holy writ
contain within them this allusion to inner spiritual happiness:
(BeReShiYT) = (BaT), daughter of (ie., derivative of)
(AShReY), happiness
(YiSRaEL) = (AShReY) together with a (lamed)—
for a (Yisrael) is one who aieves
true happiness through the path of
(limud), learning and study.
KoL YiSRaEL
ALL OF ISRAEL
e Jewish people are divided into three groups:
(Kol Yisrael) means the entirety of the Jewish people. e
word (KoL) is an acronym for (Kohen) and (Levi). ese two go
together. (Yisrael) is a separate word.
Ea one has a separate function. All, however, are equally holy. So, too,
was Moses always commanded to speak to (Kol Yisrael), the
totality of the Jewish people.
ẒiBUR
GROUP, CONGREGATION
Jews as a community form a (ẓibur), or congregation. A cantor
who prays on their behalf is known as the (sheliaḥ ẓibur), the
representative of the group.
(ẓibur) is an acronym for three types of Jews:
(ẓadei) = (ẓadikim) the righteous
(bet) = (beinonim), “the ones in the middle,” neither
overly righteous nor totally wied
, (vav, = (u-resha′im), and the wied
resh)
e wied, too, remain a part of the Jewish people.
(Yisrael af al pi she-ḥata Yisrael hu). A Jew,
although he has sinned, is still reoned as Jew.
On the holiest night of the year, as we besee God for forgiveness on
(Yom Kippur), we preface the words of the opening prayer (Kol
Nidrei), with the announcement that
(anu matirin le-hitpalel im ha-ava-ryanim), we render it permissible to pray
with transgressors. If we dare to exclude sinners from our midst, how shall
we hope that God will consider accepting us with our imperfections?
Chapter 2
God
YHVH
LORD
God is the source of all existence.
(hayah) means was.
(hoveh) means is.
(yiheyeh) means will be.
Combining the words for being in past, present, and future gives us the
four-leer name of God, by whi He is known in the Torah.
It is not, however, simply an allusion to the fact that God was long ago,
is still today, and will be unto eternity. In his famous theory of relativity,
Einstein taught us that time itself is not absolute; it is merely another
dimension, analogous to height, width, and depth. God is (YHVH)
because all three tenses are subsumed by Him; He is the creator of time and
unaffected by time. He does not know what will happen “before” things
happen—a description that would present us with the problem of
predestination and the elimination of man’s free will—because He is above
the limitation implicit in the word “before” as well as the word “aer.”
He is (YHVH)—occupying all of time simultaneously even as He
occupies all of space: (melo khol ha-areẓ kevodo), the
entire universe is filled with His glory.
YHVH
LORD
Is God male or female?
A foolish question if we are concerned with physical manifestations of
sexuality. Not foolish at all, however, if one recognizes that this name of
God ends with the (kamaẓ) vowel followed by (he) whi invariably
renders a masculine word feminine (compare [yeled]—boy,
[yaldah]—girl).
is name of God is always used in a context implying
(midat ha-raḥamim), the Lord showing mercy and kindness in a
compassionate role of Mother Creator, even as the very root of the word
(RaḤaMim), mercy, is (ReḤeM), the womb.
Gloria Steinem thought she was being daringly innovative when she
coined the phrase: “Turn to God—She will help you.” Judaism long ago
anowledged that God is not only our Father in heaven, but our kind,
compassionate, and forgiving Mother as well.
YHVH
LORD
Leers in Hebrew are also numbers. Numbers have special significance.
e four-leer name of God gives us a total of 26:
From Adam to Noah there were 10 generations, from Noah to Abraham,
yet another 10. From the birth of our first Patriar to the time when the
Torah was given on Sinai, another 6 generations appeared on the earth.
For 26 generations the Lord allowed a world to exist without obedience
to His will, as an act of compassion from the Lord whose very name is “26.”
Beyond that, however, His forbearance would not extend; the limits of
forgiveness are implicit in the divine name of (raḥamim).
ELoHiYM
GOD
We are created “in the image of God.” God has a masculine component
as well as a feminine one. (iYM, yod plus mem) at the end of a word in
Hebrew serves to indicate a masculine plural (compare [yeled]—boy,
[yeladiYM]—boys; [ish]—man, [anashiYM]—men).
When God acts in accordance with strict justice, with (din),
unswayed by pleas, unmoved by compassion, He is (ELoHiYM).
(el) is the word for power; its plural is the way that power is manifest in the
multiplicity of creation.
As a number, (ELoHiYM) adds up to 86: (alef) = 1; (lamed) =
30; (he) = 5; (yod) = 10; (mem) = 40). at is the number identical with
the word (ha-teva)—nature: (he) = 5; (tet) = 9; (vet) = 2; (ayin)
= 70. e laws of nature are constant, cruel, and impersonal. ere are
indeed times when God ooses to rely solely upon natural law.
ELoHiYM
GOD
e first time God showed His governance of nations in a strict manner
was when He destroyed the Egyptians as they pursued the Jewish people at
the Red Sea.
e Egyptians deserved to die because of all that they had done to the
Jewish people during the years when they enslaved them.
As the Midrash so beautifully states, excessive kindness to the cruel is
but another form of cruelty to the righteous.
Divide the name (ELoHiYM) into its two component parts and
recognize how the God of justice administered deserved punishment:
(ELoHiYM) = (EL HaYaM), whi means “into the sea.”
ose who had drowned Jewish babies were now, measure for measure,
drowned in water themselves.
ShaDaY
GOD—
THE ALL-SUFFICIENT ONE
If God had created a perfect world, then any efforts on our part to
improve it would be nothing short of blasphemous. How dare we build
bridges, heal the si, and enable man to fly? It is because we know that
God’s name in conjunction with creation is (ShaDaY)—a contraction of
two words: (She-amar Day), He who said enough, stop.
Why did God arrest the Creation before it was complete? To allow man
the noble role and responsibility of being “a partner with God in the act of
creation.”
God tells the first Jew to circumcise himself. It is to mandate a ange in
the way his own flesh was formed by God.
(Va-yomer elav ani El Shaday hithalekh le-fanai ve-heyeh tamim)
“I am God the Creator who said enough, now walk before Me and become
perfect.”
[Genesis 17:1]
at verse is the basis of the Covenant and the commandment of
circumcision. It teaes that you may, and must, improve upon what I
purposely le unfinished.
Alef
FIRST LETTER OF THE
HEBREW ALPHABET
(alef) as a number is 1. It stands for the One of the universe.
“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.”
How is the shaped? ere is a (yod) in the right-hand corner and a
(yod) in the le-hand corner; both are joined by a slanted (vav). e (yod)
is 10, the (vav) is 6. e total of leers hidden within the is 26, the
number identical with (YHVH), the name bespeaking the God of
compassion and mercy.
We are tempted to assume that the is a contraction of the longer name
for God, (ELoHiYM). Note, therefore, that what appears to be the
aspect of God in strict justice is upon deeper analysis actually the Lord of
mercy of (raḥamim). e of is the pictorial equivalent and
shape of “26.”
EḤaD
ONE
e single most important truth of Judaism is the belief in monotheism.
Polytheism is rejected—God is not many. e trinity is rejected—God is not
three. Dualism is rejected—He is not two. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our
God, the Lord is One.”
e word (EḤaD) numerically adds up to 13: (alef) = 1, (ḥet) =
8, (dalet) = 4.
His essence is one. His aributes are the 13 qualities of mercy to whi
we refer on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. ey are the 13 midot, or
qualities, that God revealed to Moses aer the sin of the Golden Calf: “e
Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in
goodness and truth; keeping mercy unto the thousandth generation,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” [Exodus 34:6–7].
EḤaD
ONE
God is One. e three leers of the word (EḤaD) span across time
and the ages in conveying not only God’s essence but also the extent of His
rulership.
(alef) = 1 — He began as one alone before time itself, before
anything or anyone came into existence.
(ḥet) = 8 — e first to anowledge the Almighty were the Jewish
people. It was Abraham, the first Jew, who accepted
the covenant of the (berit), circumcision, the
mark of the Jew on the 8th day aer birth,
symbolizing humanity’s role to continue perfecting
what God purposely le incomplete in His first seven
days of creation.
(dalet) = 4 — e one God accepted through the covenant of the 8th
day will, through the example and the efforts of the
Jewish people, become universally recognized to the
four corners of the earth.
“And it is said: e Lord will be King over all the world; on that day the
Lord will be One and His name will be One” [Zeariah 14:9].
Chapter 3
Torah
TORaH
TORAH
e Torah consists of 613 (miẓvot), 613 divine commandments.
Yet the numerical equivalent of TORaH is only 611:
How can we proclaim (Torah ẓivah lanu Mosheh),
“Moses commanded to us the Torah,” whi implies that he gave us 613
laws, if the word itself adds up to a number deficient by 2? Because God, not
Moses, spoke the first two commandments directly to the Jewish people: “I
am the Lord, your God” and “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Only
aer the Almighty concluded the first two commandments did the Jews,
fearing the heavenly Voice, beg Moses to intercede and continue the
transmission of the Divine Word.
Moses did indeed command us the sum of (TORaH), 611 laws. e
other two are in a category all by themselves. e first two commandments
are a legacy to us not via the mouth of Moses, but rather from the lips of the
Almighty.
ET Ha-OR
THE LIGHT
(Va-yar Elohim et ha-or ki tov)
“And God saw the light, that it was good.”
[Genesis 1:4]
What was the original light of Day One in the week of creation?
It could not have been sunlight. e sun was not created until the
Fourth Day. It was a light of far greater intensity. It was a light, according to
our Sages, set aside for the future of Messianic fulfillment.
e essence of this primordial light is implicit in its numerical
definition:
Light enables us to see with the vision of our eyes. e light of the 613
commandments affords us the vision of insight and the clarity of reality as
perceived through the prism of Torah.
ZaHaV
GOLD
e Torah is read publicly on three days of the week. Just as a human
being cannot survive without water longer than three days, so, too, the
Jewish people cannot survive without the living waters of Torah for that
length of time.
We read the portion of the week on the Sabbath, wait a day and publicly
read part of the following week’s portion on Monday. Two days go by and
we are spiritually pared. ursday refreshes us as we read part of the
portion yet again. e eve of Sabbath passes and once more the week is
complete. e Sabbath restores our additional soul, and the three special
days identified with Torah reading represent the “gold” of our existence.
e leers of (ZaHaV), gold, are (zayin), 7, (he), 5, and (bet), 2.
Indeed day 7, day 5, and day 2—Sabbath, ursday, and Monday—are the
most valuable of our existence.
BeREShiYT
IN THE BEGINNING
What justifies the creation of the world?
Without Torah the earth would not survive even for a moment. Because
of the Torah God created the heavens and the earth. e first word of the
Torah serves as an acronym for the rationale of creation:
(Ba-rishonah)
(Ra’ah)
(Elohim)
(She-yekablu)
(Yisrael)
(Torah)
“In the beginning, God saw that Israel would accept the Torah.”
For that reason and for that reason alone the Almighty proceeded with
creation.
BeREShiYT
IN THE BEGINNING
Why does the Torah begin with the leer (bet), the second leer of the
Hebrew alphabet, and not with the (alef)? Because the (alef) was
granted a far nobler and important task. It would begin the Ten
Commandments as the opening leer of the word (anokhi)—I am the
Lord, your God.
e leer (bet) is 2. Creation is secondary to the giving of Torah. If
ever there were to be a moment that Torah was not studied on the earth,
God would turn the universe ba again into (tohu va-vohu), the
primordial aos, or void, that preceded the creation of the world.
ḤaMiShaH
FIVE
“Who knows five? I know five. Five are the books of the Torah,” states
the Passover Haggadah.
Torah does not restrict us. It enables us to be free—free to live up to our
potential and greatness, free to be more like God in whose image we were
created.
e Five Books are meant to allow us to rejoice before the Lord, our
God. eir goal is (SiMḤaH). Rearrange the leers and see that
, whi means joy, and (ḤaMiShaH), five, are one and the
same.
BeRiYT
COVENANT
Acceptance of Torah represents our covenant with God.
e word (BeRiYT) means covenant. Yet numerically it does not
add up to 613:
Why is (BeRiYT) but 612 and not 613? Because the covenant is
made with God and presupposes the existence of the Almighty. Although
belief in God is implicit in the first of the Ten Commandments, the covenant
is possible only aer we have already taken the first step of
(emunah), faith in the Almighty.
MiẒVaH
COMMANDMENT
e Hebrew language has two alphabets. One is known as “the
revealed,” the other “the hidden.” e first speaks straightforwardly to us as
it moves in logical progression from (alef) through (tav). e second
requires the wisdom of retrospect; it is the hidden message of the alphabet in
reverse, where = (tav = alef), = (shin = bet), = (resh = gimel), and
so on.
