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Torah and Science Video Series

22 Tevet, 5768

248 IN NATURE AND IN MAN PART 1from Harav Yitzchak Ginsburgh

Introduction

In this lecture, we will discuss the significance of the number 248. Many of us are

probablyawarethatthenumber248hastremendoussignificanceinTorah.First,248is

the number of positive commandments in the Torah. In total, the Torah contains 613

commandmentsofwhich248arepositive(and365areprohibitive).Thesagesalsoteach

usthatthe248positivecommandmentscorrespondtothelimbsofthehumanbody.A

limb isdefined inHalachah(Jewish law)asabonearoundwhich therearesinewsandflesh.WhatthismeansisthataccordingtoHalachah,inthehumanskeletonthereare248

basiccomponents.1

Thereasonthatwehavechosenthistopicisbecauseithasrelevancetoatheorythat

wasrecentlydevelopedinphysics.Thetheorywearefocusingonisspeculativeandhas

awakened a great deal of controversy; even outright rejection by some physicists.

Nonetheless, others see in it positive prospects for constructive research in the future,

especiallyoncethenewLargeHadronCollideratCERNgoesonlinenextyear.

The theorythatwearereferring to isnotbasedonStringTheorybutonQuantum

Mechanics as known to date. It isbased on a mathematical group called the E8 Lie

(pronounced: Lee) group. This theory predicts that our universe has 248 elementary

particles.Whetheritisprovenfullyornot,inanycasemanyphysicistsfeelthattheE8

Lie group is one of the mostbeautiful mathematical structures. If this structure can

indeedbeusedtocorrectlydescribealloftheparticlesandthefourforces,itwilltruly

beanamazingthing.Suchalevelofunificationinphysicshasnotbeenachievedbyany

theorytodate.

248 Particles

Beforewebeginletusshareabeautifulobservation.Inthepast,longbeforethistheory

was

introduced,

we

ourselves

thought

that

the

number

of

elementary

particles

in

the

universeshouldbe248.Whyisthis?Because,byDivineProvidence,inModernHebrew

thewordforanelementaryparticleis (pronounced:chelkeek),whosenumerical

valueis248.ThiswordisbasedontheHebrewwordforpart( ),towhichthetwo

lettersuffix ,whichindicatesextremesmallnessareadded,meaningtogetheravery

GALEINAI PUBLICATION SOCIETY2HausnerSt.Jerusalem96431tel.:[email protected]

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InModernHebrew,thisworddoesnotonlymeananelementaryparticle.Itisalso

usedtodenoteanyverysmallentityorunit.Oneofthemostcommonusesofthisword

is ,meaninganinfinitesimalpartofasecond,likeaneyeblink.IntheTorah,

thesecondsmallestunitoftimeiscalledapart,( ),theoriginalbasewordof .

Thereare18suchpartsinaminute,meaningthateachpartistheequivalentofthree

andathirdseconds.Thereisalsoasmallerunitoftimecalledarega( ),whichliterally

istranslatedasmoment.Aregais1/76thofapart,whichworksouttoabout1/23ofa

second. In any event,because the smallest measure of time that we usually use is a

second,theidiom ,aninfinitesimalpartofasecond,isawaytoexpressthe

smallestunitoftime.Wealreadyknowthatthenumericalvalueoftheword (smallpart)is248.But,

amazingly, the second word, second ( ) is equal to 365, which is the number of

prohibitivecommandmentsintheTorah,thenumberthatinTorahisthecomplementof

248.Sothevalueofthefullidiom, is613.Theimagethatthisidiomsummons

isoftheentireTorahcapturedandencapsulatedinoneparticleofasecond.Now,what

exactly is a particle of a second, or a particle of time? In quantum theory like energy,

time too is quantified, meaning that it canbebroken down intobasic units and no

further.Inotherwords,timeisnotcontinuousbutdiscrete.Thebestwaytodescribethe

smallestquantaoftimewouldthereforebethisHebrew idiom .InKabbalah,

time is considered even more primary than space and matter. According to Kabbalah,

timeisamasculineentitythatentersspace,whichisfeminine.Soinacertainsensethe

seedofrealityisaquantizedinstantoftime,aparticleofasecond,whichaswesaidis

equalto613.

ThiswasanexampleofhowDivineProvidenceworksinModernHebrew.

Letusnowgoontohowthisnumber,248,appearsintheTorah.Whatwearegoing

tonowlookatareanameandanidiomwhosenumericalvalueis248.

From Abram (243) to Abraham (248)

Themost

important

name

in

the

Torah

that

equals

248

is

the

name

of

the

first

patriarch

oftheJewishpeople:Abraham( ).Originally,AbrahamsnamewasAvram( )

whose value is 243. But, when Abraham was 99 years old, God commanded him to

circumcise himself and added a letterhei ( ) to his name,whose numerical value is 5,

thusbringingthefullnumericalvalueofhisnameto248.Now,wewouldliketotryand

understand:whyitwasthatAbrahambeganwithanamethatequaled243andthenhad


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The answer given by the sages is that before his circumcision, Abraham had

completecontrolover243limbs.HeservedGod,thatis,hechosetodoonlythatwhich

wasproperinGodseyeswith243ofhislimbs.(Weshouldnotethatinthisteachingof

the sages the definition of the term limb, evar [the first three letters of Abrahams

name], is not identical with its definition as abasic part of the skeleton that we saw

above. Here it appears in the sense of organ, though not necessarily excluding the

