 Parshat Emor In Vayikra 21:6, the Torah states that kohanim shall be "holy to their G-d..." — K'DOSHIM Y'H'YU LEILO KEI'HEM = 100+4+300+10+40 (454) + 10+5+10+6 (31) + 30+1+30+5+10 +5+40 (121) = 606. The reason for their holiness is given in the same pasuk: because they LECHEM ELOKEIHEM HEIM MAKRIVIM (offer sacrifices) = 30+8 +40 (78) + 1+30+5+10+5+40 (91)+ 5+40 (45) + 40+100+200+10+2+40 (392) = 606. Nice balance, and it works out only because MAKRIVIM is spelled in the unusual manner of no YUD before the last MEM. G'MATRIYA based on L'ORA SHEL TORAH by R. Yaakov Auerbach z"l We are commanded to count from the Barley Offering on the second day of Pesach until (including or excluding?) the Two Loaves Offering of Shavuot. We are to count seven complete weeks and we are commanded to count (until) 50 days. We all know that the counting is "up to, but not including" 50 days (AD V'LO AD B'CHLAL).It is actually the seven complete weeks that teach us that. But it can be demonstrated numerically as well. The words of the Torah that contain the command to count are: SHEVA SHABATOT T'MIMOT T'H'YENA (there shall be 7 complete weeks), AD MIMA CHARAT HASHABBAT HA'SH'VI'IT TIS'P'RU CHAMISHIM YOM (until the morrow of the seventh week, you shall count 50 days...) This phrase consists of 49 letters (not 50). Simple, but nice. Bonus: Take the 49 letters of this phrase and write them out in a 7x7 grid. The four corner letters are SHIN, VAV, MEM, and MEM, which add up to 386. The numeric value of DAVID BEN YISHAI = 4+6+4 (14) + 2+50 (52) + 10+300+10 (320) = 386. Now add the middle letter of the grid, REISH, and you get 586. Yerushalayim (as it is spelled in Tanach, almost invariably) equals 10+200+6+300+30+40 = 586. The diagonal of the grid, from upper-left to lower-right is made up of VAV, TAV, HEI, REISH, HEI, TAV, MEM = 1056, which is Yerushalayim in Full G'm. [The Emor Homepage] |