Every (MiẒVaH) is an aspect of the very essence of God. His
sharing of self comes from compassion; is rooted in the four-leer
name of God, (YHVH). e second half of the word (MiẒ/VaH) is
(vav, he), the very last two leers of (YHVH). e first two leers,
(mem, ẓadei), are the substitute leers for (yod) and (he) in the alphabet
of retrospect, the one known as the hidden.
Every commandment in the Torah contains within it the seeds of
godliness. It begins with reference to the Lord in the language of the mystic
and hidden; it concludes with the open and revealed correspondence to
God’s name. e performance of every commandment may to some extent
be rationally explained but bears, in addition, a far more profound
significance.
KeTeR
CROWN
Ea Torah scroll in the Holy Ark is adorned with a silver crown.
e word for crown, (KeTeR), represents a significant number:
(kaf) = 20, (tav) = 400, (resh) = 200. e Torah teaes us 613
commandments for the Jewish people. It also makes reference to seven
universal laws, the (sheva miẓvot benei Noah), seven
commandments incumbent upon the descendants of Noah.
How significant that the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments under
whi all other Biblical laws may be subsumed, comprise precisely 620
leers. ey, too, serve as a crown for our existence. Pervert them and
(KeTeR) becomes (KaReT)—the punishment of extinction biblically
foretold for failure to heed the word of God.
MiShNaH
THE ORAL LAW
e biblical text teaes us “an eye for an eye.” e Oral Law or
Mishnah, makes clear that what is intended is the payment of money.
e words of the text are incomplete without the clarification offered by
oral commentary. e wrien word of Torah is its body; the explication is its
soul.
Rearrange the consonants of the word (MiShNaH) and you have
the word (NeShaMaH), whi in Hebrew means “soul.” When holy
men pass away, it is customary to study the Mishnah on their behalf. Let the
soul of Torah intercede on behalf of the soul of the righteous,
(MiShNaH) for (NeShaMaH).
Part II
e Opposites of Life
(Ha-ḥayyim ve-ha-mavet natati lefanekha,
ha-berakhah ve-ha-kelalah u-vakharta ba-ḥayyim)
I have set before thee life and death,
the blessing and the curse;
therefore oose life.
Deuteronomy 30:19
Chapter 4
Life and Death
ḤaYYiM
LIFE
e word for life in Hebrew ends with (YiM), the grammatical
indicator of plurality. We are granted not one life, but two; not (ḤaY) but
(ḤaYYiM).
Why does the Torah begin with the leer (bet), whi corresponds to
the number 2? Because our Sages tea that God created not one world, but
two. ere is (olam ha-zeh), this world, and (olam ha-
ba), the world to come.
Our life must always be lived with the awareness that the grave is not
our end, but merely the second beginning. “Know whence you came and to
where you are going and before Whom you are destined to give a final
accounting” [Ethics of the Fathers 3:1].
ḤaYYiM
LIFE
e word for life in Hebrew is wrien in the plural. When God created
the world, He affirmed its innate goodness by reiterating (ki tov),
“And it is good” aer ea day of creation.
Yet when He concluded all of His work in its entirety, He added
(lo tov heyot ha-adam levado)—not only was it
not good for Adam to be alone, but the world is not good when anyone is
alone. Nothing is satisfying when viewed through two eyes instead of four.
For (ḥayyim), life, to be true life, it cannot be lived alone.
ḤaYYiM
LIFE
Both in Hebrew as well as in English, the word (ḤaYYiM) and life
ea contain four leers.
Central to the English word for existence, surrounded by the first and
last leers, is the word “if.” Life is subject to imponderables. We are the prey
of forces beyond our control, to possibilities both of curse and of blessing.
Central to the word (ḤaYYiM), the Hebrew word for life, are two
’s (YY), whi combined form the name of God. Belief in the Almighty
replaces the great “if” of life. When God is central to our lives, doubt and
despair are replaced by confidence and divine comfort.
ḤaYYiM
LIFE
Man lives on aer death. Not only in the other world, but through what
he leaves behind here on earth.
(ḤaYYiM) in gematria is 68: (ḥet) = 8, (yod) = 10 (2 × 10 = 20),
(mem) = 40.
Two other words are the exact numerical equivalent of this number:
(BaNaYV), “his ildren,” and (VaYiVeN), “and he built.”
(bet) = 2, (nun) = 50, (yod) = 10, (vav) = 6. His ildren are His life.
(vav) = 6, (yod) = 10, (vet) = 2, (nun) = 50. What He built is His
legacy.
ḤaYYiM
LIFE
e wisest of all men, King Solomon, taught us in the Book of Proverbs:
(Torat ḥakham mekor ḥayyim)
“e teaing of the wise is a fountain of life.”
[Proverbs 13:14]
e gematria of (ḤaYYiM) is 68. e source of true life is wisdom. A
(ḤaKHaM) numerically is 68: (ḥet) = 8, (khaf) = 20, (mem) = 40.
e wise man treasures life. e fool pursues sin and is soon snared by
death.
ḤaYYiM
LIFE
Jewish law demands that four categories of people give thanks to God
for deliverance. e first leer of ea category forms the acronym ḤaYYiM,
life.
(ve-khol ha-ḥayyim yodukha selah) “And all the
living shall praise and thank You, the Almighty.” , life, is an acronym
for , and (ḥoleh, yam, yoẓe, midbar).
MaVeT
DEATH
“Why do you weep?” asked the students of the Ga’on of Vilna as he lay
on his deathbed. “Are you not confident that you will soon be in a world far
beer than this one?”
“I weep,” the Sage answered, “because I go from a world in whi with
the slightest of effort I can perform (miẓvot) to a world where all
doors to future perfection are closed for me.” (MaVeT), death, in
gematria is 446: (mem) = 40, (vav) = 6, (tav) = 400. It is what we
remind ourselves of at the Seder table when we partake of (MaROR),
bier herbs: (mem) = 40, (resh) = 200 (2 × 200 = 400), (vav) = 6.
A Jew must do everything in his power to remain healthy and alive.
Live so that you may continue to be able to do the will of God on this earth.
MaVeT
DEATH
(MaVeT), death, in gematria is 446.
at is the number shared by the Hebrew word (HaEMeT), the
truth: (he) = 5, (alef) = 1, (mem) = 40, (tav) = 400.
We are all mortal. We cannot escape death. It is the ultimate truth for all
humankind. What we must do is prepare for it properly so that we can face
our Creator without fear or trepidation.
MeT
DIED
Death atones.
e pain and suffering of final weeks, days, or even moments may play
an important part in preparing the soul for its heavenly purification. In
retrospect, viewed from ba to beginning, the consonants of the word
(MeT) read (TaM). rough death itself a person may become whole and
perfect (TaM).
KeVeR
THE GRAVE
Life ends with the grave.
Rearrange the leers of (KeVeR) to identify man’s final fate:
(ReKeV)—to decay. “You go to a place of dust, worms, and maggots” [Ethics
of the Fathers 3:1].
Rearrange the leers again and read the word (BoKeR), morning.
What appears as night here is but the morning of a higher form of existence.
As the Hindu poet Tagore wrote: “Death is puing out the lamp because the
dawn has come.”
KeVeR
THE GRAVE
e gematria of (KeVeR) is 302: (kof) = 100, (vet) = 2, (resh) =
200.
It is identical to the number of the words (be-zi-karon
tov), “with good remembrances:” (bet) = 2, (zayin) = 7, (kaf) = 20,
(resh) = 200, (vav) = 6, (nun) = 50, (tet) = 9, (vav) = 6, (vet) = 2.
Death is not final. e soul remains in its spiritual home. e person is
recalled here on earth with good remembrances.
Mourners come to the grave to visit, to reflect, and to remember. In
remembering, the deceased is kept alive. What we acquire, leaves us at
death; what we give away, of our time and possessions, survives us ever
more.
ḤaY
LIFE
Numerically, (ḤaY) is 18.
We live truly on those days when we are close to God.
Add up the number of festival days commanded by the Torah: Passover,
7; Shavuot, 1; Rosh Hashanah, 1; Yom Kippur, 1; Sukkot, 7; Shemini Atzeret,
1.
e total of the holy days is 18. ey are life on this earth and a
foretaste of the life to come.
AVeL
MOURNER
What is the proper response to death?
(Va-teẓe esh mi-lifnei Adonay va-tokhal otam va-yamutu lifnei Adonay)
“And there came forth fire from before the Lord and devoured them
[Nadav and Avihu, the sons of Aharon] and they died before the Lord.”
[Leviticus 10:2]
(Va-yidam Aharon)
“And Aaron remained silent.”
[Leviticus 10:3]
e word for mourner is (AVeL). ese are the same leers that
form the word (AVaL), “but.”
Words do not suffice to deal with the mystery of death. Confronting the
unknown, all we can offer is silence. We know that our loved one is gone
from us, —but . . . there is more to life than this world. But . . . God has
His reasons. But . . . our minds cannot comprehend all that represents the
wisdom of the Almighty.
We are consoled by the “but” of reality, whi grasps that there is more
than the tragedy before our eyes, “but” it is beyond our understanding.
Chapter 5
Truth and Falsehood
EMeT
TRUTH
In English we express the concept of total truth by saying that
something is true “from A to Z.”
In Hebrew the word for truth is (EMeT). Its first leer is the very
first leer of the Hebrew alphabet, the (alef). e last leer is (tav), the
end of the Alef-Bet. e exact middle of the 22 leers of the Hebrew
alphabet is the (mem).
Truth demands total accuracy from start to finish, including every point
in the middle as well.
EMeT
TRUTH
From birth to death. at is the ultimate truth of every human being.
e three leers of (EMeT) may be read in two combinations of
beginning and end.
— Em — Mother
— Met — Death
From the cradle to the grave—these are the unavoidable boundaries of
our human existence. To know this truth is the first step for making the most
of ourselves during the time we are granted by the Almighty on this earth.
EMeT
TRUTH
e (ḥevrah kadisha), the holy society dedicated to
caring for the deceased, has its work described as (ḥesed
shel emet). It is the loving-kindness of truth, because it is clearly done with
no hope for recompense from the person to whom kindness was shown.
(EMeT) is the granting of three last favors done for another:
(alef) = (Aron)—the coffin
(mem) = (Mitah)—the funeral bed on whi the deceased is
transported to the grave
(tav) = (Takhrikhim)—the clothing in whi we bury
the dead
EMeT
TRUTH
at whi is true is everlasting. e false and the wied cannot
prevail.
(EMeT) in gematria is 441: (alef) = 1, (mem) = 40, (tav) =
400.
Man is a duality of both body and soul. Our flesh is mortal. It ages,
decays, and withers. But that is not “the truth” of our existence.
(VeHaNeFeSh), and the soul: (vav) = 6, (he) = 5, (nun) = 50,
(fe) = 80, (shin) = 300 = 441. And the soul—that is the truth of our life
and our immortality.
EMeT
TRUTH
Truth requires for its essence the first leer (alef), the “One” standing
for the Almighty. Remove the initial leer in (EMeT) and all that
remains is (MT).
Without God there can be no truth. In its place only death and
destruction remain.
EMeT
TRUTH
God spoke to us at Sinai and gave us the Ten Commandments, the
Decalogue. ey begin with the word (anokhi), “I am,” of whi the
first leer is (alef).
e Mishnah, compendium of Oral Law, begins with the word
(me-ematai)—from when does one read the (shema) in the evening?
e opening leer is (mem).
e Gemara, the talmudic discussion of the Mishnah, starts with the
word (tanna), the Sage, with an initial (tav).
God makes Himself manifest through His law. In its three forms,
Decalogue, Mishnah, and Talmud, its opening leers make the word
(EMeT), as seal of its truth.
SheKeR
FALSEHOOD
e gematria of (SheKeR) is 600: (shin) = 300, (kof) = 100,
(resh) = 200.
To whom does (SheKeR) belong? (LaRaShA), to the wied
one: (lamed) = 30, (resh) = 200, (shin) = 300, (ayin) = 70 = 600.
To the wied one, falsehood is as necessary as life ( [ḤaYYiM] =
68) is to the wise ( [ḤaKHaM] = 68).
SheKeR
FALSEHOOD
What was the crime of (Amalek), for whi they are to be
evermore remembered as ar villains?
“Remember what Amalek did unto you by the way as you came forth
out of Egypt,” (asher karkha ba-derekh) [Deuteronomy
25:17–18].
(KaRKHa) derives from the root word (KaR), cold. Amalek
“cooled us off.” He doused our passion for God, and by his aa he sought
to cool the ardor of our love for God and His commandments.
at, too, is the tragic consequence of — (SheKeR—She
KaR), that it cools whatever idealism had been inspired by truth.
SheKeR
FALSEHOOD
Two witnesses once came to undermine the credibility of a talmudic
Sage. “We swear,” they said, “we saw him rolling on the ground, making
wild animal noises, clearly acting like a madman.”
