Treasures in the Sand
for Parshat Va'etchanan

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.

D'varim 4:15, partial) warns us to be very careful - V'NISHMARTEM M'OD L'NAFSHOTEICHEM... This warning implies a tremendous responsibility to follow G-d and not to falter in faithfulness to Him. Perhaps this is too great a burden for us? A G'matriya-match (GM) to that phrase (2011) beautifully expresses the attitude we should have about our membership in the Jewish Nation: ASHREI HA'AM SHE' KACHA LO... (T'hilim 144:15, whole pasuk) Happy (fortunate) is the nation that are like that, happy is the nation that is G-d's.

Here is a super GM, three p'sukim with the same G'matriya:

In B'reishit 3:19, G-d tells Adam that he shall eat bread by the sweat of his brow until he returns to the earth from whence he was taken. In other words, G-d is saying to us that we are human. Whatever else that means, it includes Free Will and Choice. A person can turn out to be like Eisav, described in 27:40 - By your sword you shall live
and your brother you shall serve... or we can be like the People of Israel were challenged to be like in D'varim 5:29 - And you shall be careful to do as G-d commands you, veering neither to the left nor to the right.

Chazal teach us that he who keeps the Shabbat it is as if he keeps the whole Torah, and he who violates the Shabbat it is as if he denies all of the Torah. In the presentation of the Shabbat in the Yitro-version of the Aseret HaDibrot, a direct link between the command to keep Shabbat and belief in G-d's creation of the world is made. The command to keep the Shabbat appears twelve times in the Torah.

This concept equating Shabbat to the whole Torah is demonstrated with a GM between one of the Shabbat p'sukim and a pasuk in this week's sedra. Sh'mot 31:15 states: Six days you shall work and on the seventh it is Shabbat Shabbaton, holy to G-d, he who does melacha on Shabbat shall die. D'varim 6:1 says: And these are the mitzvot, the chukim and the mishpatim that G-d commanded you to teach you and to do them in the Land you are soon to enter in order to possess. These p'sukim are quite long, and each weighs in with a G'matriya of 6155. But they match, as do Shabbat and all of the Torah.

And now the dangerous quadruple G'matriya match, with a message that somewhat combines messages from two of the "treasures" above.

In B'reishit 9:9, G-d promises to keep his covenant with No'ach, his children, and all their descendants after them. In other words, with all people. That's His promise. But we have Free Will. We can sink to the depths of Korach and his rebellious gang, as in Bamidbar 16:33 - And they and all that was with them descended alive to She'ol, and the earth closed over them and they were lost from among the people. D'varim 5:11, commandment no. 4, tells us to Keep the Shabbat day as G-d has commanded us. Keeping Shabbat in a sense means keeping all of the Torah. That is the much more preferable path to follow in life. Not Korach's. And if one veers from the proper path, there is the desirable option of T'shuva and service of HaShem, as symbolized by Bamidbar 29:19 - And one goat as a CHATAT, aside from the daily sacrifice and its accompaniments. Each of the four p'sukim mentioned in this piece have 2879 as its G'matriya.

One more for Sh'ma, contained in this week's sedra. D'varim 6:4 - Sh'ma Yisrael HaShem Elokeinu HaShem Echad totals 1118. This is the G'matriya of one of the most often quoted p'sukim in davening, if not THE most. T'hilim 20:10 - HaShem Hoshi'a HaMelech Yaaneinu V'yom Koreinu, G-d will save us, the King will answer us on the day we call. One gets the feeling from this GM that our firm statement of belief as expressed by the former pasuk merits us the special relationship with G-d as expressed in the latter pasuk.

This G'matriya of Sh'ma shows up in another interesting context - the names of the five fingers. BOHEN (thumb) = 57, ETZBA (pointer) = 163, AMA (middle finger, from its out stretched tip until the elbow is the measure of an Ama) = 46, K'MITZA (ring finger, named for the portion of a flour-oil offering that the kohen scooped out and put on the Mizbei' ach) = 245, ZERET (pinky, also the term for a SPAN, the length from thumb to pinky of an outstretched palm) = 607. Total: 1118. And the connection between the fingers of the hand and Sh'ma? We cover our eyes with our hand for Sh'ma. S'faradim use their fingertips: thumb & pinky in the corner of the closed eyes and the other three on the forehead forming a SHIN.

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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