presenceof abonewithinaorgan.Lateron,we willsee that theconceptof248 limbs

exists on two different planes, one physical, and one spiritual that are meant tobe

united.Intheenclothmentprocess[ofthespiritualenteringthephysical],the248reflects

itselfasthenumberofthebodysorgans[suchastheeyesintowhichenterthespiritual

power of sight]. By circumcising, Abraham gained control over five more organs: his

twoeyes,histwoears,andhisprocreativeorgantheorganofcircumcision.Normally,

the experiences that these 5 organs are sensitive to are not voluntary. Likewise, youcannot always choose what to see, or what to hear; even though the sages say that a

person cannot inseminate without willing it, sexual arousal itself is not always

voluntary. But, through the act of circumcision, God gave Abraham supernatural

controloverhiseyes,ears,andprocreativeorgan.OnceAbrahamwascircumcisedand

had control over his entirebody, he was fit to truly procreate and givebirth to the

Jewishpeople.

AnotherexplanationforAbrahamschangeofnamethatchangedhisvaluefrom243

to 248 isbased on the Book of Formation (Sefer Yetzirah), the first Kabbalistic workattributed to Abraham himself. There we find that reality comprises 5 dimensions,

knownbytheirHebrewacronymAshan( ),whichstandsforspace( ),time( ),

and soul ( ). Since there are three spatial dimensions, one time dimension, and one

soul dimension, we have altogether 5 dimensions. By definition, every dimension is a

coordinatethathastwoextremes(calleddepthsintheBookofFormation).Thethree

spatial dimensions are drawnbetween high and low, north and south, and east and

west.Timerunsfromthepasttothefuture.Thesouldimensionstwoextremesaregood

andevil.

Whatisthemeaningthatthereisasouldimensioninadditiontospaceandtime?At

everypoint inspaceandtimethere isalsoasoulcoordinate,whichmeansthatatany

timeand

place,

we

can,

by

our

actions

plot

our

location

on

agood

evil

continuum.

The

fifth coordinate is invisible to most ofus andwhereyou are on thatcoordinate of the

soul,whetheryouaregoodorevil,dependsonyourfreewill,soinasense,thisisthe

freewillcoordinate that exists atevery moment and inevery place thatyou may find

yourself.Thoughourregularhumanexperiencerecognizes4dimensions(3spatialand

1 temporal), Abraham dedicated his life to teaching us about this fifth dimension that

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Now,just as the 5 dimensions of reality are divided into 3 categories (space, time,

andsoul)soeverything thatGodcreated,and thehumanbodyexhibits this themost,

everyentity isdivided intothree.Inthehumanbody,every limb isdivided intothree

segments: every finger isdivided into three, thearm, the leg, thebody itself, etc. God

divides everything in reality into three. The humanbody is a microcosm that exhibits

thisidea.Howisthisdivisioninto3andthefivedimensionsallhintedtoinAbraham?

Abrahams original name, Avram , which is equal to 243 is also 3 raised to the

powerof5,or3 3 3 3 3=243!

What then did Abraham gainby his circumcision? He gained an awareness of the

consummatewholeness,oftheveryessenceofeachofthese5dimensions.Godrevealed

toAbrahamtheessenceofeachofthefivedimensions,whichisimpliedbytheincrease

ofthevalueofhisnamefrom243to248.

Ifwetakethesetwoexplanationstheoneofferedbythesagesandtheonethatis

derivedfromtheBookofFormationandaddthemtogetherwecometotheconclusion

thatthetwoeyes,thetwoears,andprocreativeorgancorrespondtoessenceofthefivedimensionsofreality.Eachoftheseorgansissensitive,sotospeak,totheessenceofone

ofthesefivedimensions.Clearly,theprocreativeorgancorrespondstothegoodbad,the

souldimension.

248 and circumcision

Webeganwiththisnewphysicaltheorythatmapsalloftheelementaryparticlesonto

the E8 Lie group. The fact that this group has 248 points encourages us to look for a

connectionbetween8and248.Indeed248isamultipleof8.Thisisimportantbecause

Abraham attained complete control of his 248 limbs on the day of his circumcision,

which is normally carried out on the babys eighth day. Whereas the number 7

representstheconsummatestateofeverythingthatisnatural,8representsthatwhichis

beyondnature.Thenumber7isimmediatelyassociatedinourmindswithShabbat,the

seventh day.But,Godcommanded thatwecircumciseour childrenon theeighth day

because circumcision connects the child with the supernatural, i.e., with his soul root.

Indeed,thesagesteachusthatcircumcisiontranscendsShabbatsothatitispermittedto

circumciseachildontheeighthdayeveniftheeighthdayfallsonShabbat.

So we have that the value of Abrahams name, the first person to perform

circumcision,isamultipleof8:248=8 31.Isaac,whowasborninvirtueofAbrahams

own

circumcision,

was

the

first

person

tobe

circumcised

on

the

eighth

day.

The

numericalvalueofIsaac( )is208,alsoamultipleof8:208=8 26.

26and31arethenumericalvaluesoftwooftheholyNamesofGod.31isthevalue

oftheNameKel( ),whichcorrespondstothesefirahoflovingkindness,asimpliedin

the verse: The lovingkindness of God [Kel] lasts all day. Abraham is indeed the

archetypal soul of lovingkindness. This verse also implies that it is through loving

kindness (through Abraham) that God recreates the world all day long, meaning


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Letusalsoaddthat31isaprimenumber.Infact,itisthe12thprimenumber.Aswe

shallseeshortly,12isconsideredoneofthesourcesof248intheTorahandisthesecret

ofthehigheststatethatAbrahamachievedinhislife.