What they said was true. ey had simply ignored one other vital part
of the story. e Rabbi at the time had been playing with his grandild,
happily rolling on the floor with him and imitating both with sound and
gesture the wild antics of a goat.
It was a lie not because it wasn’t the truth, but because it was only part
of the truth. Whereas (EMeT) covers the entire range of the alphabet,
(SheKeR) is a distorted perspective inasmu as its three leers follow
one another toward the very end of the Hebrew alphabet. , , and (shin,
kof, resh), the Hebrew leers that spell falsehood, afford a truncated, and
consequently misleading, view of reality.
SheKeR
FALSEHOOD
e first leer of the word for falsehood is (shin).
at is the very leer that appears on every (mezuzah) as the
acronym for (ShaDaY) the name of God.
Why does this name of God open with the same leer that begins the
word “falsehood” (SheKeR)? Because the power of a lie is in direct
proportion to its supposed connection to the holy.
“In the name of God, I tell you this,” says the deceiver. At times he or
she may even be lying for the sake of a noble end. But the end does not
justify the means. e fact that the deceiver has the (shin) of God in mind
does not take away the heinousness of “the big lie.”
e Torah teaes: “Justice, justice shalt thou pursue” [Deuteronomy
16:20]. e commentators explain justice—but only by way of justice.
SheKeR
FALSEHOOD
Rearrange the leers of (SheKeR) and you have the word
(KeSheR).
(KeSheR) is a band, a group, a number of people together.
What gives the lie its awesome power? If enough people repeat
something untrue, the world will believe it.
e slanderer in biblical times became leprous. Why did the slanderer,
the (MOẒi RA), become a (MeẒORA), a leper? So that
he would be isolated. Cut off from others, the liar and the lie can do no more
harm.
SheKeR
FLASEHOOD
e leers , , and (kof, resh, shin) do not end the Hebrew alphabet.
ere is yet one more leer that follows.
e (tav) is the final leer of truth; it begins the word (Torah).
e lie may be believed for a while, but in the end truth will prevail.
e giving of the Torah at Sinai was accompanied by the sound of a
(shofar) that “waxed louder and louder” [Exodus 19:19].
at is the symbol of truth whose message, though dim at first, becomes
ever stronger and louder until it is heard throughout the universe.
Chapter 6
Good and Evil
ẒaDiYK, RaShA
RIGHTEOUS, WICKED
At the Seder we are told to respond to the wied son:
(hak′heh et shinav), translated as “Remove [kno out]
his teeth.” e requirement seems both harsh and inexplicable.
e gematria involved gives it a far more profound interpretation.
(RaShA): (resh) = 200, (shin) = 300, (ayin) = 70 = 570. e word
(ShiNa[y]V), his teeth = 366, (shin) = 300, (nun) = 50, (yod) =10, (vav)
= 6. Take away the power of his teeth, the wiedness concentrated in his
mouth. Subtract 366 from 570 and you are le with 204. at is the total of
the word (ẒaDiYK), (ẓadei) = 90, (dalet) = 4, (yod) = 10, (kof) =
100.
If your ild, God forbid, is wied, a (rasha), your role and your
responsibility is to turn him into a (ẓadiyk), a righteous person.
RaShA
WICKED PERSON
(ra) means evil.
What does the wied person do in order to gain acceptance? He makes
central to his very being the appearance of (shin), the leer appearing on
every mezuzah as the acronym for (ShaDaY), the name of God. e
reprobate will claim that holiness is central to his being. All of his actions
are hypocritically assigned to “holy causes.”
at is why the father is told at the Seder table,
(hakheh et shinav): the only way to unmask the (RaShA) is to remove
his (shin), the leer of piety that he uses to disguise his wiedness.
RaShA
WICKED PERSON
How does one explain why someone is wied?
e Torah cautions us:
(Ve-lo taturu aḥarei levavkhem ve-aḥarei eyneikhem asher atem zonim
aḥareihem)
“And that you go not about aer your heart and your own eyes, aer
whi you use to go astray.”
[Numbers 15:39]
e eyes ought not to be our rulers. Samson followed his eyes to lust
aer Philistine women. His punishment, measure for measure, was that he
became blind.
Look in retrospect at the (RaShA) and see that bawards we are
told the story behind his aberrant behavior: (ayin) the eye, became his
(SaR), ruler.
A (YiSRaEL) is one who remembers (LiY RoSh): I
possess a head, a mind, and an intellect that must control the desires
stemming from sight, (RoSh) also has the consonants (SaR), ruler.
But central to rule as expressed by the word is the leer (alef), the
One of the universe Who dictates the difference between right and wrong,
between what my eyes see and desire, and what my head determines is
suitable or off limits.
ẒaDiYK
RIGHTEOUS
When the Jews were counted in the desert, they were asked to give half
a shekel.
Why not a whole shekel? Some suggest it was because every Jew had to
recognize that he was only half; no Jew is whole unto himself without
responsibility to another.
Another interpretation suggests that the Hebrew word for half,
(maḥaẓit), contains the secret of survival. Central to the word is the leer
(ẓadei), the leer signifying “righteous one.” e leers close to it and
surrounding it are (ḥet) and (yod). Stay near the righteous and you have
(ḤaY), life. Visually, in the word the leers most distant from
the (ẓadei) are the (mem) and (tav). Keep far from the righteous and
the consequence is (MeT), death.
Ra
EVIL
ere are times when we believe God has inflicted evil upon us.
How do we comprehend wiedness stemming from the Almighty?
Moses asked God, “Show me, I pray ee, y glory” [Exodus 33:18]. God
responded: “ou shalt see My ba, but My face shall not be seen” [Exodus
33:23]. It is only in retrospect that people can grasp that what appeared to be
evil was really meant for some higher purpose. We may curse our bad lu
when we miss a plane connection. Hours later, what seemed like ill fortune
can be grasped as Heavenly intercession if we discover that the plane we
missed, crashed.
At times it takes the perspective of many years to discover that the
seemingly bad was but a blessing in disguise. In Hebrew, when (RA) is
read baward, then (ER), we “awaken” to a far more profound
understanding.
BaẒA
UNJUST GAIN
What are the qualifications for judges among the Jewish people?
Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, made the suggestion that God
subsequently approved:
(Ve-ata teḥezeh mi-kol ha-am anshei ḥayil yirei Elohim anshei emet sonei
vaẓa)
“Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people, su as fear God, men
of truth, hating unjust gain.”
[Exodus 18:21]
What is the end result of monies gained illegally, of wealth secured
through improper means? It is the hindsight of history that shows us that
(BaẒA) read bawards is (EẒeV), “sadness.” Corruption gives
pleasure for the moment. e seems to bring happiness. Yet, ill-goen gain
soon disappears, bringing in its wake nothing but pain and misery.
YaShaR
“STRAIGHT”/HONEST
Exultation and song are almost always inseparable.
When the Jews viewed the miracle of the destruction of their oppressors
and their own salvation at the Red Sea, they sang a Song of Deliverance.
(az yashir Mosheh uvenei Yisrael) [Exodus 15:1].
e text reads (yashir)—not sang, but will sing (the “Y” in yashir
indicates the future tense). roughout the Torah we find nine different
occasions when songs of praise were sung. e Prophets tell us that at the
time of the Messiah, Moses and the Jewish people will be resurrected.
Together they will sing the Final Song and then, of course, (yod
[10] shir), there will be a tenth song to complete all the times when the
Jewish people collectively anowledge divine intervention on their behalf.
Every act of righteousness today hastens Messianic redemption. Hidden
within every deed that is righteous, (YaShaR), is, through the
rearrangement of the same leers, the word (ShiYR). Honesty to fellow
man is a song of praise to the Almighty.
PeShA
TRANSGRESSION
Is sin the natural consequence of deprivation?
e very first sin would seem to indicate that the exact opposite is true.
It is not because human beings have too lile, but rather because they have
too mu that they are led to disregard divine will and to follow their own
desires. Adam and Eve were in paradise, the Garden of Eden. ey had but
one law to follow.
(Mi-kol eẓ ha-gan akhol tokhel: u-me-eẓ ha-da′at tov va-ra lo tokhal
mimenu)
“Of all the trees in the Garden, thou mayest surely eat. But of the Tree of
Knowledge of Good and Evil, thou shalt not eat.”
[Genesis 2:16–17]
Paradise, the blessing of having too mu, was the cause of our first
downfall. Rearrange the leers of (PeShA), rebellious sin, and see the
word (ShePHA)—overflowing abundance.
Give man too mu and he rebels. Give ildren too mu and they
become less capable of dealing with their good fortune than if they had been
forced to confront life’s difficulties.
Chapter 7
Joy and Sorrow
SiMḤaH
HAPPINESS
(ḥamishah mi yode’a)? At the seder table we ask who
knows the significance of the number 5? e answer, of course, is
(ḥamishah ḥumshei Torah), five are the books of the
Torah.
e purpose of divine law is not to restrict us for the purpose of
deprivation. It is rather to discipline us so that through self-control we gain
true happiness. Hedonism is self-defeating. Excessive gorging leads to
siness, excessive sex to boredom. e purpose of Torah is to help you
rejoice before the Lord, your God.
Rearrange the leers (ḤaMiShaH) and you find the word
(SiMḤaH), happiness.
SiMḤaH
HAPPINESS
What is the secret for aaining happiness?
Remember every hurt ever done unto you and you will never again be
able to smile. Remember every painful experience of your life, and the
burden of memory will be oppressive beyond measure.
e Midrash teaes us that God granted Adam and Eve an all-
important blessing as they were about to leave the Garden of Eden. “I give
you,” He said, “the gi of forgetfulness.”
(SiMḤaH) means (she), that (maḥah), removed or
eradicated, as in the verse from Isaiah:
(U-maḥah Adonay Elohim dim’ah me-al kol panim)
“And the Lord, God, will wipe away tears from off all faces.”
[Isaiah 25:8]
Everyone has moments of hurt and pain. We differ only in our abilities
to either forgive and forget or to forever harbor hatreds and grudges,
destroying ourselves in the process.
SaMaḤ
REJOICED
When the Greeks tried to destroy the Jewish religion, they forbade the
practice of three laws that they felt contained the essence of Judaic
spirituality: (Shabbat), the Sabbath; (milah), circumcision; and
(ḥodesh), the proclamation of the New Moon.
Maathias and his five sons, against overwhelming odds, overcame this
threat to our people. To this day we celebrate their victory on the holiday of
Ḥanukah. And we rejoice because the three leers that form the root of the
word (SiMḤaH), (S. M. Ḥ.), remind us that we continue to be
able to practice freely those three commandments for whi (SaMaḤ)
is acronym: (Shabbat), (Milah), and (Ḥodesh).
SaMaḤ
REJOICED
God did everything for us on the first seven days of creation.
en, to the first Jew, He gave the commandment of circumcision, to be
performed on the 8th day. Its deeper meaning is that man must become a
partner with God in the act of creation. We make a ange even in the very
body that God gave us, to indicate that our role is not one of passive
acceptance, but rather creative partnership.
We are the people of the number 8. We must assist and work with God
to bring about a beer world. Parasites can’t be happy. ose who have
everything done for them will never know the joy of personal aievement.
We, however, bear the (SheM), the Name, of the leer (ḥet), whi
equals 8, the number implying that we must carry on what God began in the
first week of creation. It is that blessing of responsibility and purpose, the
(SheM “Ḥet”) that allows us to understand the meaning of the word
(SaMaḤ), to rejoice and to be happy.
YiSMaḤ
HE WILL REJOICE
Every Jew has a dream. It is basic to the vision of our Prophets.
ere will come a day when the world will be at peace. Nation shall not
li up sword against nation, neither shall they learn the art of war any more.
Implements of warfare will be used for productive and peaceful ends; spears
will become pruning hooks. God will be universally recognized and all
peoples shall stream towards Jerusalem, the city of peace.
at day will be brought about by (MaShiYaḤ), the Messiah, or
the anointed one. It is his name, its consonants rearranged, that spell
(YiSMaḤ). With the Messiah will come true happiness for the entire world.
ẒaRaH
SADNESS
Within every moment of sadness is the seed for even greater happiness.
It was George Bernard Shaw who said: “e desert is a desert because
the sun always shines there. Without rain there can be no growth, without
storm there can be no creativity.”
So, too, did Robert Browning Hamilton profoundly express:
I walked a mile with sorrow
And ne’er a word said she;
But, oh, the things I learned from her
When sorrow walked with me.
Rearrange the leers of (ẒaRaH) and you have the word
(ẒoHaR), a window. rough pain one can see farther, through grief one can
gain remarkable vision. e “pain” of suffering can be turned into the “pane”
of insight.
Chapter 8
Love and Hatred
AHaVaH
LOVE
What is love?
In gematria it is 13: (alef) = 1, (he) = 5, (vet) = 2, (he) = 5.
We are commanded:
(Ve-ahavta le-re′akha kamokha ani Adonay)
“Love your neighbor as yourself, I am the Lord.”
