What Is Gematria?

[janineshoebridge]

#20528 Reply |

Each letter in the Greek alphabet is assigned a number (1-24), and these numbers can be used to calculate the numerical value of words and phrases. Gematria can be used to find hidden meanings in text, or to simply calculate the numeric value of a word or phrase. Many believe there are secret codes to be uncovered by interpreting the numerical values of the letters in the Bible. The kabbalists employ gematria to decipher the Torah and everyday events. The absolute or normative value of a word is calculated by treating each letter as a word and then adding up all of the numerical equivalencies of these letter words. Since some letters can be spelled differently as words, different numerical equivalencies can be achieved for a single word. Thus, the Tetragrammaton, yod, hei, vav, and hei, have the values of 72, 63, 45, or 52, each of which has vital significance in Kabbalah. A cryptograph which gives, instead of the intended word, its numerical value, or a cipher produced by the permutation of letters. The term first occurs in literature in the twenty-ninth of the thirty-two hermeneutic rules of R. In some texts the rule for permutative gemaṭria is counted as a separate regulation—the thirtieth (comp. Königsberger’s edition of the rules in his “Monatsblätter für Vergangenheit und Gegenwart des Judenthums”). If you adored this article and you also would like to acquire more info about web site please visit the page. Waldberg (“Darke ha-Shinnuyim”), who gives a list of 147 cases of gemaṭria occurring in traditional literature, includes in this number cases of symbolical numbers, which properly belong to the twenty-seventh rule (“ke-neged”).

[Author]

Posts