Sofar,wehaveanalyzedthenumber248intwodifferentways:

248=35(243)5

248=31 8

248 in creation

The name Abraham is alluded to already in the Genesis account of creation. Genesis

includes two accounts of creation. The first runs from chapter 1 verse 1 to chapter 2

verse3and

the

second

begins

with

chapter

2verse

4.

However,

sometimes

chapter

2

verse 4 is considered the final verse of the first account of creation. This verse reads:

Thesearethechroniclesoftheheavensandtheearthwhentheywerecreated,onthe

daythatGodmadeearthandheavens.IntheoriginalHebrew,thewordswhenthey

were created, are a single word: . This is a very special wordbecause it is the

firsttimethatatypographicallyminorletterappearsinthetextoftheTorah:thesecond

letterofthisword,thehei( )isthisletter.Thus,intheTorahscrollthiswordiswritten

somethinglikethis: .But,thiswordisalsospecialbecausewhenpermuteditspells

,whichmeanswithAbraham.Thesageslearnfromthisthatallofcreationwas

createdinthemeritofAbraham.2

What does this mean? One of thebasic tenetsof the BaalShem Tovs teachings is

thatinordertosustaincreation,Godhastorecreateitateverysinglemoment.Hedoes

sothroughthechannelofAbrahamssoulrootlovingkindnessor,throughwhatcan

becalledthepoweroflove.3

Whatdoestheminorletterhei( )inthiswordsymbolize?Grammatically,theheiin

thiswordmakesthewordareflectivepasttenseverb:whentheywerecreated.But,

moredeeply,thesmallheialludestoAbrahamsletterheilyingoriginallydormantand

invisibleinhisoriginalnameAbram( ).Abrahamshiddenpotentialforgivingbirth

to the Jewish people lay concealed until he was 99 years old and received the

commandment

of

circumcision.

This

is

also

the

way

that

the

Torah

stresses

that

it

is

specificallytheheiinAbrahamsname,thatistheessenceofhissoulrootsabilitytoact

astheconduitthroughwhichtheworldiscontinuouslyrecreated.Andsothesagesread

thewordwhentheywerecreatedaswith[theletter]heiHecreatedthem.

But,now letusnoticethatsincethenumericalvalueofAbraham ( ) is248,

thentheword alsomeanswith248:Godcreatedtheworldwith248.Thisis


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Now,ifyoucount,youwillseethatthisword, ,isthe474thwordintheTorah.

474isthenumericalvalueof ,thenameofthesefirahofknowledge.Inmanyways,

thesefirahofknowledgeisthemostimportantofallthepowersofthesoulbecauseitis

thepowerofconsciousness.But,thereisanadditionalpointthatneedstobestressed.In

theTanya,itisexplainedthatthesefirahofknowledgeisthesourceofpowertobindand

connect with something. So this word, the 474th word of the Torah, the knowledge

word of theTorah alludes toGods power toconnect withHis creation. And that this

word means with Abraham reveals that God binds and connects Himself with

creationthroughAbraham,orAbrahamssoulroot.Aswesaid,itisthroughAbrahams

soul root, lovingkindness, that God professes Hisbond with realityby continuously

recreating it. The Torah instructs us to learn from God and to seek to emulate Him.

Therefore,ourconsciousnessshouldalsobefullofAbrahamandweshouldseektobind

through lovingkindness and love with others. One way to picture this is to say thatnature,creationitselfreflectstheCreatorbyhavingAbrahamonitsmind,i.e.,byhaving

248elementaryparticlesasitsbasicbuildingblocks.

In the Zohar, knowledge is considered the key that opens up six stores, which

symbolizethesixfacultiesoftheheart,whichthemselvescorrespondtothesixdaysof

creation.Thus,accordingtotheZohar,thekeytoallthatwascreatedinthesixdaysof

creationistheconsciousnessofAbraham,theconsciousnessofthenumber248.

The Duality of the Image of God

Letuscontinueby lookingatthemost important idiom intheTorahwhosenumerical

value is248.When theTorahdescribeshowGodcreatedmanon thesixthday, italso

notesthespecialattributethatmakesmandifferentfromallothercreatures.TheTorah

relatesthatmanwascreatedintheimageofGod( ).TheNameofGodused

in this idiom is Elokim, the Name used throughout the first account of creation. The

gematriaofthefirstword,intheimage( )is162;thegematriaofthesecondword,

Elokim( )is86,andtogethertheirsumis248.

This illustrates something very important. Even though God was creating the first

humanbeing,Adam,HewascreatinghiminHisimage,butthevalueofintheimage

of God ( ), 248, is itself equal to Abraham. This echoes what we saw

earlier,that

the

entire

universe

was

created

with

Abraham

( ).

Now we see that even the pinnacle of all of creation, man, was created in

Abraham.Tosayitanotherway,whencreatingAdam,Godwasalreadyinspiredby

Abraham, the first human to seek Gods unity and the first patriarch of theJewish

people.