[Leviticus 19:18]
Two people who love ea other become joined through their love. e
(AHaVaH), 13 of one partner, together with the , 13 of the other
partner, become 26. (ani Adonay), “I am Lord,” is the number of
God’s four-leer name: (yod) = 10, (he) = 5, (vav) = 6, (he) = 5.
Where man joins his fellow man in love, there God ooses to reside
and make His presence felt.
AHaVaH
LOVE
In gematria, love is 13. God demonstrates His love to us through the
manifestation of 13 aributes of mercy.
(Adonay/Adonay El raḥum ve-ḥanun erekh apayim ve-rav ḥesed ve-emet:
Noẓer ḥesed la-alafim nosei avon va-fesha ve-ḥata′ah ve-nakeh)
“e Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering and
abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy unto the thousandth
generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.”
[Exodus 34:6–7]
We demonstrate our love to Him by accepting responsibility for the
performance of commandments upon aaining the age of bar miẓvah, 13.
(Girls mature earlier and are responsible at age 12, but the latest number
associated with full acceptance is 13.)
e 13 from Him to us, and the 13 from us to Him, combine to make 26,
the number defining the essence of the four-leer name, (YHVH), the
God of compassion, kindness, and mercy.
It is mutual love that explains the reason for His essence.
AHaVaH/YiRAH
LOVE/FEAR
Two emotions define our obligations to God in our relationship with the
Creator: We must love Him. We must also fear/revere Him and stand in awe
of His greatness.
Yet, the two are not separate and distinct. Within love itself there must
be a sense of awe and reverence; within fear there must also be an
outpouring of love.
Place the two Hebrew leers one on top of the other, in the following
fashion: (YRAH), underneath it (AHVH). Draw a line straight
down the middle of both words, separating the first two leers of ea from
the last, as shown below. Note that the (Y, R) of the top word may then be
combined with the (A, H) of the boom. Similarly, the (A, H) of the
top word is combined with the (V, H) of the boom. (YiRAH) and
(AHaVaH), awe and love, are separate words, but they are also words
combined. We love and fear at one and the same time.
AHaV
LOVE
e three-leer root of (AHaVaH) is (A. H. V.).
When does one truly love another?
ere are those who say they love ien. It is not so. If they really
loved the ien, they would not kill it for food. What they intend to say is
they love themselves and they use the ien for self-gratification.
e word “love” ought to be used only as its Hebrew root implies:
(EHAV), I will give.
When I care more about another than I do about myself, when I’m
willing to give rather than to take, when the other’s happiness means more
than my own, then I really love that person.
e love test is simple: Do you want to do more for him/her than you
want her/him to do for you?
ḤiYBaH
LOVE
e word (ḤiYBaH) is related to the word (ḤOVaH). Love is
connected with obligations.
Shakespeare knew it well and wrote in As You Like It:
Good shepherd, tell this youth what ’tis to love.
It is to be all made of sighs and tears;
It is to be all made of faith and service.
(Act V, scene 2)
You do not love if you will not serve. You are not enthralled if you will
not be in thrall.
Ve-AHaVTa
AND YOU SHALL LOVE
We are biblically commanded to love the Lord.
But “how shall I love ee?” In what way is this emotion to be
expressed?
Rearrange the leers of (ve-AHaVTa) and you find the word
(Ha-AVoT), the Fathers. ree Patriars begin the story of our
people. ree phrases are given to elaborate on the requirement of love
toward the Almighty:
(be-khol levavkha), with all your heart. Abraham discovered
God in his heart and believed with all of his heart. As the text tells us, “You
found his heart faithful before You” (Nehemiah 9:8).
(be-khol nafshekha), with all your soul. Isaac was prepared
to give up his life on the altar of sacrifice.
(u-ve-khol meodekha), and with all your wealth. As he fled
from home, Jacob vowed that if God would protect him on his perilous
journey,
(Ve-khol asher titen li aser a′asrenu lakh)
“And of all that ou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee.”
[Genesis 28:22]
Read the lives of our ree Forefathers and understand the meaning of
love as it is to be fulfilled towards God. e paradigms for (ve-
ahavta) are (ha-avot).
LeV
HEART
Hebrew is the oldest of languages.
Some of its words have come almost directly into the English language,
(LeV), heart, became “love.” e organ that pumps our very life’s blood is
associated with what gives our life purpose and meaning.
e very last leer of the Torah, the final leer of the word
(YisraEL) is (lamed). e first leer of the Torah, beginning the word
(Bereshiyt) is (bet). Together they make the word (LeV,
heart), for with Torah we find love of God as well as love of fellow man.
But why does this combination appear only if we begin with the last
leer of the Torah rather than the first? Because this love can only be fully
created aer we have completed at least once the Five Books of Moses—and
allowed them to complete us.
OHeV/OYeV
LOVER/ENEMY
ere are two words in Hebrew for enemy. One is (sonei), the
other is (OYeV).
(sonei) is almost onomatopoeic; it sounds like what it is. e
hissing of the enemy is clear. We are forewarned even as the hiss of the
snake announces its poisonous presence.
(OYeV) both sounds and appears almost like the word
(OHeV). It is the word for the enemy who masquerades as a friend, who is,
of course, a far more dangerous antagonist.
It was Lincoln who said: “God protect me from my friends. I can take
care of my enemies myself.”
It was Moses who prayed:
(Kumah Adonay ve-yafutzu oyvekha ve-yanusu mesanekha mipanekha)
“Rise up, O Lord, and let ine enemies be scaered; them that hate ee
will flee before ee.”
[Numbers 10:35]
If the former are scaered, the laer present no threat and will flee of
themselves.
Chapter 9
Peace and War
ShaLOM
PEACE
Jews have 613 commandments. e descendants of Noah are obligated
to observe the minimal seven laws of humankind. e seven most
fundamental laws are the three for whi a Jew is required to give up his life
rather than transgress—idolatry, immorality, and murder—as well as four
others mnemonically alluded to in the first four leers (alef, bet, gimel,
dalet) of the Hebrew alphabet:
(alef) = (ever min ha-ḥay)—the prohibition against
eating flesh from a living thing
(bet) = (barekh)—blessing (i.e., cursing) (et Adonay),
the name of God
(gimel) = (gezel)—robbery
(dalet) = (dinim)—the establishment of a legal system
Courts are crucial for human survival. Anary is suicidal.
(Shoim ve-shotrim titen lekha be-khol she′arekha asher Adonay
Elohekha noten lekha li-shevatekha ve-shau et haam mishpat ẓedek)
“Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates whi the Lord,
thy God, giveth thee, tribe by tribe, and they shall judge the people with
righteous judgment.”
[Deuteronomy 16:18]
For peace, (ShaLOM), to exist there must be a (MOSheL), a
ruler. e people require discipline imposed by judicial authority. So, too,
does every home demand discipline. Only then can there be
(shalom bayit), domestic harmony.
ShaLOM
PEACE
e root of (ShaLOM) is (ShaLeM)—whole, complete.
Why do people fight against others? Because they are not whole or at
peace within themselves. “Love your neighbor as yourself” imposes not one
demand, but two, in very specific sequence. First one must love one’s self.
Only then can one come to love others as well.
Animosity toward others is self-hatred redirected.
Make yourself whole. Find inner peace. You will then come to love your
neighbor and be at one with your fellow man.
ShaLeM
WHOLE
For the sake of three things were the Jews redeemed from the land of
Egypt.
No maer how low they sank spiritually, they still clung to three all-
important aspects of their self-definition and national identity:
(She-lo shinu et sheman et leshonam ve-et malbusham)
“ey did not ange their names, neither did they ange their language,
nor did they ange their garments.”
[Yalkat Shlomo, Emor 657]
Maintaining identifiable Jewish names; continuing to speak Hebrew;
and dressing modestly in traditional garb were the hallmarks of their
wholeness.
(ShaLeM), to be complete as a person and as a Jew, is to remember
what the acronym of these three leers represent:
(Shem, Lashon, Malbush).
MiLḤaMaH
WAR
What is the major reason for conflict? Why do people go to war?
People do not fight because they are wied. (MiLḤaMaH), war,
is waged primarily for the sake of what is central to that word:
(LeḤeM), whi means bread. Deprived of the basic food staple, wars will be
waged for economic reasons.
Help the needy. Feed the starving. Assuage the pain of those who are
hungry. It is not simply a commandment. It is the means of preventing war
and securing the great blessing of peace.
Part III
e Blessings of Life
(Sinu ra ve-ehevu tov)
Hate the evil and love the good
Amos 5:15
Chapter 10
Wealth
AShiYR
A WEALTHY MAN
What is true wealth?
Of course, it is to have your health.
e four leers of (AShiYR) tea us what we must have to be
wealthy. (ayin) is (eynayim), (shin) is (shinayim), (yod) is
(yadayim), (resh) is (raglayim)—eyes to see, teeth to be able to
eat and to enjoy our food, hands to tou and to be able to embrace our
loved ones, and feet to be able to walk and see the splendor of the world that
God has created.
Pray for health, not for wealth.
MaMON
MONEY
Some say money is the root of all evil.
e gematria of the word (MaMon) teaes us something far
different. (mem) = 40, twice over is 80, (vav) is 6, (nun) is 50.
e total, 136, is extremely significant. When Jacob had a dream on the
very site that would serve as the place for the building of the Holy Temple,
he beheld:
(Ve-hineh sulam muẓav arẓah ve-rosho magi′a ha-shamaymah ve-hineh
malakhei Elohim olim ve-yordim bo)
“. . . a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reaed to Heaven; and
behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.”
[Genesis 28:12]
Heaven and earth are linked by a (SULaM). A material object, a
ladder, may nevertheless allow us to ascend to the Heavens themselves.
= 136, the same gematria as , money— (samekh) = 60, (vav) =
6, (lamed) = 30, (mem) = 40. Money may be our ladder enabling us to
scale the loiest heights. With money we can build temples for prayer,
sools for study, homes for the homeless, hospitals for the si, shelters for
the weary.
Not for the Jew is the teaing of the New Testament that “It is easier
for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a ri man to enter
the portals of Heaven.” If the wealthy use their gis wisely, money may
serve as the key to the blessings of eternity.
VeNaTNU
AND THEY SHALL GIVE
(VeNaTNU) speaks of the miẓvah of giving.
e word has a peculiar aracteristic. In Hebrew it is a palindrome—it
reads baward as it does forward. For to give is not to be diminished, but
rather to be enabled once again to give in equal measure.
God gives unto those who assist Him in proper distribution of wealth.
When one proves wise enough to distribute of one’s wealth to the poor and
to aritable institutions, God allows the giver sufficient blessing to give
again and again.
LeḤeM
BREAD
When the Jews le Egypt and found themselves in the desert, God
granted to them manna, miracle bread, whi came every day from the sky.
For forty years, Jews were to learn that daily bread is a gi from the
Almighty. It comes from a kind and compassionate God who would later
clothe the miraculousness of its divine source in the seemingly natural garb
of agricultural law.
Yet we are biblically required to say Grace aer every meal, to thank
God, since “He gives bread unto all flesh, for His graciousness is everlasting.”
(LeḤeM) is 78 in gematria: (lamed) = 30, (ḥet) = 8, (mem) =
40. e God whose name is (YHVH), the gematria of 26, appears
through our daily bread three times, morning, aernoon, and night. ree
times 26 is the 78 of our daily food staple.
Chapter 11
Wisdom
ḤoKHMaH
WISDOM
(Zeh devar Adonay el Zerubavel lemor lo ve-ḥayil ve-lo ve-koaḥ ki im be-
ruḥi amar Adonay ẓevaot)
“is is the word of the Lord unto Zerubavel, saying: Not by might, nor
by power, but by My spirit, sayeth the Lord of Hosts.”
[Zeariah 4:6]
e world speaks of the right of might. A Jew recognizes the might of
right.
e hand is the hand of Esau. Jacob represents the spirit of Torah, and it
is the Torah of Jacob that will triumph over the hand of Esau. What is
wisdom? To understand that whi is implicit in the word
(ḤoKHMaH). Note the leers within as they rearrange themselves into two
words, forming the question (KoaḤ MaH), what is power?
(Eleh va-rekhev ve-eleh va-sussim ve-anaḥnu be-shem Adonay Eloheinu
nazkir)
“Some trust in ariots and some in horses; but we will make mention of
the name of the Lord, our God.”
[Psalms 20:8]
ḤoKHMaH
WISDOM
e gematria of the first three leers of the word (ḤoKHMaH,
wisdom, from the root Ḥ. KH. M.), and the word describing a wise person,
(ḤaKHaM), is 68: (ḥet) = 8, (khaf) = 20, (mem) = 40.
at, we have learned, is the gematria of the word (ḤaYYiM), life [
(ḥet) = 8, 2 ’s (yods) = 20, (mem) = 40].
