Parshat Eikev

U'S'FUNEI T'MUNEI CHOL

Beachcombing the G'matriya Beach with the help of "Otzrot Yisrael", one of the CDs of the "Responsa Project" of Bar Ilan University.

Over the three months or so that this column has appeared, I have received comments expressing mixed or negative feelings about G'matriya-based Divrei Torah. This, despite the cigarette-package-like warning at the end of the UTC (Us'funei T'munei Chol) column. Therefore, allow me a few comments.

The Torah tells us that when Avra(ha)m Avinu joined the Battle of the Four Kings and the Five Kings, he armed his servant(s) 318... (B'reishit 14:14). The plain understanding is that he took 318 men with him. Rashi says in the name of "the Sages" that he took only Eliezer, the value of whose name is 318. There might be different ways of looking at this G'matriya, but (I would say that) it is most likely that there was an Oral Tradition that Avraham took Eliezer with him, and that the G'matriya is a "nice" highlighter of the other interpretation of the pasuk. I don't think that the G'matriya was used to revise the meaning of the pasuk from 318 men to just Eliezer.

Whether this is so or not with Rashi's G'matriya, it is certainly the case of the G'matriya-matches presented in the UTC column. I take p'sukim and some partial p'sukim and calculate their G'matriya. Then I search the Tanach for GMs. Then I say something about the matched p'sukim or phrases - something that can be said without a GM, but something that becomes "nice" or "cute" because of the GM. I hope it is clear what G'matriyas are and what they are not.

D'varim 8:5 is part of Moshe's words about the period of wandering in the Midbar. He tells us "to know in your heart that just as a father disciplines his child, so too does G-d chasten you (us)." This pasuk drew an interesting G'matriya-Match (GM) to a pasuk in the following chapter (9:20): And HaShem was so angry with Aharon that He was ready to destroy him, and I (Moshe) also prayed on his behalf... Both p'sukim equal 2677 - the first a general statement; the second, a specific example.

The mitzva of Birkat HaMazon is presented in the pasuk we actually quote in Birkat HaMazon, second bracha: "When you will eat and be satisfied, then you shall bless HaShem, your G-d for the good land which He has given you" (D'varim 8:10).

The first three brachot of Birkat HaMazon are considered the fulfillment of the Torah's obligation to "bench". The first bracha is HAZAN ET HAKOL, it is attributed to Moshe Rabeinu, and can be seen in the mitzva-pasuk in the words V'ACHALTA V'SAVATA UVEIRACHTA. The second bracha is AL HA'ARETZ V'ALHAMAZON, it is attributed to Yehoshua, and can be seen in the words of the pasuk ...AL HA'ARETZ HATOVA ASHER NATAN LACH. The third bracha is BONEI (b'rachamav) YERUSHALAYIM, it is attributed to David HaMelech (for the Jerusalem part) and Shlomo HaMelech (for the Beit HaMikdash part), and does not have specific words in the pasuk indicating it. However, there is a nice GM with a pasuk in T'hilim (137:6) - both p'sukim having the G'matriya of 3824 - that can make a Yerushalayim connection very nicely: "May my tongue cleave to my palate if I do not remember, if I do not raise Jerusalem above my greatest joy."

Please remember that this is not the reason there is a bracha for Yerushalayim as part of Birkat HaMazon. It is nothing more than an interesting G'matriya-Match find. Many p'sukim are fed into the computer, and relatively few interesting GMs come out. These "Treasures in the Sand" are only meant to bring a smile to your lips and give you something light to share at your Seudat Shlishit table.

Here's an example of a GM that allows you to make an obvious statement which would be so even if the G'matriyas didn't match.

Parshat Eikev contains an important guideline for T'shuva. "And you shall circumcise the foreskin of your hearts, and you shall no longer be stiff-necked." (D'varim 10:16) Don't be coldhearted or stubborn. In the process of our turning back to HaShem, we can draw inspiration and incentive from others who hearken to G-d's Words, even among the nations of the world. This pasuk matches in G'matriya (3044) Sh'mot 9:20, which refers to those among the servants of Par'o who feared G-d's word brought their servants and animals indoors (during the plague of Barad, hail. Amidst the whole description of the Plagues and other aspects of the Exodus, the Torah tells us that among the Egyptians there were G-d-fearing people.

A word of caution when it comes to G'matriya, specifically the homemade variety that appear in this Treasures in the Sand column. Don't read too much into them. They are not meant to say something new. They are meant to be a nice "numerical confirmation" of existing ideas. They point to ideas to be explored.

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