Sincethisissuchanimportantidiomandisequalto248,thequestionweneedtoask

is: does this idiom appear elsewhere in the Torah? If we check, we will find that it


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appearsasecondtimeinthesecondTorahportion:Noah.AfterthefloodandafterGod

instructsNoahtoexittheark,torenewlifeonEarth,andtoprocreateoncemore,God

discussestheresponsibilityofmanoveralllivingcreatures.Hesays:4

Be fruitful, and increase in number, and fill the earth. Your fear and dread will fallupon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that

moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are entrusted intoyour hands. Everything that lives and moves will be for your consumption. J ust as Igave you the green plants, I now give you everything. But you must not eat meat thathas lifeblood still in it. And for your life-blood I will surely demand an accounting. I willdemand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand anaccounting for the life of his fellow man. Whoever sheds the blood of a man, hisblood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.

SothefactthatmanwascreatedintheimageofGod( )ishereusedto

justifytheprohibitionofmurder.5

We have seen that this idiom appears twice, once in the context of creation and a

second time in thecontext of theprohibitionofmurder.Because itappears twice, this

mustmeanthatthereareindeedtodifferentaspectsorplanestotheimageofGodthat

iswithinman.SinceintheimageofGodisequaltoAbrahamthisalsomeansthat

Abrahamhimselfmusthavetwodifferentaspectstohim.Everythingthathastodowith

thenumber248isdualinitsnature.

One way to understand the nature of this duality isby reviewing the Baal Shem

Tovs interpretation of the verse: One who has a wise heart takes commandments.6

Thefactthatthewordcommandmentshereappearsinitspluralform,promptedthe

Baal Shem Tov to explain that performing a commandment always involves two

aspects: the action itself and the intent of the action. In other words, every action

prescribed

by

the

248

positive

commandments

of

the

Torah

occurs

on

two

planes

simultaneously. If a person has a wise heart, he takes to heart the need to unify his

actionsonbothplanes.Thus,onewhohasawiseheartseekstoclarifyhismentalintent

whileperformingcommandments.WhatthisillustratesisthatjustastheimageofGod

is revealed in our 248 physical limbsof thebody, so it is revealed inour 248spiritual

limbswhicharemeanttobeunitedbyenclothementwithourphysicallimbs.

Tomoredeeplyunderstandthedifferencebetweenthetwoinstancesofthisidiomin

theTorah,letusnotetheverbthatisassociatedwithitineachcontext.Intheaccountof

creationitsays:IntheimageofGodHecreatedhim[man],butinparshatNoach it

says: for in the image of God He made man. The verb used in the first context is

created( )whichinHebrewdenotescreationexnihilo,i.e.,fromnothing.But,theverb used in the second context, regarding murder, is made, which implies

rectificationortakingsomethingthatalreadyexistsandperfectingitbymakingitbetter.

Theseare the twoverbs that appear in the firstaccountofcreation to denotedifferent

levelsofcreation.The thirdverbformed ( ), thatappears inthesecondaccountof

creation and serves as an intermediate levelbetween created and made, implies


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creation somethingfromnothing

formation somethingfromsomething

action perfectingsomethingthatexists

Abeautifulwayofunderstandingthedifferenceinmeaningbetweencreated( )

and made ( ) is to compare them to the difference between creationism and

evolution. Creationism is the doctrine that everything was created out of nothing.

Evolution is the doctrine that already existing matter is continuallybeing perfected to

higher and higher levels. For formed ( ) we might suggest the term

formationism.7TheTorahincludesbothdoctrines,meaningthatGodworksutilizing

both methods:both creation ex nihilo and evolution (with formation serving as an

intermediatestage).

creation Creationism

formation Formationism

action Evolution

WhenitcomestotheimageofGod,weseethatitincludesbothdoctrinesofcreation

and evolution (action). On the one hand, the Torah states that God created man from

nothing. But, thejustification of the sanctity of human life is that man is a perfected

(physical)reality

in

which

the

image

of

God

can

be

reflected.

This

implies

that

in

respect

totheimageofGodthatisinman,Godtooksomethingthatalreadyexisted,andthen

built it up and perfected it so that it could reflect His image (the flood itself was a

purification process intended to perfect already existing mankind, Noach and his

progeny).Thisisthereasonyouarenotallowedtomurderanotherhumanbeing.

ThecreationoftheimageofGodinmananditsevolutioninmancorrespondtothe

twoaspectsthatgo intotheperformanceofeverycommandment,asexplainedabove.

How so? The plane of intent, the higher plane of action corresponds to creation from

nothing.Thisisbecausethoughthascreativepower.InChassidutitisexplainedthatthe

power of creation is in the mind. But, the physical action plane of a commandment

correspondstoevolutionbecausethepurposeofeverycommandmentthatweperformis tobetter ourselves and the world. Even though they are Divinely ordained, the

positivecommandmentsareconstructiveactsthatbattleentropy.

Now that we have seen the significance of the two most important verbs used in

creationandhowtheyrelatetotheidiom ,letustakeadeeperlookatthem:

Thenumericalvalueof ,created,is203.

Thenumericalvalueof ,made,is375.


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Thesumofcreatedandmadeistherefore578,whichgivesusthattheaverage

valueofeachverbis289.But,289isequalto172,andasweknow,intheTorah,asquare

number represents a perfect state of interinclusion. 289 is also the numerical value of

thesecondandthirdwordsoftheTorah:Godcreated .Thismeansthatif

welookatthenumericaldifferencebetweenthesetwoverbs,itisequalto172,whichis

also 2 86, or two times Gods Name that implies nature, . What this

mathematical relationship implies is that hidden underneath all natural processes that

improve reality (like evolutionary processes) is the Name of God, , Elokim, as

manifest in the continuous recreation of reality ex nihilo. This is truly an outstanding

gematriatocontemplate.

