"Seasonings of Wisdom" The Torah, the Midrash tells us, has "seventy aspects," implying a multi-faceted nature with infinite levels of meaning. On a level more accessible to the aspirations of human beings, we are also told that the Torah can be approached in four basic ways:
In Pirkei Avot (3:23), the Mishnah quotes Rabbi Eliezer ben Chisma as follows: "The laws of bird-offerings and the laws of Pischei Niddah are essential laws … astronomy and gematriaot are like the seasonings of wisdom." The Mishnah may be referring to mathematics in general as "gematriaot," but certainly the specific meaning referred to above is included, as well. Rashi himself uses the technique of gematria occasionally (e.g. Shemot 23:21), but the parshan who specializes in the technique is the Baal HaTurim, Rabbi Yaakov ben HaRosh, the Talmudic giant who codified the Laws of Judaism during the Middle Ages in the "Four Turim." Most of the gematriaot he offers check out computationally; that is, the gematria of one word-set does in fact equal the gematria of the other word-set. However, surprisingly, some do not! For example, in Parshat Shemot (2:6), where the Torah is recounting the story of how Moshe was found floating in a basket by the daughter of Pharaoh, the passuk reads, "ve'hineh naar boche," "and behold, a lad was crying." The Talmud is bothered by the fact that the term "naar" usually connotes an older boy, rather than an infant, and is reluctant to say that baby Moshe had an abnormality. The Baal HaTurim says that the gematria of "naar boche," as the words are spelled in the passuk, is the same as "zeh Aharon HaCohen," "this was Aharon, the Priest," implying that the cries heard by the Princess of Egypt were those of Aharon, Moshe's older brother, who, we thereby learn, was also present at the scene. However, when one computes the gematria of "naar boche," the target expression for which we are seeking a numerical match, and does the same for the test expression, "zeh Aharon HaCohen," one finds that the gematria of the former expression, the result is 347, while the gematria of the latter expression is 348! Now it is clear that the Baal HaTurim was able to compute gematriaot as well, at least, as you or I. What then does he mean by his assertion that the gematriaot are equal, when in fact they are not? It seems that there are two possible answers to this question. The first uses the concept of the "kollel," meaning the "sum of the letters;" that is, the test expression itself, which is also counted, plus-or-minus one. Therefore, a discrepancy of one between the gematria of the test expression and the target expression can, when necessary, be discounted. The other answer is that since gematria belongs in the realm of "remez," hints, exact agreement is not necessarily required, in that universe, to indicate a truth. (We will find the second answer, which perhaps allows for greater discrepancies than one, to be more helpful, later in this essay.) Gematria is also used to defend against a challenge to a basic assumption of Judaism. The Muslims claim that Yishmael, and not Yitzchak, was the rightful heir of Avraham and that, in line with their assumption, it was Yishmael, not Yitzchak, who was bound on the altar at the time of the Akeidah. The Baal HaTurim brings a gematria which defends, from within the very language of the Chumash, against this Islamic claim, although he never mentions the Muslims. The gematria of Yitzchak is 208. When Avram's name is changed to Avraham, the expression "Av Hamon," "Father of Multitudes," is used twice. The gematria of this double expression is also 208! Other gematriaot, not attributable to the Baal HaTurim, which serve to strengthen the Avraham - Yitzchak and the Yitzchak - Akeidah connections are as follows: In the expression used by Hashem to Avraham, "U'Melachim mimecha yatzau," "And kings will descend from you," the gematria of "mimecha," "from you," is 100, the age of Avraham at the time of Yitzchak's birth, and the gematria of the phrase "mimecha yatzau," "will come from you," is 207! At the time of the Akeidah, when the Angel of Hashem prevents Avraham from completing the sacrifice, an "ayil achar," "a different ram" is brought to Avraham's attention. The gematria of "achar," "different," is 