JoelNothman.com

I recently discovered (well, not before he told me), that my brother, Simon, has also started a blog. It turns out he’s written on something a little up my alley, on the idea of not eating nuts in the new year in Judaism. Check out his post, but I’ll paraphrase: the custom is purportedly based on a gematria, where nut (אגוז) equates in numerical value to sin (חטא), therefore declaring this a bad omen before Yom Kippur. It turns out that this doesn’t add up and 17 does not in fact equal 18 (and I was far from the first to discover this). Moreover, sin has the most famous gematria value of them all: חי (life)! Whether this means we should avoid living between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur too, I’m not sure. On the other hand, some authors of Dead Sea Scrolls that spell חטא without the aleph (eg. 11Q19, LVII, 10) might do well to abide by this custom.

I guess the point is that gematria should be used sparingly, especially when it is combined with superstition and practical ramifications. And yet there is a certain magic in this talmudic tool of numerology. It comes alongside many other forms of commentary that seem obscure and decontextualised, while playing games with a text. Whether the early users of such tools considered these methods to be definitive proofs, or rather word games that enhance the learning and multifacetedness of a text is unclear.

One champion of using gematria to produce wonderful explanations was the Vilna Gaon, Rabbi Eliyahu Kramer, a prominent rabbi of the 18th century, and one from whom my mother’s family claims genealogical descent. (As a mathematician and grammarian, among other things, I am not surprised that I learnt my love of language in a large way from mum.) Many gematria tidbits have been attributed to the Gaon, although it is generally difficult to know the authenticity of this attribution.

I thought I would share a couple of my favourites with you:

A very famous example, published in 1962 by Matityahu ha’Kohen Munk which finds new meaning in the rabbinic determination of π = 3 from 1 Kings 7:23. The word understood there as circumference, קו (meaning rope or line), is pronounced as such, but is spelt קוה. Dividing these words’ values (111/106) and multiplying by the presumed ratio of 3:1 then gives the third continual-fraction expansion of our favourite transcendental number: 3.141509, an accuracy not attained till much later than the bible. Mordecai Kornfeld covers pi and other rabbinic geometry more extensively.

Earlier in the year I also heard explained why we should knock out the teeth of the wicked son at the seder table. Surely it is because the wicked one (רשע = 580) without his teeth (שניו = 376) is righteous (צדיק = 580-376 = 204)!

And last week at Ramat Orah in New York I heard a more now-relevant something. We are commanded (Deut. 16:13-15) to be joyous on the festival of Sukkot:

חג הסוכות תעשה לך, שבעת ימים: באוספך–מגורנך, ומיקבך. ושמחת, בחגך: אתה ובנך ובתך, ועבדך ואמתך, והלוי והגר והיתום והאלמנה, אשר בשעריך. שבעת ימים, תחוג ליהוה אלוהיך, במקום, אשר-יבחר יהוה: כי יברכך יהוה אלוהיך, בכול תבואתך ובכול מעשה ידיך, והיית, אך שמח.

The Festival of Tabernacles perform for yourself seven days … and you shall be joyful in your festival (ושמחת בחגך) … seven days you shall keep the feast … and you should be only joyful (אך שמח).

Elsewhere there is reference to another work-free festival on the 8th day after dwelling in sukkot. Nowadays this holiday of Shemini Atzeret / Simchat Torah is a very joyous and festive one. But the rabbis had to ask: “How do we know that we should be joyous on the festival of the eighth too?” (To my knowledge this discussion is somewhere in the Talmud…) They respond that “ושמחת בחגך” refers to the first seven days, and “אך” of “והיית אך שמח” adds to it the eighth day. Later commentaries are confused by this understanding because “אך” is a word that usually means “only” or “but” and hence should have a restrictive or diminishing effect rather than one that is additive. Finally a nice answer was put forward by the Gaon, who simply explained that the word אך equates to 21, which is also the day of the month upon which we celebrate Shemini Atzeret. And yet while some publishers give translations through the filter of commentaries, I would rather not translate “והיית אך שמח” as “and you shall be joyful on the 21st”. It might, though, be a new explanation for the extravagance of this age’s birthday parties.