Creating a man

LetusgobacktoAbraham,248andintheimageofGod.Weseethatthefirstthree

letters of his name, (limb, as noted above), when permuted spell the verb ,

created.The

numerical

value

of

the

final

two

letters,

is

equal

to

the

numerical

value

of , Adam. So what we have revealed is another allusion to the fact that the

creation of Adam was inspired by Abrahams soulroot because the gematria of

AbrahamisequaltogematriaofhecreatedAdam.Abrahamthusencapsulateswithin

himthepowerofcreationingeneral,andthepowertocreatemaninparticular.Indeed,

the Talmud8 relates that there were sages who, using Abrahams Book of Formation,wouldcreatelivingorganisms.Sopowerfularetheteachingsincludedinthisbook,that

theTalmudrelatesaneventinwhichonesage,Rava,9actuallycreatedahumanbeing.

ReviewingAbrahamsown life,weseethatonceGodaddedthe letterhei( )tohis

name,hewasabletoprocreateandessentiallycreateanotherhumanbeingwhowasin

hisownlikeness,Isaac.InChassidutitisexplainedthatthepowerofprocreationisthe

humancounterparttoGodsinfinitepowerofcreationandthattocreateinonesimage

means that the offspring perfectly resemble the parents, not only physically, but

spirituallybypossessingthesamepowertoprocreateoffspringwhowillpossesstheir

character traits.This is theessentialdifferencebetween Isaacand Ishmael,Abrahams

first child (from Sarahs maidservant, Hagar), who was born before Abraham

circumcised and received the additional hei. While Ishmael was Abrahams offspring

and even his firstborn,nonetheless,God stressed to Abraham thatonly in Isaacshall

yourseedbecarriedon.10Only Isaac,whowasbornonceAbrahamhadrevealed the

full

potential

of

his

creative

power,

would

carry

on

Abrahams

legacy

andbeget

offspringwhowouldeventuallyformtheJewishpeople.

Abrahams duality

SincetherearetwodimensionsoftheimageofGod,weshouldbeabletoseethetwo

dimensions inAbrahamsown life.Weknow thatAbrahamwent throughtentrialsof

faith in his life. These trials were meant to test Abrahams dedication to God and to


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bringouthistremendouspotentialforcommitmentandunwaveringresolveintheface

ofadversity.11The lastandmostdifficultofall the trials iscalledtheBindingofIsaac.

Abraham was 137 years old when God commanded that he sacrifice Isaac. As would

laterturnout,Godswords12couldbeinterpretedtomeanthatallthatAbrahamwasto

dowastotakeIsaacandbringhimupthemountainandbindhimthere,butthatthere

wasofcoursenocommandtoslaughterhimasasacrifice.But,Abrahamdidnotknow

thisyetandunderstoodthatGodwascommandinghimtosacrificehisson.

WhenGodsawthatAbrahamwas100%faithful,Hecalledouttohimandrevealed

thatbybinding Isaac on top of the mountain, Abraham had already performed his

command. But, when He called Abraham not to slaughter his son, God repeated

Abrahams name twice: Abraham Abraham. In the entire Bible, there are only four

peoplewhosenameisrepeatedtwice:Abraham,Jacob,Moses,andSamuel.Abrahamis

thefirst.InrespecttoAbraham,Jacob,andSamuel,thetwonamesappear intheBible

with a Masoretic line separating them. In Kabbalah, this line, called a psik taama,signifiesnotjustseparationbutcontraction,that is,adiminishingof thespiritual lightbetweenthefirstoccurrenceofthenamewhichrepresentsthepersonsspiritualselfas

it isbefore Godand the second occurrencewhich represents the persons physical

self, as he stands in the corporeal plane. Thus, there is a differencebetween the two

planesonwhichAbrahamexists,eventhoughbotharerelatedtothepowerofcreation.

Abrahamhasbothlevelsofconsciousnessatthesametime,buttheyarenotidentical.

Now, recognizing this difference we can appreciate the followinggematria:

AbrahamAbraham=496,thenumericalvalueof kingdom.Kingdom

is the name of the lastof the tensefirot. AllJewish soulsare involved inbuilding and

revealing Gods kingdom on earth, which is the final end of all the visions of all the

prophets:AndGodwillbeKingoveralltheearth;OnthatdayGodwillbeOneand

HisNamewillbeOne.Thus,inasense,thenameofeveryJewisbeingcalledoutby

Godateverymoment,ontwoplanessimultaneously.Thisrelatesottheteachingofthe

BaalShemTov.Wheneverweperformanaction,weneedtounifyour intentandthe

actionitself,thusansweringGodsconstantcallonbothplanes.

Sincethevalueof ,Abraham,is248or8 31,13thatmeansthat

AbrahamAbraham(496)isequalto16 31.But,notethat16isthemiddlepointof31.

Alloddnumbershaveamidpointthatcanbedefinedasfollows:

n =

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Now,letusseewhathappenswhenwefillthelettersofour idiom ,in

theimageofGod.Fillinglettersmeanswritingouteachletterinawordasifitwereto

bespoken.Wehavetherefore:

=961=312

Thisisabeautifulfinding,becausethevalueoftheoriginal idiom is8

31, also a multiple of 31. So filling the letters of the original idiom completes it as a

perfectsquare.But, letusseeaneverymoreastoundingrelationshipbetween961and

Abraham.

