![]() Sefer Yetzirah supposedly contains the instructions to create a golem, the legendary creature made out of mud, popularized by the Maharal of Prague in the 19th century. The mystic practitioner could, it was believed, use this knowledge to harness the powers of creation. ![]() This text is concerned with God’s creation of the universe through the powers of the Hebrew alphabet, and with the permutations of God’s name. Sefer Yetzirah, the earliest kabbalistic text, believed to have been written in the 2nd century CE, was the first kabbalistic text to elaborate a system of gematria. The 29th rule involved the use of gematria. This text, which no longer exists except in references, elaborated 32 rules for interpreting the Bible. In rabbinic literature it first appears in the Baraita of the Thirty-two Rules, by Rabbi Eliezer in 200 CE. The term “gematria” comes from the Greek “geometria,” and the concept can be found in the writings of the Greek philosopher Plato. Indeed the many names of God and their permutations in Kabbalah have numerical values that are believed to contain potent power. The very basis of the kabbalistic cosmological system rests on the belief that God created the universe through the power of the Hebrew letters along with their numerical values. However, gematria is essential to Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition. They were much more invested in the use of logical reasoning and argumentation to support their positions. The rabbis occasionally employed gematria to help support biblical exegesis, but did not rely on it heavily. While gematria was used periodically in the Talmud and Midrash, it was not central to rabbinic literature. The Hebrew Alphabet in Numerologyĩ00 Tzady (final) ץ Who Believes in Gematria? If a word’s numerical value equals that of another word, a commentator might draw a connection between these two words and the verses in which they appear and use this to prove larger conceptual conclusions. In the realm of biblical interpretation, commentators base an argument on numerological equivalence of words. One can then calculate the numerical value of a word by adding together the values of each letter in it. ![]() In gematria, each Hebrew letter is represented by a number (for example, aleph = 1, bet = 2, etc.). ![]() This system, developed by practitioners of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), derived from Greek influence and became a tool for interpreting biblical texts. Gematria is a numerological system by which Hebrew letters correspond to numbers. My Jewish Learning is a not-for-profit and relies on your help Donate ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |