Gematria is an Assyro-Babylonian system of numerology later adopted by Jews that assigns
numerical value to a word or phrase in the belief that words or phrases with identical
numerical values bear some relation to each other or bear some relation to the number
itself as it may apply to a person's age, the calendar year, or the like. The best-known
example of Gematria is the Hebrew word Chai, which is composed of two letters that add
up to 18. This has made 18 a "lucky number" among Jews, and gifts in multiples of 18 are
very popular.
Etymology Although the term is Hebrew, it most likely
derives from Greek geōmetriā, "geometry", which was used as a translation of gēmaṭriyā,
though some scholars believe it to derive from Greek grammateia, rather; it's possible
that both words had an influence on the formation of the Hebrew word..) The word has been extant
in English since the 17th century from translations of works by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.
Although ostensibly derived from Greek, it is largely used in Jewish texts, notably in
those associated with the Kabbalah. History
Some identify two forms of gematria: the "revealed" form, which is prevalent in many hermeneutic
methods found throughout Rabbinic literature, and the "mystical" form, a largely Kabbalistic
practice. Though gematria is most often used to calculate
the values of individual words, psukim, Talmudical aphorisms, sentences from the standard Jewish
prayers, personal, angelic and Godly names, and other religiously significant material,
Kabbalists use them often for arbitrary phrases and, occasionally, for various languages.
A few instances of gematria in Arabic, Spanish and Greek, spelled with the Hebrew letters,
are mentioned in the works of Rabbi Abraham Abulafia; some Hasidic Rabbis also used it,
though rarely, for Yiddish. However, the primary language for gematria calculations has always
been and remains Hebrew and, to a lesser degree, Aramaic.
A classic Biblical commentary incorporating gematria is Baal ha-Turim by Rabbi Jacob ben
Asher. Gematria is often used by the Maharal of Prague
and hasidic Torah commentators. Textual sources
A Mishnaic textual source makes clear that the use of gematria is dated to at least the
Tannaic period. Pirkei Avot 3:23:
רבי אלעזר בן חסמא אומר, קנין ופתחי נדה הן הן גופי
הלכות. תקופות וגמטריאות פרפראות לחכמה.
Rabbi Eleazar Chisma said: the laws of mixed bird offerings and the key to the calculations
of menstruation days—these, these are the body of the halakhah. The calculation of the
equinoxes and gematria are the desserts of wisdom.
An alternative translation to the Hebrew word פרפראות is "minor side dishes".
Minor dishes may be served before, during, or after a meal, to add interest and variety;
they are the appetizers, side dishes, desserts, tid-bits — never to be served as main dishes.
In other words, these sciences, while important, are yet only auxiliary and secondary. What
is primary is the Torah. What is central is the life-giving law.
Values table The Mispar gadol values are:
Vowels The value of the Hebrew vowels is not usually
counted, but some lesser-known methods include the vowels as well. The most common vowel
values are as follows: Sometimes the names of the vowels are spelled
out and their gematria is calculated using standard methods.
Methods There are several methods used to calculate
the numerical value for the individual words, phrases or whole sentences. More advanced
methods are usually used for the most significant Biblical verses, prayers, names of God and
angels etc. Mispar Hechrachi that uses full numerical
value of the twenty-two letters. Sometimes it is also called Mispar ha-Panim, as opposed
to the more complicated Mispar ha-Akhor. Mispar Gadol counts the final forms of the
Hebrew letters as a continuation of the numerical sequence for the alphabet, with the final
letters assigned values from 500 to 900. The same name, Mispar ha-Gadol, is also used
for another method, which spells the name of each letter and adds the standard values
of the resulting string. Mispar Katan calculates the value of each
letter, but truncates all of the zeros. It is also sometimes called Mispar Me'ugal.
Mispar Siduri with each of the twenty-two letters given a value from one to twenty-two.
Mispar Bone'eh is calculated by walking over each letter from the beginning to the end,
adding the value of all previous letters and the value of the current letter to the running
total. Therefore, the value of the word achad is 1 + (1 + 8) + (1 + 8 + 4) = 23.
Mispar Kidmi uses each letter as the sum of all the standard gematria letter values preceding
it. Therefore, the value of Aleph is 1, the value of Bet is 1 + 2 = 3, the value of
Gimmel is 1+2+3=6, etc. It's also known as Mispar Meshulash.
Mispar P'rati calculates the value of each letter as the square of its standard gematria
value. Therefore, the value of Aleph is 1 × 1 = 1, the value of Bet is 2 × 2 = 4, the value
of gimmel is 3 × 3 = 9, etc. It's also known as Mispar ha-Merubah ha-Prati'.
Mispar ha-Merubah ha-Klali is the square of the standard absolute value of each word.