Before Abrahamscircumcision, Sarahs namewasSarai, spelled .Thesages tell

us that the origin of the additional hei given to Abraham was Sarais yud. From a

numericalpointofview,theletteryud(10)canbedividedintotwoheis(5and5).One

hei wentback to Sarai, making her name , Sarah. The otherhei went to Abraham.Thus,theoriginofAbrahamscreativepowergiventohimintheformoftheletterheiis

in his wife. This prompts us to look at the relationshipbetween Sarah and Isaac, her

common offspring with Abraham after the circumcision. Indeed, we see that the

numerical values of Sarah ( , 505) and Isaac ( , 208) when added together

equal713,or23 31;anothermultipleof31!Andthenumericalvaluesoftheentirefirst

Jewish family together is therefore 713 248 = 961 or 312, which wejust saw is the

gematriaoftheletterfillingoftheidiom ,intheimageofGod!

From 12 to 248Now we will continue with the second part of our meditation. In this section we are

going to look at a link that was observedby students of gematria in our generation.15

What this observation says is that if you divide 12 into 2 and 10 and square each

componentandthensquarebothtogether,thesumaddsupto248.Inotherwords:

22102122=4100144=248.

We can generalize this equation if we write it out as a mathematical formula. We

definethefunctionFofanumbercas:

F[a,b]=a2b2(ab)2,whereab=c.

Asit

is,

this

is

avery

nice

mathematical

relationship,

but

to

have

Torah

significance

wehavetobeabletofindanexampleofitinthetextoftheTorah.Indeed,wedofind

such an example, which as we shall see is directly connected with the word we have

been studying when they were created, or when the letters are permuted

,withAbraham.

As mentioned earlier, the verse: These are the chronicles of the Heavens and the

Earthwhentheywerecreatedimmediatelyfollowsthethreeversesthatdescribethe


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12

Shabbat.WewillcopythesethreeverseshereinHebrew,becausewewillbeinterested

solelyintheHebrewtext:

.

.

.

ThesearealsothethreeverseswithwhichwebegintheFridaynightkidush(blessing

overwine).Ifwecountthem,wewillfindthatthereare144or122lettersinthesethree

verses.16Thisalsomeansthatthe lettersofthesethreeversesthatdescribetheseventh

day, the Shabbat, canbe drawn in square form. In an example of selfreference, the

numericalvalueof the first word in these threeverses , is 72, oronehalf144and

alsothegematriaof ,lovingkindness.

Now,letuslookatthetwoversesthatcomejustbeforeandjustafterthethreeverses

ofShabbat.Theverseimmediatelyprecedingthemisthefinalverseofthesixthday.The

verse immediately following is the verse we havebeen discussing that contains the

word when they were created. Both of these verses are summarizing andinclusiveverses.But,moreimportantly,forourpurpose,bothhaveexactly50lettersin

their Hebrew original. The verse preceding Shabbat reads, And God saw everything

thatHecreatedandHesawthatitwasverygood;Andtherewaseveningandtherewas

morningonthesixthday.LetuswritethisverseoutintheoriginalHebrew:

.

TheverseimmediatelyfollowingthethreeversesdescribingtheShabbatinHebrew

is:

:

ThesearethegenerationsoftheheavensandtheearthonthedaythatGodcreated

earthandtheheavens.

Sofarwehaveseenthatthe144(122)lettersofShabbataresurroundedby100(102)

lettersinthetwoversesthatcomebeforeandafter.17Whereisthe22,or4alludedtoin

this structure? The four words that link the end of the description of Friday with the

beginning of the description of Shabbat in these verses are the

sixth day. Thus were completed the heavens. The initials of these four words spell

GodsessentialName, ,Havayah.Infact,thisisthefirsttimethatHavayahappearsin

initialsintheTorah.ThefirsttimethattheNameHavayahappearsexplicitlyintheTorah

is in the verse that follows the three verses of Shabbat, three words after when they

werecreated.

The

essential

Name

is

called

the

Name

of

four

[letters],

in

Hebrew,

or

theTetragrammatoninEnglishindicatingthatithasfourletters.Fromtheirlocationin

thestructure,wecansaythatthesefouruniqueandimportantlettersarehoveringover

theentirestructure.NotonlyisHavayahthemostimportantwordintheTorah,itisalso

an archetypalsymbol for squarenumbersbecause according to Kabbalah, its first two

lettersareaholyNameinitself,whichthenexpandsaccordingtotheTalmudicruleof

twothatarefour.


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13

In me and this

Now that we have seen that 12 divided into 2 and 10 in the manner described is an

originforthenumber248,weareinterestedinwherewefindthisdivisionintheTorah.

Thefirstplacethat2and10isalludedtoisintheveryfirstwordoftheTorah, .

Thefirst

letter

of

the

Torah

is

alarge

which

equals

2,

the

fifth

letter

of

the

Torah

is

,

whichequals10.Now,whenthesetwolettersareaddedtogethertheyformthesimple

word , which means in me. The three lettersbetween the and the spell ,

head.ThusthefirstfivelettersoftheTorahread:headisinme.Thelastwordofthe

TorahisIsrael, ,whosefivelettersrearrangetoread:headistome(orIhavea

head).ThisphenomenonreflectstheprincipletaughtinSeferYetzirahthattheend is

wedgedintothebeginning.FrombeginningtheTorahanew(afterhavingarrivedatits

end), thehead (Divinewisdom) thatwas tome,yetaboveme, isdrawn intome, to

becomeonewithme.Thisisthesecretofthefirstallusionto ,inme,intheTorah.