Add to life the (he), the number 5 corresponding to the Five Books of
Moses, and life joined to the Torah gives us the Hebrew word for wisdom.
SeKHeL
UNDERSTANDING
e wisest of all men, King Solomon, long ago taught us:
(Sekhel tov yiten ḥen)
“Good understanding giveth grace.”
[Proverbs 13:15]
When at the Seder table we speak of the Four Sons, the first is wise, the
second wied. e two descriptions do not seem to belong to the same
category. ey are not antonyms. e opposite of wise is foolish, the
opposite of wied is righteous. Why are they placed side by side? To
illustrate the fact that we believe the wied person is wied because he is
not wise. Were he but to know beer, he would mend his ways. Man does
not sin, teaes the Talmud, unless there has entered into him the spirit of
foolishness.
Understanding is crucial to piety and proper religious observance. e
word (SeKHeL) breaks into two, (She), that, (KoL), all—
understanding is everything.
BiYNaH
DISCERNMENT
Discernment is the ability to distinguish between things that must be
recognized as different. e root of (BiYNaH) is (BeYN), whi
means “between.” True knowledge, therefore, requires the ability to observe
the difference “between” one thing and another.
Every week at the close of the Sabbath, a Jew is commanded to recite
(havdalah), a prayer “separating” the holy Sabbath from the rest of
the week. In four separate blessings, we take note of those four distinctions
kept alive by the teaers who founded the Academy at Yavneh in the
aermath of the destruction of the Second Temple. (YaVNeH) is
acronym for (Yayin), wine; (Vesamim), spices; and (Ner),
candle. Havdalah is separation between sacred and profane, between light
and darkness, between the Jewish people and the nations, between the
Seventh Day and the days of the week.
It is the leers of (YaVNeH) that represent the sequence of the
(havdalah) prayer comprising the word (BiYNaH), the gi of
discernment granted by God to human beings.
Chapter 12
e Soul
NeShaMaH
SOUL
(Bereshit bara Elohim et ha-shamayim ve-et ha-areẓ.)
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
[Genesis 1:1]
at duality is mirrored in the creation of man. e earthly portion is
the dust from the ground, formed into our material body. Corresponding to
the heavens is the breath of God, whi infused us with His spirit and
allowed us to be created “in His image.”
e gematria of (NeShaMah), the Hebrew word for “soul,” is 395:
(nun) = 50, (shin) = 300, (mem) = 40, (he) = 5.
e numerical value of “soul” is identical to the gematria of (ha-
shamayim), “heaven”: (he) = 5, (shin) = 300, (mem) = 40, (yod) = 10,
(mem) = 40.
at is why death does not mean extinction. What came from the dust
returns to the dust, “for dust you are and to dust you shall return.” e soul
however, is identical with heaven. It came from God and it returns to spend
eternity with its source.
NeShaMaH
SOUL
Why must the soul be sent down to earth if, as tradition teaes us,
(Elohai neshamah she-natata bi tehorah hi)
“My God, the soul Ye placed within me is pure.”
[Daily Prayer Book]
What need has it for the long journey of life before it returns to its
source?
e answer is contained in the word itself. (NeShaMaH) is
(SheMoNaH), the number 8. It is the number that stands for the covenant of
circumcision, the partnership of man and God. In 7 days God created the
world and did as mu as He would do. en the Almighty said, “enough”
so that humanity could continue the Creation and, through this effort earn a
place in eternity.
at task is best fulfilled by studying God’s will as transmied through
the Oral Law of the (MiShNaH). rough the (MiShNaH),
(NeShaMaH), soul, succeeds in extending God’s 7-day creation
through (SheMoNaH) and beyond.
NeShaMaH
SOUL
Hanukah is the story of the Syrian Greeks’ aempt to destroy the soul
of our people. Purim was the threat to physical survival when Haman
sought to annihilate “every man, woman, and ild.” In the time of
Maathias and his sons, our enemies wanted to make us forget our Torah
and transgress against the laws of our covenant.
e victory of the Jewish people on Purim is commemorated through
feasting. Jewish bodies survived and for that our bodies celebrate. Hanukah
is the miracle of the survival of the soul. e soul is symbolized by the fire
of oil, whi burns. e flames of the fire shoot heavenward, defying the
very laws of gravity.
(NeShaMaH) is symbolized by a related word that contains its
precise leers, (Ha-SheMeN), the oil. Natural law dictated that there
was not enough oil to last even for one day. e miracle of our survival is
both the miracle of (Ha-SheMeN) and (NeShaMaH), the oil
and the soul.
NeShaMaH
SOUL
How do we determine the moment of death?
In the days of the Talmud, we were taught that a feather would be
placed under the nose of a dying person. When breathing ceased from the
nostrils, the soul had evidently departed. Why? Because life leaves as it
originally entered:
(Vay-yiẓer Adonay Elohim et ha-adam afar min ha-adamah vay-yipaḥ be-
apav nishmat ḥayyim va-yehi ha-adam le-nefesh ḥayah)
“en the Lord, God, formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul.”
[Genesis 2:7]
(NeShiYMaH) means breath. e (NeShaMaH) is the
(NeShiYMaH) of the (yod, the abbreviation of God’s name,
YHVH); in other words, the soul is the breath of God.
Chapter 13
Friends
YeDiYD
BELOVED FRIEND
A handshake is an expression of far more than the meeting of fingers.
With hands we act. When we want to show our love for God, we place
phylacteries on our arms to subjugate all that we do to the service of the
Almighty.
A true friend is a (YeDiYD)—the word (YaD), hand, repeated
twice. (YaD) to (YaD).
e closeness of hands demonstrates the nearness of hearts. One hand is
14: (yod) = 10, (dalet) = 4. Two hands merged in friendship,
(YeDiYD) is 28, the numerical equivalent of the Hebrew word for “strength,”
(KoaḤ): (kaf) = 20, (ḥet) = 8. In friendship there is strength beyond
compare.
ḤaVeR
FRIEND
e greatest blessing of all is to have a true friend.
(ḤaVeR) in gematria is 210: (ḥet) = 8, (vet) = 2, (resh) = 200.
Man cannot study Torah alone. It can only be acquired with a
companion. With a study partner who sharpens our thinking, questions our
insights, and helps to clarify our difficulties, we may come to proper
understanding, (de′ah nekhonah): (dalet) = 4, (ayin) = 70,
(he) = 5, (nun) = 50, (khaf) = 20, (vav) = 6, (nun) = 50, (he) = 5 = 210.
e Torah begins with a large (bet). Study it not alone as one, but , in
two, in partnership with another, so that it will be the source of
(BeRaKHaH), blessing.
Part IV
Man, Woman, Family
(Sheloshah shutafin hen ba-adam:
ha-kadosh barukh hu ve-aviv ve-imo)
ere are three partners in man:
e Holy One, blessed be He,
the father, and the mother
Babylonian Talmud, Kiddushin 30b
Chapter 14
Man
ADaM
MANKIND
e Talmud teaes that there are three partners to the creation of every
human being: mother, father, and the Almighty One.
(ADaM) in gematria is 45: (alef) = 1, (dalet) = 4, (mem) = 40.
A father, (AV), is 3: (alef) = 1, (vet) = 2. A mother, (EM), is
41: (alef) = 1, (mem) = 40. Together (AV) and (EM) 3 and 41, are
44. at still is insufficient for the uniqueness of Adam.
To mother and father must be added one, the One of the universe.
(Shema Yisrael Adonay Eloheinu Adonay eḥad)
“Hear, O Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is One.”
Mother, father, and God give us Adam, mankind.
ADaM
ADAM
e Torah commands us against consuming blood.
(Rak ḥazak le-vilti akhol ha-dam ki ha-dam hu ha-nafesh ve-lo tokhal ha-
nefesh im ha-basar)
“Only be steadfast in not eating the blood, for the blood is the life and
thou shalt not eat the life with the flesh.”
[Deuteronomy 12:23]
(Lo tokhalenu; al ha-areẓ tishpakhenu ka-mayim)
“ou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it out upon the earth as water.”
[Deuteronomy 12:24]
Living things have blood. at is (nefesh). But it is not
(neshamah), the soul. ey have life spirit, but they do not, ot course, have a
soul that defines the uniqueness of Adam, created in the image of God.
Who is (ADaM)? He is (DaM) preceded by the (alef) and
made holy by the One of the universe, who allowed some of Himself to be
part of ea human being below.
ADaM
ADAM
e first soul created by God and placed into Adam was meant to
appear on this earth three different times, transmigrated into three
personalities.
e three leers of (ADaM), (alef), (dalet), and (mem), tell
us under what names this soul would appear in the course of history. e
(alef) is Adam himself. e Midrash states that he was destined to live one
thousand years, but willingly gave 70 years of his lifespan to King David. In
Hebrew (dalet) is the second leer of Adam’s name and the first of David’s
name ( ). e first soul, whi might have been perfect but sinned, and
whi was subsequently perfected through the sweet singer of Israel, King
David, would prove worthy to return one last time as the final redeemer.
(mem) stands for (mashiaḥ), “Messiah,” descendant of David, who
will bring the world to universal recognition of God and be instrumental in
aieving everlasting peace.
ADaM
ADAM
When God completed creation, the Torah teaes us:
(Va-yar Elohim et kol asher asah ve-hineh tov me’od)
“And God saw everything that He had made and behold it was very
good.”
[Genesis 1:31]
How is it possible that this world, filled as we know it to be with
imperfections, could be declared by the Almighty to be perfect? Is human
existence as we know it in fact, (tov me’od), very good?
e answer, of course, is that it is not good from our perspective if we
view history progressively, from Adam through David to the Messiah. But if
we were only afforded the vision of hindsight, the retroactive perspective
given to Moses when he asked to behold the glory of God—“and you shall
see My ba and My face you shall not see”—we would finally grasp that
everything that appeared evil when it occurred was part of a far grander and
nobler picture.
In Hebrew, , “very,” is made of the same leers (mem, alef, dalet) as
(ADaM), with the (mem) moved from last to first. Indeed, if we
could view events beginning with the of (the “m” of the Messiah)
and then revert all the way ba to Adam through David, we would know
that whatever transpired throughout the ages was as God proclaimed it to
be, (tov me’od), surpassingly good.
ADaM
ADAM/MAN
What is the plural for (ADaM)?
e word does not exist in Hebrew. It is to make us aware of the fact
that humanity began with but one person. at is why Jewish law warned
witnesses in capital crimes to be extremely careful with their testimony, for
“one who destroys even one person is as if he destroys an entire world; and
one who saves but one person is as if he preserves an entire world.”
When we forget the singularity of every human being, that ea person
is irreplaceable, we take the first step of turning people into numbers, souls
into ciphers. Six million victims of the Holocaust are incomprehensible,
beyond human imagination. e very immensity of the number diminishes
our sensitivity to the tragedy of every single soul. Anne Frank, as one
counted teenager with whom we can empathize, makes the crime of the
Nazis real and allows the horror to be grasped.
(ADaM): every person is one, singular, unique, and can never be
replicated.
IYSh
MAN
What makes man different from all life forms that preceded him? +
—the fact that (alef), the “One,” is ( , YeSh) in him.
In gematria, (ish) is 311: (alef) = 1, (yod) = 10, (shin) = 300.
Just as every man has the uniqueness of , so, too, does every tribe of the
Jewish people. (SheVeT), the word for tribe, is (shin) = 300, (vet) =
2, (tet) = 9, 311. In every man as well as in every tribe, there is the special
greatness of the , the one God of the universe.
lYSh
MAN
All of existence knows extremes.
(YeSh), whi means “there is,” comprises the (yod), whi stands
for (yemin, “the right”) and (sin), whi stands for (semol,
“the le”).
What is the role of (IYSH)? To place before both of these—the
(yod) of (yemin) and the (sin) of (semol)—the (alef), whi
is the acronym for (emẓa, “the middle”).
It was Maimonides, the (Rambam), who put into religious
categories the Aristotelian principle of “the golden mean.” Truth never
resides in any extreme to right or le. Neither too mu nor too lile,
neither too full nor too empty, is the way of the Torah in all things, the
principle of moderation implicit in every divine commandment.
Chapter 15
Woman
lYSh / IShaH
MAN/WOMAN
Man and woman share two identical leers: (alef) and (shin),
(IYSh) has an additional (yod), (IShaH), an extra (he). Together
they create the presence of (YaH), the name of God, whi we constantly
praise in the refrain (HaLeLUYaH).
Without God, all that is le is (ESh), fire. It is the fire of passion
that allows for a sexual relationship, but in the absence of common beliefs
and values, fire alone consumes and destroys their union.
IShaH
WOMAN
In gematria (IShaH) is 306: (alef) = 1, (shin) = 300, (he) = 5.
Every ild has two parents. Father is strict; he must be the counterpart
to (ELoHiYM), the masculine name of God that implies judgment
and accountability. Mother is compassionate and kind. She represents the
counterpart to (YHVH), whi has a feminine grammatical ending.