209. In the study of Chumash, one deals with the rich and suggestive language of the text as well as with ideas, and the two somehow interact with each other. An idea, passed down through the Mesorah, Jewish tradition, is linked to the text via the technique of gematria, which acts as an associative memory aid pointing to the idea. Or the language may be so obviously suggestive of underlying meaning that "it literally cries out for interpretation" - "ayn ha'mikra omer ela dorsheni." An example of the above situation, which occurs in our Parshah, where it seems clear that the Torah is pointing to "something" not spelled out literally, but where that "something" needs to be captured, is as follows: Rav Yissachar Yaakovson, in "Bina BaMikra," cites M. D. Kassuto, who points out the very similar language used in two instances in the Parshah. The first is when Yoseph's brothers bring the "ksonet pasim," the "many-colored coat," the symbol of their rage and frustration, dipped in goat's blood, to their father. They say to him, in perhaps the cruelest expression in all of the Bible, "zot matzanu; haker na, ha'ketonet binecha hi im lo?","We have found this; identify it, please - is it the coat of your son or not?" And Yaakov is forced to respond, in a grief beyond words, "It is the coat of my son; Yoseph is without doubt torn by a wild beast" (Bereshit 37:32-33). The second is when Tamar, accused of adultery, says at her trial, (Bereshit 38:25-26) "Haker na, lemi ha'chosemet veha'ptilim ve'ha'mateh ha'aleh?","Identify these, please, whose are they - this signet, this cord and this staff?" (indicating that it is the owner of those items by whom she is pregnant). Kassuto uses this "Identify - Identify" parallelism as follows: Yehudah was
most responsible for the cruel deception upon his father, for it was his suggestion that
yoseph be sold into slavery. He was punished "midah k'neged midah,"
"measure for measure," when Tamar, having been frustrated in her attempts to
become a "mother in Israel," tricked her father-in-law into a
quasi-"Yibbum," "levirate marriage." And, at her trial, she sent to
Yehudah the objects which accused him - silently, teaching for all
generations that it is preferable for a person to enter a fiery furnace, for that was to
be her punishment, than to embarrass someone else in public. Yehudah, confronted with this
evidence, rises to the challenge, and says "Tzadkah mimeni!" "She is more
righteous than I!" Another possible interpretation of the "Identify -Identify" parallelism is as follows, leaning heavily on the "remez" explanation for discrepancies in gematriaot: On Tisha B'Av and on Yom Kippur in the piyut of "Eleh Ezkera," we read of the cruel executions of the Ten Martyrs, during the reign of the emperor Hadrian, although we know that the executions were not in fact performed simultaneously. The paytan, based on the Midrash, relates the deaths of these great men of Israel to the crime of the brothers of Yoseph, who sold him into slavery for a pair of shoes. The question arises, "Is there any evidence of this in the Chumash itself?" Here we say that the parallelism suggests that the courageous "viduy," confession, "Tzadkah mimeni" was in fact a "kaparah," an atonement, for the sin of "mechirat Yoseph," the sale of Yoseph. When we evaluate the gematria of the passuk representing the sin, from "zot matzanu" thru "im lo," we find that the total is 1906. The gematria of Tamar's statement which triggered the kapparah, from "haker na" thru "ha'aleh" is 1896. The discrepancy between the sin and the kapporah is ten. It was for these "ten" that the People of Israel paid, and to some extent we continue to pay, for our persistent and destructive inability to come together as one nation, for our inablility to put together a quorum of ten, for our "sinat chinam," with the lives of the Ten Martyrs, and the continuing and tragic "parade" of martyrs of the State of Israel. May Hashem help us overcome this problem, as we pray in Tefilat Minchah of Shabbat, "Ata Echad Veshimecha Echad, u'mi Ke'amecha Yisrael, goy echad ba'aretz," "You are One, and Your Name is One, and which nation is like your nation, Israel, one nation, in the Land!" Rabbi Pinchas Frankel Rabbi Frankel is an Educational Coordinator at the OU |