To fully appreciate the spiritual significance of this word, as with any other letter,

word,orconceptinHebrew,wehavetofind itsfirstexplicitappearance intheTorah.

ThisisaveryimportanttechniqueforunderstandinganywordintheTorah.

Indeed, the first time the word , inme,appears isat theend of the Binding of

Isaac.JustafterGodcallsAbrahambyhisname,repeatingittwice,Godsays:

' , I have sworn in Myself [in my essence] says God, thatbecause you did not

spareyousonfromme,Iamnowgoingtoblessyouwithinfiniteblessing.Asweshall

see,thevowthatGodisgivinghereforeshadowsandisactuallytheessenceofHisvow

andcovenantwithAbrahamtogivehimandhisoffspring,theJewishpeople,theLand

ofIsraelforeverandever.

God

is

referring

to

Himself

with

this

word,

,

which

refers

to

His

very

essence.

Amazingly,thenumericalvalueofthecompletephrasedescribingthevow

IhavesworninMyself,saysGodisequalto961or312,whichisthevalueof

the letter filling of in the image of God and the value of the firstJewish family,

Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac, as we saw above. The word I have sworn is

composed of the letters of the two words , Shabbat, and , eye. The Zohar

explainsthattheHebrewformofShabbatalludestotheeye:the thathasthreeheads

corresponds to the 3 colors of the eye, and the remaining two letters , which mean

daughter,correspondtothepupiloftheeye,whichinHebrewisidiomaticallycalled

thedaughteroftheeye, .WhattheZoharisimplyingisthatonShabbatwecan

attainalevelofconsciousnessthatcanallowustoseetheDivine,somethingthatisverydifficult to do during the six days of the week,because during those days we are

commandedtotoilintherectificationofourlowerreality.

Now, let us look at these two components and that make up the word

Ihaveswornfromamathematicalperspective.Thegematriaof is702=27

26. The gematria of is 130 = 5 26. Soboth are multiples of the value ofHavayah,

GodsessentialName.Altogetherthenwehavethat ,Ihavesworn,isequalto


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14

The word , in me, appears many times in the Bible; most of the times it is not

Godspeaking.But,thereisanotherveryimportantinstanceofGodsaying .Itappears

inPsalms91intheverses:18

Because his passion is in Me [ ], I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he knows

My Name. He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, Iwill deliver him and honor him.

Thesetwoversesarereferringtoatzadik,atruebelieverinGodandfollowerofthe

Torah.HispassioninMeimpliesinGodsveryessence;forthatreasonGodpromises

toalwaysbeathissideandsavehim.Iwilldeliverhimandhonorhim,allbecauseheknowsMyname.ThefirstsoulwhoseabsolutepassionwasforGod,toknowGod,

and to reveal God, was Abraham. So this verse, with another time that the Almighty

says ,inme,alsoalludestoAbraham.AfamousparablefromtheMagidofMezritch

isthatGodislikeachildplayinghideandseek,hidingfromtheseeker,andwaitingfor

the seeker to come find him. Abraham was the first person to realize that God, as it

were, is hiding in the universe, and actively set out to find Him and to make His

Presenceknowntoallpeople.

Now,thesimplegematriaof ,12,hasagreatdealofsignificanceintheTorah.The

firstthinkthataJewthinksofwhenhehears12arethe12tribes,thesonsofJacob,from

whom theJewish people came. But, amazingly, the number 12 is perhaps the most

importantnumber inalloftheBookofFormation.Thereare12tribes,and12months,

and12simpleletters,and12controllersinthebody,etc.

Returning to our verses from Psalms, let us look at the phrase with in it:

Hispassionisinme.Thesecondword haspassion,hasnumericalvalueof408.

408isalsoamultipleof12!Itistheproductof34and12.34isalsoaFibonaccinumber.

Addingthe itfollows,thatthecompletephrase, ,isalsoamultipleof12:420=

35 12.

Thetwowordsinthisphraseequal12and408.Thereisanothermostimportantpair

ofwords

in

Hebrew

whose

numerical

values

are

12

and

408,

respectively.

They

are

the

two pronouns and ,whichare the masculineand feminine formsof the English

this. The word , the masculine form of this is a symbol for Moshe Rabbeinus

prophecy.Thesagessaythatalltheprophetswouldsay:Thus,saidGodindicating

less precision and clarity,but, Moshe Rabbeinu would say This is what God said

implying that his prophecy was perfectly precise and exact. So between these two

pronouns,thefeminineformis34timesgreaterthanthemasculineform.


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15

When we add and together we get 420, which is the gematria of one of the

most perfect unions of male and female in the Torah, that of ,Jacob, and ,

Rachel.

Intheword ,themasculineformofthiswehaveanotherdivisionof12,thistime

into7and5.Placingthesetwonumbersintothefunctionwedescribedabove,weget:

7252122=4925144=218

Instead of 248, we now got 218, which is the numerical value of the union of

Jacob(182)and Leah(36).