Honey is oen a term of endearment used by husband for wife.
(DeVaSh), the Hebrew word for honey, equals 306 as does the Hebrew word
for “woman”: (dalet) = 4, (vet) = 2, (shin) = 300. (IYSh), however,
equals 311: (alef) = 1, (yod) = 10, (shin) = 300. e Hebrew word for
“man” is identical to the word (SheVeT), the word for the rod and the
sti of discipline— (shin) = 300, (vet) = 2, (tet) = 9.
We are given two parents. Father must be the disciplinarian. Mother
must be like honey. She, like the land of Israel, is the source of “milk and
honey.”
EZeR
HELPMEET
(Vay-yomer Adonay Elohim lo tov heyot ha-adam levado e’eseh lo ezer
ke-negdo)
“And the Lord, God, said, it is not good that the man should be alone; I
will make him a helpmeet for him.”
[Genesis 2:18]
Man needs woman for many things. Without her, he is alone. She is to
be friend and companion. But it is not only for the present that a
woman/wife is a necessity. Without (EZeR) there is no (ZeRA),
without helpmeet there is no progeny, no seed, no ildren, and no future.
(ḤaVaH), the first woman, is (em kol ḥay), mother of
all living things. If (ZaKHaR), male, derives from the same root as the
word (ZeKHoR), to remember, woman looks forward, not baward.
Her role, more than history, is destiny.
HaẒeLA
THE RIB
e Torah teaes us about the creation of woman:
(Vay-yiven Adonay Elohim et ha-ẓela asher lakaḥ min ha-adam le-isha
va-yevi′eha el ha-adam)
“And the rib whi the Lord, God, had taken from the man, made He a
woman, and brought her unto the man.”
[Genesis 2:22]
“e rib” in Hebrew is (ha-ẓela). From it God fashioned the first
woman, wife unto Adam.
It was woman unto whom was granted “an extra measure of wisdom.”
She would evermore stand at man’s side and be for him (Le-EẒaH)—
the rearranged leers of (Ha-ẒeLA)—whi means “for advice.”
In the words of the Talmud: “If a man’s wife be short, let him bend
down and incline his ears to listen unto her sage counsel.” When in doubt,
ask your wife. She was made to give you best advice.
Chapter 16
Family
AV
FATHER
e first two leers of the Hebrew alphabet are (alef) and (bet).
(alef) is the one God, (bet) as leer stands for (bayit), the house
and the home.
Father is the beginning of family life, the (alef-bet) of what follows.
His function is to introduce the oneness of God, the (alef) into the (bet),
the , or home.
and together, 1 and 2, make 3. “Who knows three?” we ask at the
Seder. ree are the fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Every father must
try to incorporate within himself the traits, values, and aracteristics of
these three paradigms of paternal perfection.
EM
MOTHER
e Hebrew word for mother, (EM), is the same as the word
(IM), if.
If the mother is pious, in all probability the ildren will take aer her.
e mother is the big “if” of family life. In her hands is the future and fate of
her ildren.
In religious law, a ild takes aer the identity of his or her mother. For
a ild to be considered Jewish, it is the maternal genealogy that is primary.
As the mother goes, so goes the ild. is is why our Sages tell us that at
Sinai, God told Moses:
(Koh tomar le-veit Ya’akov ve-tageid li-venei Yisrael)
“us shall you say to the house of Jacob [the women] and tell the
ildren of Israel [the men].”
[Exodus 19:3]
Women are more important than men in religious training. ey are to
be taught first, for the mother is the “if” of family life.
EM
MOTHER
e women of every generation have always been responsible for
redemption. In the merit of righteous mothers, we were taken out of Egypt.
In the merit of mothers throughout the ages, Jews will be delivered.
ree times in particular stand out when (EM) served as the word
containing the key to redemption.
e exodus from Egypt was accomplished through Aaron and Moses, in
Hebrew (Aharon) and (Mosheh). e first leers of their two
names, (alef) and (mem), make up the Hebrew word for “mother.”
In the days of Haman, the story of Purim came about through the efforts
of Esther and Mordekhai, in Hebrew, and . eir initials, and
, too, make the word (EM), mother.
In the end of days Elijah, or (Eliyahu), will announce the arrival
of the Messiah, (moshiaḥ). e end of history and the final
redemption will once again be aieved through the combined efforts of an
(alef) and a (mem), indicating the greatness of the maternal idea for our
people.
HeRaYON
PREGNANCY
Under the canopy the groom says to the bride:
(Harei at mekudeshet li, be-taba’at zu, ke-dat Mosheh ve-Yisrael)
“Be thou consecrated unto me with this ring according to the laws of
Moses and of Israel.”
e number of words recited in order to create the bond of matrimony
is nine. “Who knows nine? I know nine,” we sing at the Seder. Nine are the
months of pregnancy. A primary purpose of marriage is to fulfill the
commandment, be fruitful and multiply.
(HeRaYON), pregnancy, is the Hebrew word for this nine-month
period. Numerically its component parts are as follows: (he) = 5, (resh) =
200, (yod) = 10, (vav) = 6, (nun) = 50. Pregnancy in gematria is 271, the
exact number of days required for the fetus to develop fully within the
womb of its mother.
BeN
SON
Jewish law decrees that a ild assumes the religious identity of his or
her mother.
A ild is Jewish when the mother is Jewish. If the mother is a non-
Jewess, so is her offspring.
e two leers making up the word for “son,” (bet) and (nun), follow
in the Hebrew alphabet the leers (alef) and (mem).
e word itself teaes us that follows , the ild takes aer the
mother.
BaT
DAUGHTER
It is the daughter, the (BaT), whose special responsibility is to build
the spirituality of the (BaYiT), the home.
e very first leer of the Torah is the (bet), wrien large to indicate
that Torah comes primarily from the home. Jewish families are created not
in synagogues or temples, but rather in the close-knit sanctuary of the
household.
When the (bat), the daughter, makes central to her very being the
(yod) of (YHVH), four walls are turned into a temple and the future is
assured.
AḤ
BROTHER
Adam and Eve were, of course, husband and wife.
Yet, the first leers of (Adam) and (Ḥavah), the original
Hebrew names, together make the word (AḤ).
eir union was not simply sexual. ey were like brother and sister.
ey enjoyed friendship and fellowship.
At a wedding ceremony we say (same’aḥ
tesamaḥ re’im ahuvim), “make the bride and groom rejoice as friends and
lovers”—friends first and then lovers. How great is sexual union founded on
mutual love and respect.
NiYDaH
THE MENSTRUATING WOMAN
In Judaism, celibacy is sinful. Whatever God created is good. To deny
oneself totally of God’s blessings is to proclaim evil what God has called
good.
Yet, there are limits imposed upon us with regard to sexual pleasure. A
woman during the time of her period is sexually off limits to her husband so
that when they reunite, it will be as if they once again come together as at
the time of their honeymoon.
(NiYDaH) is nothing other than (DiYN), the law of (he)—
, the God of compassion and mercy, Who proclaims laws whi, when
understood, are in our own best interests.
Part V
Biblical Heroes
and Villains
(Ki k’-shemo ken hu)
For as his name is, so is he
First Samuel 25:25
Chapter 17
e Heroes
NoaḤ
NOAH
(Noaḥ ish ẓadiyk tamim hayah be-dorotav et ha-Elohim hithalekh Noaḥ)
“Noah was in his generations a man righteous and wholehearted; Noah
walked with God.”
[Genesis 6:9]
Yet, Noah was not the first Jew. It remained for Abraham to become the
Patriar of our people.
In what way was Abraham superior to Noah? Are we not told that
Noah “walked with God?” Abraham, too, loved God, but when he stood
speaking to the Almighty and saw three strangers approaing, Abraham
le the divine presence to take care of the more pressing need of starving
strangers. For Noah, however, it was more important to find favor in the
eyes of God than in the eyes of man—whi is why he could ignore an entire
world doomed to destruction and be content to find salvation in “his own
lile ark.” Noah had it all bawards. He “found favor” in reverse, whi is
why the name (NoaḤ) reads (ḤeN), finding favor, only when it is read
from le to right, instead of right to le. Noah was not the first Jew, because
he had his priorities bawards.
NoaḤ
NOAH
Noah was the first inventor. Noah lived in an age of corruption that had
to be destroyed by the flood for its wiedness. And the two were not
unconnected.
Noah invented the plow. e name is related to (NaḤ), whi
means “rest.” For the first time, people did not have to work so very hard in
order to produce food from the ground. Noah gave a measure of rest to the
world.
What happens when people have too mu free time on their hands? In
their inability to use this new-found time creatively and productively, people
became immoral and depraved.
It was the age of Noah, of “rest,” that is known as the generation of the
flood.
AVRaHaM
ABRAHAM
e 613 commandments of the Torah are divided into 248 positive
commandments and 365 negative ones.
e 248 positive commandments correspond to the organs in the body,
every one of whi is identified with a corresponding miẓvah. e 365
negative commandments correspond to the solar days of the year.
(AVRaHaM), the first Jew, is the paradigm of perfection with
regard to fulfillment of God’s will. e gematria of his name has a specific
meaning: (alef) = 1, (vet) = 2, (resh) = 200, (he) = 5, (mem) = 40. e
total is 248, the number of positive commandments.
Even before Sinai, Abraham intuitively grasped the positive
commandments and fulfilled them. Every organ of his body strove to
actualize the potential implicit in it, so that working in concert, the organs of
his entire body proclaimed the greatness of God.
AVRaHaM
ABRAHAM
God created the world only for the sake of the righteous who would
inhabit it.
(Zeh sefer toledot adam be-yom bero Elohim adam bi-demut Elohim asah
oto. Zakhar u-nekevah bera’am va-yevarekh otam vay-yikra et shemam
Adam be-yom hi-baram)
“is is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created
man, in the likeness of God made He him; male and female created He
them, and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when
they were created.”
[Genesis 5:1-2]
(HiBaRAM), they were created—Adam and Eve, the progenitors
of the human race—for the sake of those very leers in . Rearrange
them and you find the name (AVRaHaM), Abraham.
YiẒḤaK
ISAAC
e two ildren of Abraham would ea be ancestors of different
peoples. ey would represent two totally different cultures, at war with the
other to this very day. Isaac fathers Jacob, and we are the ildren of Israel.
Ishmael is the ancestor of all the Arab nations.
Isaac is (YiẒḤaK)—“he will laugh.” Ishmael was rejected by Sarah
and cast out of the household because
(Va-tere Sarah et ben Hagar ha-miẓrit asher yaldah le-Avraham meẓaḥek)
“And Sarah saw the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, whom she had born unto
Abraham making sport.”
[Genesis 21:9]
What is the crucial difference between (YiẒḤaK) and the one who
is (MeẒaḤeK)? (MeẒaḤeK) is laughter in the present tense. It
is an outlook that demands immediate gratification. It is identified by the
Midrash with sexual immorality, bloodshed, and idolatry. (YiẒḤaK),
prefaced by the (yod) that turns the root into the future tense, is willing to
defer laughter. e world to come is more valuable and longed for than the
present time. (YiẒḤaK, or Isaac) can say no to the here and now for
the sake of eternity.
(YiẒḤaK) will laugh—and he who laughs last, laughs best.
YiẒḤaK
ISAAC
Four leers define the son of Abraham the Patriar and allude to his
greatness.
(yod) — 10, referring to the Ten Commandments
(ẓadei) — 90, the age of Sarah at whi she miraculously bore
Isaac
(ḥet) — 8, the day when Isaac was circumcised and given his
name (YiẒḤaK)
(kof) — 100, the age of Abraham, his father, at the time when he
sired him
A miracle performed for a mother and father, respectively aged 90 and
100, was for the sake of a ild who would be circumcised and enter a
covenant subsequently defined at Sinai through the Ten Commandments.
Ya’AKoV
JACOB
e genetic impurities of the first two Patriars were successfully
uprooted in Jacob’s progeny. Abraham had Isaac and Ishmael. Isaac had
Jacob and Esau.
Jacob’s ildren were all pure and holy. (Ya’AKoV) is talmudically
referred to as (beḥir ha-avot), the osen of the ancestors.
In gematria, is (yod) = 10, (ayin) = 70, (kof) = 100, (vet) = 2,
whi is 182.
at, says the Midrash, is the equivalent of the two words
(MaLAKH Ha ELoHiYM), angel of God. (mem) = 40, (lamed) = 30,
(alef) =1, (khaf) = 20, (he) = 5, (alef) = 1, (lamed) = 30, (he) = 5,
(yod) = 10, (mem) = 40.
Ya’AKoV
JACOB
e world rests on three foundations, we are taught in Ethics of the
Fathers: (Torah), (avodah), and (gemilut ḥasadim)—
Torah, sacrifice, and acts of lovingkindness.
