John Lawrence

Numerology
Zvi Ish-Shalom
On Numerology in the Jewish Tradition: Gematria
Everything in the Torah comes from the mouth of the Omnipotent, and everything is the
perfect Torah of God, pure, holy, and true.
- Rabbi Moses ben Maimonides1

In the Jewish tradition, gematria, the numerical values of the Hebrew alphabet,
have long been used as a tool for understanding the hidden meanings of the Torah.
Though it may seem strange to those unfamiliar with the tradition, this method of
exegesis is justified if one adopts the view that, unlike other books, the Torah was
revealed by God in Hebrew on Mt. Sinai in its entirety; to discard any part of its meaning
as mistaken is to attribute that mistake to God.
According to Jewish tradition, scripture has multiple levels of meaning and the
practice of using numbers both to interpret scripture and to gain spiritual insight dates to
the revelation of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. A baraita (a teaching from oral tradition),
attributed to R. Eliezer, the son of R. Yossi HaGalili, lists gematria among the thirty-two
principles of exegesis used by the sages to interpret the Torah and the commentary
Midrash Tannaim states that the values of the gematria where given to Moses at Mt.
Sinai.2 Many authorities, particularly within kabbalah, attest that the gematria exist prior

1. Munk, Michael L. The Wisdom in the Hebrew Alphabet: The Sacred Letters as a Guide to
Jewish Deed and Thought. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Mesorah Publications, 1983. p. 22
2. Glazerson, Matityahu. Building Blocks of the Soul: Studies on the Letters and Words of the
Hebrew Language. Northvale, N.J.: Jason Aronson, 1997, p. 65

to creation itself, a belief that is corroborated by the prominence of language in the

Hebrew scripturesfor example, in Genesis, God creates the world by speaking and
Adam's first task is to name everything (presumably in Hebrew).
Gematria Rules & Guidelines
Gematria have been, and still are, used in a variety of waysto elaborate upon
moral or philosophical teachings of scripture, to support legal rulings, to uphold teachings
of the sages, to understand
hidden meanings in the Torah,
and to understand
cosmogenesis, to name a few.
According to Midrash Tannaim,
in addition to the numerical
values, numerous methods,
guidelines, and transformation
codes were also given at Mt.
Sinai, a few of which I shall introduce here.3
The primary gematria are simply the values of the letters added to each other,
for instance: the word ( chayim or life) has a value of 68 (8 + 10 + 10 + 40 = 68) as
does the word ( chacham or wise-person, 8 + 20 + 40 = 68). Using the primary
gematria, we've uncovered the teaching that life should be based on wisdom.4 This is the
most common method. Gematria k'tanah or reduced gematria, are created by adding the
3. Glazerson, 1997, p. 300-301
4. Glazerson, 1997, p. 29

numbers that constitute the sum until a single digit remains. For example, 100, 10, and 1
would all be counted as 1 and , which we rendered as 68 above would become 5 (6 +
8 = 14, 1 + 4 = 5). This method was popular among the medieval kabbalists and it is
thought that the reduced gematria especially indicate how the word relates to the lowest
of the four worlds, Olam HaAsiyah, or the World of Action, while the 10's and 100's
relate to higher ones.5
In addition to the methods of calculation, various transformation codes are
described by which it is permissible to substitute certain letters for others. The Sefer
HaYetzirah, an ancient kabbalistic work attributed to Abraham, states that letters formed
in the same part of the mouth (divided into guttural, labial, palatal, dental, and sibilant)
are interchangeable with each otherbecause of this, the words ( sheva, seven) and
( shefa, abundance) are considered closely related since the letters and are
interchangeable.6 Various other examples of transformation codes are found in the
Talmud and Midrash though we do not have the space to cover them all here.7
Cosmogenesis & The 10 Sephirot
In some systems, along with the various numerical values and transformation
codes, the gematria are also related to the ten sephirot, or divine emanations, which are
associated with both the structure of reality and the sequence of cosmogenesis, and
correspond to the numbers 1 10, the letters through , and extended by the reduced
gematria to relate to the rest of the alphabet through as well as all the permutations

5 Glazerson, 1997, p. 298

6 Glazerson, 1997, p. 300-301
7. Ibid.

thereof.8 As a conceptual framework, the sephirot attribute distinct qualities and

independent meaning to the numbers themselves apart from whichever word they might
be combining to form; as a
result, the information that can
be drawn from a single word or
phrase can become
exponentially more complex
with the addition of this further
interpretive lens. In addition to
their cosmological,
cosmogonic, and numerological
associations, the sephirot are
also correlated to colors, parts
of the human body, the letters
of the tetragrammaton, the
names of God in the Torah, and
the patriarchs;9 this makes it possible to extract additional metaphysical insight from what
would otherwise be considered narrative information.
Summary & Closing Remarks
Though the author now bitterly despairs that the length of the present paper
precluded the possibility of meaningful depth regarding any facet of the gematria, it
8. Munk, 1983, p. 221
9. Kaplan, Aryeh. Meditation and Kabbalah. York Beach, Me.: S. Weiser, 1985, p. 181, 256

remains his hope that this paper at least demonstrated: 1) that there is a rich tradition of
numerology rooted in the Jewish religion, and 2) that the Jewish numerological practices
are particularly unique in how they relate to the language of the Hebrew scriptures and
the exceptional emphasis that is placed on its connection to the process of creation. For
further reading on the topic of gematria written in English, the author recommends the
excellent books Building Blocks of the Soul: Studies on the Letters and Words of the
Hebrew Language by Matityahu Glazerson, and The Wisdom in the Hebrew Alphabet
by Rabbi Michael L. Munk. To better understand the history of the gematria and to study
their more esoteric applications, I recommend Meditation and Kabbalah by Aryeh
Kaplan, which has proved immeasurably useful to me.

Bibliography
Glazerson, Matityahu. Building Blocks of the Soul: Studies on the Letters and
Words of the Hebrew Language . Northvale, N.J.: Jason Aronson, 1997.

Kaplan, Aryeh. Meditation and Kabbalah. York Beach, Me.: S. Weiser, 1985.
Lubicz, R. A. A Study of Numbers: A Guide to the Constant Creation of the Universe.
Rochester, Vt.: Inner Traditions International, 1986.

Munk, Michael L. The Wisdom in the Hebrew Alphabet: The Sacred Letters as a
Guide to Jewish Deed and Thought. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Mesorah Publications, 1983.