Mispar Meshulash calculates the value of each letter as the cube of their standard value.
The same term is more often used for Mispar Kidmi.
Mispar ha-Akhor – The value of each letter is its standard value multiplied by the position
of the letter in a word or a phrase in either ascending or descending order. This method
is particularly interesting, because the result is sensitive to the order of letters. It is
also sometimes called Mispar Meshulash. Mispar Mispari spells out the standard values
of each letter by their Hebrew names is 1+8+4=13 etc.), and then adds up the standard values
of the resulting string. Mispar Shemi, uses the value of each letter
as equal to the value of its name. For example, the value of the letter Aleph is = 111,
Bet is = 412, etc. Sometimes the same operation is applied two or more times recursively.
Mispar Ne'elam spells out the name of each letter without the letter itself and adds
up the value of the resulting string. Mispar Katan Mispari is used where the total
numerical value of a word is reduced to a single digit. If the sum of the value exceeds
9, the integer values of the total are repeatedly added to produce a single-digit number. The
same value will be arrived at regardless of whether it is the absolute values, the ordinal
values, or the reduced values that are being counted by methods above.
Mispar Misafi adds the number of the letters in the word or phrase to their gematria.
Kolel is the number of words, which is often added to the gematria. In case of one word,
the standard value is incremented by one. Within the wider topic of Gematria are included
the various alphabet transformations where one letter is substituted by another based
on a logical scheme: Atbash exchanges each letter in a word or
a phrase by opposite letters. Opposite letters are determined by substituting the first letter
of the Hebrew alphabet with the last letter, the second letter with the next to last, etc.
The result can be interpreted as a secret message or calculated by the standard gematria
methods. A few instances of Atbash are found already in the Hebrew Bible. For example,
see Jeremiah 25:26, and 51:41, with Targum and Rashi.
Albam – the alphabet is divided in half, eleven letters in each section. The first
letter of the first series is exchanged for the first letter of the second series, the
second letter of the first series for the second letter of the second series and so
forth. Achbi divides the alphabet into two equal
groups of eleven letters. Within each group, the first letter is replaced by the last,
the second by the tenth, etc. Ayak Bakar replaces each letter by another
one that has a 10-times-greater value. The final letters usually signify the numbers
from 500 to 900. Thousands is reduced to ones Ofanim replaces each letter by the last letter
of its name. Akhas Beta divides the alphabet into three
groups of 7, 7 and 8 letters. Each letter is replaced cyclically by the corresponding
letter of the next group. The letter Tav remains the same.
Avgad replaces each letter by the next one. Tav becomes Aleph. The opposite operation
is also used. Most of the above-mentioned methods and ciphers
are listed by Rabbi Moshe Cordevero. Some authors provide lists of as many as 231
various replacement ciphers, related to the 231 mystical Gates of the Sefer Yetzirah.
Dozens of other far more advanced methods are used in Kabbalistic literature, without
any particular names. In Ms. Oxford 1,822, one article lists 75 different forms of gematria.
Some known methods are recursive in nature and are reminiscent of the graph theory or
use heavily combinatorics. Rabbi Elazar Rokeach often used multiplication, instead of addition,
for the above-mentioned methods. For example, spelling out the letters of a word and then
multiplying the squares of each letter value in the resulting string produces very large
numbers, in orders of trillions. The spelling process can be applied recursively, until
a certain pattern is found; the gematria of the resulting string is then calculated. The
same author also used sums of all possible unique letter combinations, which add up to
the value of a given letter. For example, the letter Hei, which has the standard value
of 5, can be produced by combining 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1, 2 + 1 + 1 + 1, 3 + 1 + 1, 4 + 1,
2 + 2 + 1 or 2 + 3, which adds up to 30. Sometimes combinations of repeating letters
are not allowed. The original letter itself can also be viewed as a valid combination.
Variant spellings of some letters can be used to produce sets of different numbers, which
can be added up or analyzed separately. Many various complex formal systems and recursive
algorithms, based on graph-like structural analysis of the letter names and their relations
to each other, modular arithmetic, pattern search and other highly advanced techniques,
are found in the "Sefer ha-Malchuth" by Rabbi David ha-Levi of Draa Valley, a Spanish-Moroccan
Kabbalist of the 15–16th century. Rabbi David ha-Levi's methods take into consideration
the numerical values and other properties of the vowels as well.
Kabbalistic astrology uses some specific methods to determine the astrological influences on
a particular person. According to one method, the gematria of the person's name is added
to the gematria of his of her mother's name; the result is then divided by 7 and 12. The
remainders signify a particular planet and Zodiac sign.
