Parshat Chayei Sara

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.

Very often, my computer searches for "meaningful"  G'matriya-matches fail to turn up anything of interest.   Sometimes, the results turn up something "worse" than  uninteresting - something contrary to our beliefs or positions. In those cases, it is easy to dismiss the find, since G'matriya does not prove anything, nor doesit create a new point. I am referring to G'matriya of the homemade variety, as are found in the Treasures in the Sand column.

I feel the need to occasionally begin the column with the "warning" that is contained in the box at the end of each week's column, especially for those who skip the boxed message.

With that said (again), here is a find that is "nice".
Not major, but nice.

The opening pasuk in this week's sedra - B'reishit 23:1 - And these were the years of Sara's life, one hundred years and twenty years and years, the years of the life of Sara. G'matriya of 3623 matches a significant pasuk that appears twice in theTorah, Vayikra 19:30 and 26:2 - My Shabbats you shall preserve and My sanctuary you shall revere, I Am  HaShem. This pasuk touches upon all that is holy. G-d, of course. Shabbat, which represents the sanctity of time, and the Mikdash, which represents the sanctity of place. That this pasuk is what came up as a GM to the summary pasuk of the life of Sara Imeinu highlights the perfection and high spiritual quality of the first of the Imahot.

And another point about these G'matria searches. Even
when I find something of interest, it is often a pair of p'sukim out of several that popped up, most of which I just ignore, because they don't fit or add anything to the find. Here's an exception. 5833 is a G'matriya shared by only three p'sukim in Tanach, all from the Torah. And the maiden to whom I will say, please tip your pitcher and I will drink and she will say, and I will also give drink to your camels, it is she that You   (G-d) have provided to Your servant to Yitzchak, and in that I will know that You have acted kindly with my master. The Gemara gives the opinion that Eliezer did not behave properly by making this request of G-d. G-d, nonetheless, responded favorably, in consideration of Avraham and Yitzchak. If this was, in fact, a sin on Eliezer's part, we can categorize it as presumptuous on Eliezer's part, or as Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Poupko puts it (in a different context) - excessive familiarity with the Divine. As opposed to the common type of sinning, in which one rebels against G-d, pulls away from Him, goes in the opposite direction from the one He wants us to follow, this type of sin is based on being "too close" to G-d. Or in thinking that it is okay to be so.

The context that Rabbi Y.M.P. uses to illustrate this  kind ofsin is the episode of Nadav and Avihu. Vayikra 10:1 tells us - And the sons of Aharon, Nadav and Avihu each took his fire-pan and they put coals in them, and they put incense on them, and offered before G-d a strange fire that they had not been commanded on. Nadav and Avihutook too much to themselves. They got "too close" to the Divine. This is one of the other p'sukim with the same G'matriya. The third verse concerns Korach and his gang. They too were punished for attempting to offer unauthorized incense. The pasuk in question is Bamidbar 17:32.

A word of caution about 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. Try any of them without the G'matriya. They still "work".

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