Ea one of our Patriars specialized in bringing to perfection one of
these three traits. Abraham epitomized kindness to others. Isaac was ready
to offer himself as a sacrifice. Jacob sat in the tent and dedicated his life to
the study of Torah.
Jacob’s Hebrew name, (Ya’AKoV), contains the (yod) of the Ten
Commandments followed by , (ayin) = 70, (kof) = 100, (vet) = 2, the
total 172 being exactly the number of words that appear in the Decalogue.
AVRaHaM, YiẒḤaK, Ya’AKoV
ABRAHAM, ISAAC, JACOB
A Jew prays three times a day.
e three daily prayers—the morning service, the aernoon service, and
the evening service—were ea instituted by one of our Patriars. It is the
second leers of their names that reveal the time of day they sanctified
when communicating with God.
ese are not simply three moments, but three moods as well. In the
morning, as the sun rises, we are blessed; in the aernoon, as the sun begins
to sink, we fear for our good fortune; and in the darkness of night we sense
its great potential for danger. Whatever our lot in life may be, we
anowledge that God knows what is best for us and we must be both
grateful and accepting.
YeHUDaH
JUDAH
Of the twelve sons of Jacob, Judah would be the one destined to become
the ancestor of the Davidic dynasty as well as the Messiah.
e role of the Messiah is to bring about the universal recognition of
God. Within the name (YeHUDaH) we find the four-leer name of
God, (YHVH), together with a (dalet). (dalet) is 4 because it would
be the task of the seed of Judah to make the nations in the four corners of
the world anowledge the four-leer name of God.
MoSheH
MOSES
What made Moses the greatest of all men? Why did God select him as
the leader of our people?
e Midrash relates that when Moses was a shepherd, he brought his
flo to the water. One day, one lile lamb did not come to drink. When
Moses saw the lost lamb, he felt compassion and carried it in his own hands
to the stream.
Moses cared not simply for the large group under his control, but for
every single one. And like the Almighty, “His mercy extended over all His
works.”
Read (MoSheH), Moses’ Hebrew name, as two words— (Mi),
from, (SeH), the lamb—the lile lamb that proved the extent of his
feeling and concern for others.
MoSheH
MOSES
Moses was great, but he was not a god.
e very apter that introduces his birth tells us
(Va-yelekh ish mi-beit levi vay-yikaḥ et bat levi. Va-tahar haishah va-
teled ben)
“And there went a man of the house of Levi and he took to wife a
daughter of Levi and the woman conceived and bore a son.”
[Exodus 2:1–2]
He was not born of the gods, but from human parentage; his mother
was not a virgin, but she conceived in a normal manner. So, too, would his
very burial site remain hidden forever so that it would not become a place of
excessive veneration or deification.
e gematria of (MoSheH) is 345: (mem) = 40, (shin) = 300,
(he) = 5. e very first time that number appears in a word in the Torah is in
Genesis 6:3:
(Va-yomer Adonay lo yadon ruḥi va-adam le-olam be-shagam hu vasar
ve-hayu yamav me’ah ve-esrim shanah)
“And the Lord said my spirit shall not abide in man forever for that he
also is flesh; therefore shall his days be 120 years.”
e word (BeShaGam), “for,” is 345: (bet) = 2, (shin) = 300,
(gimel) = 3, (mem) = 40. Indeed, Moses was granted long life, but he lived
only until 120—and that remains the most longed for blessing amongst our
people: May you live to the age of (MoSheH), until 120.
MoSheH
MOSES
In order to accept God and Torah, one must first do away with the
idolatries of one’s time.
Before the Jews in Egypt could commit themselves to God’s will at
Sinai, they had to indicate their willingness to slaughter the strongest god of
Egypt. Since the lamb was an object of worship, the Jews were obligated not
only to bring it as a pasal offering, but also to publicly proclaim their
action by smearing its blood on the doorpost of their home. Only when God
would see this public display of faith would He “pass over” Jewish homes
and spare their inhabitants.
at was the first message Moses was told to convey to the Jewish
people.
(Dabru el kol adat Yisrael lemor be-asor le-ḥodesh ha-zeh ve-yikḥu lahem
ish seh le-veit avot seh la-bayit)
“Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel saying: In the tenth day of
this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their
fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household.”
[Exodus 12:3]
A lamb is a (SeH), and (MoSheH) Moses was to wean the
Jewish people “away,” (Mi), from (SeH), this lamb of Egyptian worship.
MoSheH
MOSES
In retrospect, what was the role of (MoSheH)?
Read his name bawards and understand: (HaSheM), the Name,
the term used to describe the Almighty, would become manifest through
him.
Moses was merely the medium. He was the scribe; God was the author.
Moses “wrote” the Torah as mu as a secretary may be said to have wrien
the works of a prominent author.
We must respect and revere Moses, the man. On Passover night we do
not mention him by name even once, in order to prevent the glorification of
the messenger above the message—or the One who sent him.
MoSheH RaBeYNU
MOSES OUR TEACHER
Find the total of the words (MoSheH RaBeYNU), Moses our
teaer, and note an obvious message. equals (mem) = 40, (shin) =
300, (he) = 5, or 345; equals (resh) = 200, (bet) = 2, (yod) = 10,
(nun) = 50, (vav) = 6 or 268. Together, 345 + 268 = 613. ere are 613
commandments in the Torah, and Moses our teaer was the one who made
them known unto us in the Five Books of Moses.
AHaRoN
AARON
Moses brought us the law. Aaron was in arge of the Temple.
Law had to be brought to the people, and Aaron’s personality was su
that he was
(Ohev shalom ve-rodef shalom, ohev et ha-beriyot u-mekarvan la-Torah)
“One who loves peace and pursues peace, loves mankind and draws them
near to Torah.”
[Ethics of the Fathers 1:12]
Aaron was ideally suited to be High Priest. He was in arge of the
(mishkan), the Tabernacle, whose purpose was clearly set forth:
(Ve-asu li mikdash ve-shakhanti be-tokham)
“And let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.”
[Exodus 25:8]
e focal point of the sanctuary was the ark in whi the Tablets were
kept. e ark in Hebrew is (Ha-ARoN). Note that the leers of the
foremost item in the sanctuary rearrange to make the word
(AHaRoN).
RUT
RUTH
Ruth came to the Jewish people of her own volition.
e book named aer her is read on Shavuot, the festival of the giving
of the Torah. e Torah was given in the desert, not in the land of Israel,
because it was meant not simply for the Jewish people but for humanity as a
whole. e Jews were not so mu the Chosen People as the oosing
people. When all other nations refused God’s offer to accept the Torah, the
Jews proclaimed “we will do and we will listen.”
Ruth is a convert who paves the way for others. Eventually, her
descendant, King David, serves as ancestor of the Messiah, who will bring
the entire world to the recognition that Ruth demonstrated in her own life
when she said, “Your people is my people, your God is my God.”
Her name, (RUT), is in fact the key to her greatness. Born a non-
Jew, she was responsible only for the Seven Universal Laws. (RUT) in
gematria is 606: (resh) = 200, (vav) = 6, (tav) = 400. She desired not
simply the Seven Universal Laws but all 613, and so (RUT) took upon
herself the additional 606. Her name reflects that number of divine
commandments that she voluntarily and joyfully added to her commitment.
MaShiYaḤ
MESSIAH
It is the vision of the Messianic era to whi we allude at the close of
every prayer service.
At the conclusion of the (Aleinu), the closing prayer, we recite:
(Ve-ne’emar: Ve-hayah Adonay le-melekh al kol ha-areẓ, bayom ha-hu
yihyeh Adonay eḥad u-shemo eḥad)
“And it is said God will be King over all the world—on that day God will
be One and His name will be One.
[Zeariah: 14:9]
(MaShiYaḤ) means the anointing one. Read bawards, the name
tells us what he will aieve— (ḤaY), there will then live, (SheM), the
name of the Almighty.
MaShiYaḤ
MESSIAH
e gematria of (MaShiYaḤ) is 358: (mem) = 40, (shin) = 300,
(yod) = 10, (ḥet) = 8.
When the ildren of Jacob came down to Egypt, they understood that
they could not live together with the Egyptians in the same areas. Closeness
would lead to intermarriage and assimilation.
It was the ildren of Israel who created the first gheo—a voluntary
gheo not imposed from without, but voluntarily decided upon from within.
(Ve-et Yehudah shalaḥ le-fanav el Yosef le-horot le-fanav Goshnah va-
yavo’u arẓah Goshen)
“And Judah sent before Him unto Joseph to show the way before him
unto Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen.”
[Genesis 46:28]
(GoShNaH) is the secret of Jewish survival. (gimel) = 3, (shin)
= 300, (nun) = 50, (he) = 5, a total of 358. Because of , our self-
imposed separatism, we will be privileged to witness the coming of the
Messiah (MaShiYaḤ), whi also equals 358.
Chapter 18
e Villains
KaYiN
CAIN
Cain was the first murderer in all of human history.
His name bespeaks a terrible error in judgment on the part of his
mother, who named him. In Hebrew, there is a correlation between Cain’s
name—KaYiN—and the verb “to acquire,” KaNiYTiY.
(Ve-ha-Adam yada et Ḥavah ishto va-tahar va-teled et Kayin va-tomer
Kaniti ish et Adonay)
“And the man knew Eve his wife and she conceived and bore Cain and
said, I have acquired a man with the help of the Lord.”
[Genesis 4:1]
No person is ever to be “acquired” by another. Even a ild does not
“belong” to his parents. A ild is a person, not an object; a human being,
not a thing.
To be treated like a possession is wrong. It is also damaging. It deprives
an individual of proper self-perception. Because Cain came to see himself as
a “thing” rather than a person, he could also see Abel as an object standing
in his way, rather than as another human being—and slay him.
ESaV
ESAU
(Vay-yeẓe ha-rishon admoni kulo ke-aderet se’ar vay-yikre’u shemo Esav)
“And the first came forth ruddy, all over like a hairy mantle; and they
called his name Esau.”
[Genesis 25:25]
(ASU), the same leers as in the Hebrew name (ESaV), means
finished, done, complete.
Not only did Esau come forth “complete,” but that is how he thought of
himself. He was already perfect; hence, he had no need to perfect himself.
He knew it all; hence, he had not reason to learn any more.
Woe to anyone who thinks he is already perfect. at is the kind of
person who is truly finished.
LaVaN
LABAN
Laban, the Haggadah teaes us, was even more dangerous than
Pharaoh.
Pharaoh issued a decree
(Kol ha-ben ha-yilod ha-yeorah tashlikhuhu)
“Every son that is born, ye shall cast into the river.”
[Exodus 1:22]
We knew where he stood. His wiedness was blatant and open.
(LaVaN) means white. On the surface Laban hypocritically offered
the image of purity. It was only in retrospect, by reading his name
bawards, that we could know that he was actually (NaVaL), a
reprobate.
Laban kissed Jacob, but it was a kiss of death far more dangerous than
the sword of Pharaoh.
PaROH
PHARAOH
What is the secret of Pharaoh’s success? What is the source of his
danger to our people?
, the leers resh and ayin that spell the Hebrew word for “evil” (ra),
is central to Pharaoh’s name. Evil dwelled within him. Yet, surrounding the
(ra) on either side is a (pe) and a (he). It is the power of the mouth,
the (PeH) to cou evil in su a way that it becomes acceptable.
Hitler in our own days may have been a madman, the personification of
evil. Yet his eloquence and his genius at propaganda made him partner with
Pharaoh of old. e evildoer becomes truly dangerous when his lips serve
the interests of his wied intent.
AMaLeK
AMALEKITES
e Amalekites are the arenemy of the Jewish people.
For all generations we are commanded:
(Zakhor et asher asah lekha Amalek ba-derekh be-ẓetkhem mi-Miẓrayim)
“Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way as ye came forth out
of Egypt.”
[Deuteronomy 25:17]
Many have sought to destroy us. What makes the Amalekites unique?
ey aaed immediately aer the glorious victory of the Jewish people
against Egypt at the Red Sea. It was then that the Jews sang the song of
praise to God, expressing complete trust and belief.
(AMaLeK) in gematria is (ayin) = 70, (mem) = 40, (lamed)
= 30, (kof) = 100; total: 240. at is identical to the gematria of the word
(SaFeK), doubt: (samekh) = 60, (fe) = 80, (kof) = 100. Amalek cast
doubt on the Jews’ total trust in God. at is the crime for whi the
Amalekites must be remembered. at is the sin that must be eradicated
before the Messiah will come.