Absolute value The most common form of gematria is used in
the Talmud and Midrash, and elaborately by many post-Talmudic commentators. It involves
reading words and sentences as numbers, assigning numerical instead of phonetic value to each
letter of the Hebrew alphabet. When read as numbers, they can be compared and contrasted
with other words or phrases – cf. the Hebrew proverb נכנס יין יצא סוד.
The gematric value of יין is 70 and this is
also the gematric value of סוד‎. Use in other languages
The first attested use of gematria occurs in an inscription of Assyrian ruler Sargon
II stating that the king built the wall of Khorsabad 16,283 cubits long to correspond
with the numerical value of his name. Gematria or isopsephy was borrowed into the Greek probably
soon after their adoption of the Semitic writing system. The extant examples of use in Greek
come primarily from the Christian literature and, unlike rabbinic sources, is always explicitly
stated as being used. It has been asserted that Plato offers a discussion of gematria
"in its simplest forms" in the Cratylus, where he is said to have claimed that "the 'essential
force' of a thing's name is to be found in its numerical value, and that words and phrases
of the same numerical value may be substituted in context without loss in meaning." A direct
review of the Cratylus, however, shows that Plato made no such claim and that gematria
is not discussed in it either explicitly or implicitly. What can be more accurately stated
is that Plato's discussion in the Cratylus involves a view of words and names as referring
to the "essential nature" of a person or object, and that this view may have influenced –
and is central to – Greek gematria. The Latin-script languages exhibit borrowing
of gematria methods dating from the early Middle Ages after the use lapsed following
the collapse of the Roman Empire in the 5th century.
Many researchers connect the "Number of the Beast", referred to in the Book of Revelation
of the New Testament, with either Greek or Hebrew gematria as used by the early Christians.
According to such interpretations, the number in question, 666, was originally derived via
gematria from the name of the Roman emperor of the time, Nero Caesar.
Arabic Calculation tools
Android App: Gematria Calculator Chrome Browser Extension: Gematria Assistant
See also
References
Bibliography Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, §5b and §5n
Klein, Ernest, Dr., A comprehensive etymological dictionary of the English language: Dealing
with the origin of words and their sense development thus illustrating the history and civilization
of culture, Elsevier, Oxford, 7th ed., 2000 Davies, William David & Allison, Dale C.,
A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to Saint Matthew, Continuum
International Publishing Group, 2004 Acres, Kevin, Data integrity patterns of the
Torah: A tale of prime, perfect and transcendental numbers, Research Systems, Melbourne, 2004
[1] Clawson, Calvin C., Mathematical Mysteries:
The Beauty and Magic of Numbers, Perseus Books, 1999
Ratzan, Lee, Understanding Information Systems: What They Do and why We Need Them, ALA Editions,
2004 Genesis Rabbah 95:3. Land of Israel, 5th Century.
Reprinted in, e.g., Midrash Rabbah: Genesis. Translated by H. Freedman and Maurice Simon.
Volume II, London: The Soncino Press, 1983. ISBN 0-900689-38-2.
Deuteronomy Rabbah 1:25. Land of Israel, 5th Century. Reprinted in, e.g., Midrash Rabbah:
Leviticus. Translated by H. Freedman and Maurice Simon. Volume VII, London: The Soncino Press,
1983. ISBN 0-900689-38-2. DVD 'Unlocking Da Vinci's Code – Mystery
or Conspiracy?', Highland Entertainment, 2004. UPC 634991203821
Lawrence, Shirley Blackwell, The Secret Science of Numerology – The Hidden Meaning of Numbers
and Letters, New Page Books, 2001 Hughes, J. P., Suggestive Gematria, Holmes,
2008 Further reading
Davis, John J. Biblical Numerology. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1968.
Lawrence, Shirley Blackwell. The Secret Science of Numerology – The Hidden Meaning of Numbers
and Letters. Franklin Lakes, NJ: New Page Books, 2001.
Menninger, Karl. Number Words and Number Symbols: A Cultural History of Numbers. Cambridge:
MIT Press, 1969. Rawn, Jonathan D. Discovering Gematria: Foundational
Exegesis and Primary Dictionary. 1,968 pp. Gematria Publishing, 2008.
Zeitler, William. Musical Gematria. Musica Arcana, 2013, ISBN 978-1-940630-02-1
External links WebGim – An interactive gematria calculator,
which includes results from Torah verses. Simple English gematria calculator
Peter's Gematria Site – examines the application of gematria to the European languages from
the Medieval period onwards, particularly in respect to esoteric communities, such as
the Freemasons. Letters of several alphabets and their numerical
amounts Gematria calculator, finds match to Biblical
verses Gemaṭriel, gemaṭria calculator, which
performs multiplex number processing. Contains the Leningrad Codex.
The Gematria Database at Esoteric Delights is a large online gematria database of the
Hebrew–English dictionary, along with tools for transliteration and translation, geared
towards English-speaking esoteric communities.