Hebrew Gematria

Hebrew gematria, which is now known as a method of assigning numerical value to words and phrases, has its roots in the ancient Jewish tradition of counting the number of times each letter appeared in the scriptures. The specialists assigned to this important duty were known as Soferim and they made sure that every Torah scroll was absolutely identical, paying special attention to every word and its spelling so that they could be replicated exactly.

From this focus on the numerical consistency in the Torah sprang forth the study of Hebrew gematria. This discipline outlines a system of calculating the numerical value of phrases, words, and letters in Hebrew texts. According to this discipline, these numerical values can help to highlight and identify relationships between ideas and draw correlations between concepts. According to experts in the field, there are several different methods of calculating the numerical value of the words or phrases being studied, which can be divided into four main categories, namely the Absolute Value method, the Ordinal Value method, the Reduced Value method, and Integral Reduced Value method.

The Absolute Value method, sometimes referred to as the Normative Value method, is known in Hebrew as mispar hechrachi. In this method, each letter is given the value of its numerical equivalent. That is, the first letter is assigned the number one, the second letter is assigned the number two, and so forth. After the tenth letter, letters are assigned numerical values in multiples of 10 rather than in single digit progressions. Using this method, one would simply add up the values of the letters in the word to obtain its numerical value. In a slight variation on this method, known in Hebrew as mispar mussafi, the numerical value of the word is added to the number of letters in the word to yield its final value.

Ordinal value gematria, called mispar siduri in Hebrew, is quite similar to the Absolute value method, except that instead of assigning numbers in multiples of 10 after the tenth letter, the 22 letters in mispar siduri are simply assigned a value from one through 22, with the final kaf being labled 23 and the last tzadik equaling 27. As with the first method, the values of the letters are then added to obtain the numerical value of the word or phrase in question.

For the Reduced value method, known as mispar katan in Hebrew, each letter's numerical value is truncated to the single primary digit. Therefore, the first letter and the tenth letter both would be considered to have the numerical value of one. Using this method, the Hebrew alphabet is thus comprised of nine different numerical values, each appearing three different times. Each letter thus has two other letters which posses its same value for the purposes of gematria.

The final method we shall discuss is the Integral Reduced value method, or mispar katan mispari. Using this method, the scholar, instead of working with each letter individually, reduces the numerical value of an entire word down to one digit. When adding up the values of the individual letters, if the sum is greater than nine, the integers are added to one another in order to yield a single-digit numeral. This particular approach to Hebrew gematria is not as widely popular as some of the other methods may be.

Other lesser known methods of gematria include the mispar gadol method, which is similar to the Normative value method, except that the soft letters are treated differently. The at Bash method of gematria requires that the scholar exchange each letter with its opposite letter in the alphabet so that the value of the first letter is exchanged with the value of the last one, the value of the second one is traded with the value of the second to last letter in the alphabet and so on. When using the mispar hakadmi method, each letter equals the sum of all the preceding letters,whereas the mispar haparti method insists that each letter equals the square of its standard numerical value. Finally, if using the mispar shemi method, the value of the name of the letter is calculated based spelling out the name of each of the letters and then adding them up.

For the most part, the focus of gematria is on defining, categorizing, and studying Biblical verses, sentences from traditional Jewish prayers, names of people, and Talmudical aphorisms. For some groups, however, gematria is also frequently applied to non-religious material such as arbitrary phrases and words or groups of words spoken in a language other than Hebrew. Once these words, phrases, and verses are clearly defined, they can be compared and correlated with one another to find deeper meaning to the texts at hand.

An excellent example of gematria's use and purpose would be to feature a particular proverb about the consumption of wine and the subsequent telling of secrets. Because the numerical value of the main words in this proverb are equivalent according to gematria, that is considered by scholars as proof of its validity. These same sorts of correlations can be drawn between people whose names are different but have the same numerical value.

The gematria of a person's name can also be used by some in the study of astrology. In these cases, the subject's name would first be tallied, and then it would be added to the sum of the entirety of the mother's name. After these results are divided by seven and 12, the remainders will signify a particular planet of the zodiac. And while the history is not well documented, it is claimed that a particularly negative number combination- namely 666- was first derived from the gematria of the Roman emperor during that particular time period: Nero Caesar. Although this ancient study can seem a little complicated at times, it gives us great insight into the ancient cultures and traditions of the Jewish people.