Part VI
Prophecies and Predictions
(Ki lo ya’aseh Adonay Elohim davar ki im galah sodo
el avadav ha-nevi’im)
“For the Lord God will do nothing
But He revealeth His counsel
unto His servants the prophets”
Amos 3:7
Chapter 19
e Two Temples
AV
THE MONTH OF AB
Both Temples were destroyed on exactly the same day—
(Tish’ah be-Av), the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av.
e date coincided with an event that had taken place long before, at
the time when the Jews in the desert looked forward to entering the Holy
Land. ey sent forth scouts, or spies, before them. e spies came ba with
an unfavorable report. ey felt that the inhabitants of the land were too
strong for them and that the Jews could not possibly capture the land. e
people wept and did not have sufficient faith in God. e Almighty said, you
cried tonight for no reason; whenever there will be cause for you to weep in
years to come, it will occur on this very day of the Ninth of Av.
(AV) means “father.” In spite of whatever punishment God
administers, remember He is still your Father in Heaven.
—there will be destruction of (alef), the First Temple, and (Vet),
the Second Temple, on this date.
Rome and Babylonia will be the two nations responsible for the
destruction of the House of God. In Hebrew, these two nations respectively
begin with the leer (alef), standing for Edom (Rome), and (bet), whi
stands for Bavel (Babylonia).
Ve-ShaKHaNTiY
AND I SHALL DWELL
e (MiShKaN), the Sanctuary in the desert, was the prototype
for the Temple.
e commandment to build it was given in Exodus 25:8:
(Ve-asu li mikdash ve-shakhanti be-tokham)
“And let them make Me a sanctuary so that I may dwell amongst them.”
Divide the word (Ve-ShaKHaNTiY) into two parts and you
have a prediction of the number of years the First Temple was to remain
standing: (ve-shakhan), and it shall dwell, (TiY), (tav) = 400,
(yod) = 10.
e First Temple lasted exactly 410 years.
Ve-ShaKHaNTiY
AND I SHALL DWELL
e duration of the First Temple is suggested in the word (Ve-
ShaKHaNTiY), as it was broken down into the parts and
(VeShaKHaN, TiY).
e duration of the Second Temple is also indicated in the same word:
in (Ve-ShaKHaNTiY) there appears the word (Ve-SheNiY)—
and the second one. What remains are the leers (tav), (khaf); (tav) =
400, (khaf) = 20. e Second Temple lasted exactly 420 years.
SheLaḤ
SEND
It was the spies who were responsible for the very first
Tish’ah be-Av of Jewish history.
e Jews in the desert should not have required a scouting party to
validate the promise of the Almighty. Since they demanded it, God said unto
Moses:
(Shelaḥ lekha anashim ve-yaturu et ereẓ Kena’an asher ani noten li-venei
Yisrael)
“Send thou men that they may spy out the land of Canaan whi I give
unto the Children of Israel.”
[Numbers 13:2]
e word (SheLaḤ) means to send. It also means to cast out. In
the third millennium of world history in the year , (shin) = 300,
(lamed) = 30, (ḥet) = 8—i.e., in the year 338 B.C.E., the Temple was
destroyed, and the Jews were forced into exile for the first time.
Chapter 20
Final Redemption
GOLaH/GEULaH
EXILE/REDEMPTION
Since the Second Temple was destroyed in 70 C.E., the Jewish people
have endured the longest exile of our history.
(GOLaH), exile, is our condition until the Messianic era begins.
(GEULaH), redemption, is our hope and our ongoing prayer.
What is the difference between and , exile and
redemption? e leer (alef). It is the (alef) of (Anokhi), the One
representing God, Who must be incorporated into the mentality of the
(exile) in order to bring about (Redemption).
TaShuVU
YOU SHALL RETURN
In the days when slavery existed, the Torah decreed that there must
come a time when every man goes free. Even those who resold themselves
aer six years of servitude, and had their ears pierced for voluntary
enslavement, could not remain beyond the time of the Jubilee.
(Ve-kidashtem et shenat ha-ḥamishim shanah u-keratem deror ba-areẓ le-
khol yoshveha yovel hi tihyeh lakhem)
“And ye shall hallow the fiieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the
land unto all the inhabitants thereof.”
[Leviticus 25:10]
ese are the words osen to be inscribed on the Liberty Bell. It is in
the Jubilee year that “ye shall return every man unto his possession and ye
shall return every man unto his family.”
e Hebrew word for “ye shall return,” (TaShuVU), seems to be
spelled incorrectly. Grammatically it requires another (vav). It ought to
read (TaShUVU).
Why is it laing the leer (vav), whi stands for 6? (without
the “vav”) is a prediction to the Jewish people of ultimate return to their
national homeland. in numbers adds up to 708: (tav) = 400, (shin)
= 300, (vet) = 2, (vav) = 6. When we write the year, we ignore the
millennia. In 1948 on the secular calendar, we witnessed the miracle of
Jewish return to Israel. On the Hebrew calendar it was the year 5708. at
was the year predicted by the incomplete word (TaShuVU), you shall
return. We did return, laing 6—an all-important 6 million of our people
who perished during the Holocaust.
Yet the fulfillment of the prediction of return in precisely that year
implied by the gematria of (TaShuVU) gives us firm hope that the
words of the Prophets for Final Redemption will come true as well.
Glossary
Index
e index that appeared in the print version of this title was intentionally removed from the eBook.
Please use the sear function on your eReading device for terms of interest. For your reference, the
terms that appear in the print index are listed below
Aaron
Abel
Ab, month of
Abraham
Adam. See also Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve
Ah
Aharon
Ahav
Ahavah
Alef
Amalek
Amalekites
And I Shall Dwell
And ey Shall Give
And You Shall Love
Aristotelian Golden Mean
Ark
Ashiyr
Assimilation
Av
Avel
Avraham
Awe
Babylonia
Bar Miẓvah
Bat
Baẓa
Beloved friend
Ben
Bereshiyt
Beriyt
Biynah
Blood, eating
Bread
Brother
Cain
Canaan
Capital crimes, witnesses in
Celibacy
Children
as legacy
as person vs. possession
religious identity of
two parents of
women’s role and
Children of Israel. See also Jewish people sum of
Chosen People
Circumcision
Commandments (miẓvot). See also Ten commandments
613 as total number of
age of responsibility for
festival days
to love the lord
Oral Law (Mishnah)
seven universal
Compassion. See also Mercy
Congregation
Converts
Courts
Covenant
Creation
of human beings
human partnership in
imperfection of
rationale of
for righteous
secondary to giving of Torah
of woman
Crown
Daily bread
Daily prayers, three
Daughter
David, King
Day of Atonement. See Yom Kippur
Death
caring for deceased
miẓvot and
moment of
not extinction
proper response to
Decalogue. See Ten Commandments
Deceased, caring for
Deliverance, thanks to God for
Desires
divine will vs.
of sight
sexual passion, limits to
Died
Discernment
Discipline, need for
Divine law. See also Commandments
purpose of
Dress
Dualism
Duality of Man
Eating blood
Egypt/Egyptians
exodus from
idolatries of
strict justice for
Eḥad
Elohiym
Em
Emet
End not justify means
Enemy
Esau
Esther
Et Ha-Or
Ethics
Eve. See also Adam and Eve
Evil
Exile
first
redemption
Ezer
Falsehood
Family
Father
Fear
Festival days
First Temple
Five Books of Moses
Forgetfulness, gi of
Forgive and forget
Forgiveness, limits of
Four Matriars
Four Sons
Frank, Anne
Free time, too mu
Friends
beloved friend
bride and groom as
enemy masquerading as
study partner
Garden of Eden
Garments
Gemara
Geulah
Gheo, first
Give and take
Giving
love and
miẓvah of
God
alef
All Sufficient One
awareness of
Eḥad
Elohiym
faith in
male or female
mercy
monotheism
One
past, present, and future
rulership of nations
Shaday
strict justice of
YHVH (Lord)
Golah/geulah
Gold
Golden Mean
Good and Evil
Grace aer meal
Grave
Hagar
Haman
Hamilton, Robert Browning
Ḥamishah
Handshake
Hanukkah
Happiness
Simḥah
spiritual
Havdalah
Ḥaver
Hay
Ḥayyim
Haẓela
Health
Heart
Hebrew alphabet
largest leer in
smallest leer in
two alphabets
Hedonism
Helpmeet
Herayon
Heroes
Aaron
Abraham
Isaac
Jacob
Judah
Messiah
Moses
Noah
Ruth
He Will Rejoice
Hitler
Hiybah
Ḥokhmah
Holy days
Home
discipline in
spirituality of
Honesty
Idolatries
Ilijah
Ill-goen gain
Intermarriage
Isaac
Ishah
Ishmael
Israel. See also Jewish people all of
Iysh
and woman
Jacob
sons of
Jewish people (Israel)
how to count
humble beginnings and glorious destiny of
spiritual forebears
three groups of
totality of
tribe of
Jews, three types of
Joy. See also Happiness and sorrow
Jubilee year
Judges, qualifications for
Judicial authority
Justice
strict
Kayin
Keter
Kever
Kohen
Kol Nidrei
Kol Yisrael
Laban
Language
Laughter, immediate gratification and
Lavan
Laws. See Commandments
Leah
Legal system
Leḥem
Leper
Lev
Levi
Life
ildren as legacy of
life to come
plurality of
wisdom as source of
Life and Death
Light
Lincoln
Lord (YHVH)
Love. See also Friends
Ahav
Ahavah
And You Shall Love
fear/awe and
giving in
heart
Hiybah
of neighbor
obligations of
of self
Love and hatred
Love your neighbor
Lying. See also Falsehood for noble end
Maimonides
Mamon
Man
Adam
Iysh
mankind
Mankind
duality of
Manna
Marriage
intermarriage
sexual union in
Mashiyaḥ. See also Messiah
Matriars, Four
Maathias
Mavet
Meal, Grace aer
Menstruating woman
Mercy
thirteen qualities of
Messiah
Met
Mezuzah
Milḥamah
Mishnah
Miẓvah/Miẓvot. See also Commandments
death and
of giving
Moderation, principle of
Money
Monotheism
Mordekhai
Moses
as messenger
not a god
as teaer
Mosheh Rabeynu
Mother
Mother Creator
Mourner
Names, Jewish
Neshamah. See also Soul
New Moon
New Testament
Nine
Niydah
Noah
Ohev/Oyev
Oral law
Oyev
Paradise
Parents, two
Patriars. See ree Patriars
Peace
everlasting
preventing war
Person, uniqueness of
Pesha
Pharaoh
Phylacteries
Polytheism
Power
Prayers, three daily
Pregnancy
Principle of moderation
Principle of the golden mean
Punishment
deserved
extinction as
Purim
Ra
Rael
Rambam
Rasha
Rebecca
Redemption
final
Rejoiced
Religious identity
assimilation
of ildren
Rib
Righteous
Rituals
Rome
Ruler, need for
Rulership of nations
Ruth
Sabbath
close of
Sadness
Samaḥ
Samson
Sanctuary
Sarah
Second Temple
destruction of
Seder
Sekhel
Send
Sexual passion
limits to
in marriage
Shaday
Shakespeare
Shalem
Shalom
Shavuot
Shaw, George Bernard
Sheker
Shelaḥ
Shofar
Sight, desires of
Simḥah
Sin
of Adam and Eve
celibacy as
foolishness and
Slanderer
Solomon, King
Son
Songs of praise
Soul
moment of death
duality of man
eternity and
Hanukkah and survival of
purification of
Spiritual forebears
Spiritual happiness
Straight
Straightforwardness
Strict justice
Tabernacle
Tagore
Talmud
Tashuvu
Temple
First
Second
Ten Commandments (Decalogue)
categories of obligations
first leer of
ree Patriars
Tish’ah be-Av
Torah
creation as secondary to giving of
crown of
first leer of
first word of
giving of
last leer of
last word
purpose of
read publicly three days of week
study partner needed
Transgression
Tribe of Jewish people
Truth
falsehood as partial
Understanding
Unjust gain
Ve-Ahavta
Venatnu
Ve-shaknantiy
Villains
Amalekites
Cain
Esau
Laban
Pharaoh
War
Wealth
health and
New Testament on
true
wealthy man
Whole
Wied
why someone is
wied son
Wisdom
Biynah
discernment
Sekhel
as source of life
understanding
Wise person
Witnesses, capital crimes
Woman
advice from
and ildren
creation of
as helpmeet
menstruating
as mother of all living things
Ya’akov
Yashar
Yediyd
Yehudah
YHVH
Yirah
Yismaḥ
Yisrael (YiSRaeL)
Yiẓḥak
Yom Kippur
You Shall Return
Ẓadiyk, Rasha
Zahav
Ẓadiyk
Ẓarah
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Benjamin Ble has been Rabbi of Young Israel of Oceanside, New York,
for over three decades, and is Assistant Professor of Talmud at Yeshiva
University in New York City. He has served as Solar-in-Residence in
numerous congregations throughout the United States and Canada, and he
has lectured to Jewish communities in Israel, Australia, and many other
countries.
Rabbi Ble has wrien articles for Tradition, Jewish Life, Reader’s
Digest, Jewish Week, and Newsday. He is the author of Understanding
Judaism: The Basics of Deed and Creed.
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