Sinceboth of these words, in me and this, have the samegematria they must

havesomespecialrelationship.Thisrelationshipcanbeseenwhenwelookattheletter

mapping called (pronounced Achbi; see addendum). This transformation

correspondstothesefirahofknowledgeandiscreatedbydividingthealephbetinto2sets

of11lettersandpairingthemreflectivelyinto11pairsofletters:

.Weseethatthesecondpairspells andthefifthpairspells .These11pairs

correspondtothe11interincludedsefirot(countingbothcrownandknowledge)withinknowledge. The second pair represents the wisdom of knowledge. The fifth pair

representsthe lovingkindnessofknowledge.Wisdom itself isreferredto intheZohar

as , the God of Abraham, and lovingkindness is of course the sefirah of

Abraham.Thus,inthislettertransformation,both and arerelatedtoAbraham.

Now, let us return to the expansion of 2 and 10 using our equation. The three

numbersthattheequationproducesare4,100,and144.Letustakethesethreenumbers

and make a quadratic series out of them, using the method of finite differences. We

have:

4 100 144

96 44

52

Ifwecontinuetoexpandthisseries,wewillfindthatthereareonly2morepositive

number136and76init;allothernumbersinthisserieswillbenegative:

4 100 144 136 76

96 44 8 60

52

52

52

Takingthesumofthefivepositivenumbersweseethattheyequal460,butsince460

is divisibleby 5, this means that the average value of each number is 92. As we have

discussed in length in our many classes on the periodic table, 92 is the number of

naturallyoccurringelements.

While we are speculating that there are 248 elementary particles, it is well

establishedthatthereare92naturalelementsmadeupfromtheseelementarybuilding


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16

blocks.Withoutgettingintomoredetailatthemoment,letusrestatethatthenumber92

is associated with Abrahams son Isaac. Indeed, going up one more level, from

chemistry(elements)tobiology,themost importantnumberwillbe22(thenumberof

aminoacidsthatmakeuptheDNAofalllifeonEarth).22isstronglyassociatedinthe

TorahwithIsaacssonandourthirdpatriarch,Jacob.

Let us goback a moment to the word , this. Let us see a few very important

mathematicalrelationshipsthatareconcealedinthisseeminglysimpleword.

Ifwesquareeachletterseparately,weseethatthesquareofthesecondletter ,52=

25,isthemidpointofthesquareofthefirstletter, ,72=49.

Let us ask: when does this relationship happen again with other pairs of integers?

Thenexttimeiswith29and41,afterthat169and239,then985and1393.Thetrivialpair

isofcourse1and1.Thisisaseriesofpairsofnumbers.Wecanpredictthenextpairin

the series using a central theorem in number theory called Pells theorem. But, notice

thatjustas5and7togetherequal themasculineformofthis,soanotherpairinthisseries,169and239whenaddedtogetherequal (408),thefeminineformofthis.

Now, what about 2 and 10 as a composition of 12, do they have some special

relationship?Theansweristhatthesetwonumbersproduceoneofthemostimportant

additiveseries.Additiveseriesaredescribedinlengthinourforthcomingvolumeonthe

GoldenRatio.Ifwestartaseriesofnumberbywriting2,then10,andthenthesumof2

and10,whichis12,andcontinueinthisfashion,wewillget:

2,10,12,22,34,56,,618,1000,1618

Asexplainedthereinlength,thetwonumbers618and1618aretheveryfoundation

of the Golden Ratio. What is the significance of the Golden Ratio in our discussion?

Againasexplainedinlengthinourforthcomingvolume,theimageofGodisetchedinto

the human form more than in any other part of nature. It was thisbeauty that the

greatestartistsrecognizedandbasedtheirarton.Indeed, this isthegreatsignatureof

Godsimageimprintedonthehumanform,andwhichstemssoclearlyfromthisword

,inme, the number that gives us 248. The golden ratio is the ratio that theeyeof

man,theeyeofShabbat,hasaninstinctivepassiontowards.Itisingrainedinthepsyche

ofman.

Additionally,2and10arethefirsttwodoubleinspirationalnumbers,againrelating

them to the periodic table of the elements (as explained elsewhere). The 10

Commandmentswere

engraved

on

the

2Tablets

of

the

Covenant

(the

10

divided

into

5

and55oneachtabletjustastheyudofSaraidividedintoheiandhei,oneforherand

oneforAbraham,aswesawabove).


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Conclusion

Sowehaveseenawholespectrumofphenomenathathave todowith thenumberof

limbsofthebodyandthepositivecommandmentsoftheTorah,andperhapseventhe

numberofelementaryparticlesintheuniverse.

Inthe

book

of

Joshua,

Abraham

is

referred

to

as

the

greatest

of

all

giants

of

man.

In

this sense, Abraham is the most universal man.Just as man is the microcosm and the

universe is the macrocosm, Abraham is the great man, the macro of the microcosm

makinghimidenticalwiththeentireuniverse.Sohoweveritturnsoutintheendwith

regardto248elementaryparticles,248figurestobeacentralnumberinthestructureof

theuniverse.

Sothisconcludesourfirstmeditationonthenumber248.

Addendum: Letter Transformations

LettertransformationsareoneoftheleastunderstoodmethodsforanalyzingtheTorah.TheyareconsideredpartoftheremezanalysisoftheTorah.Intheinterestofexplaining

thistopicclearlyletuswriteoutthedifferenttransformationsandtheircorrespondence

to the sefirot and at the end we will point out some interesting things about these

transformations.

Crown "" (pronounced:AekBecher): this transformation takes into accountthe5finallettersofthealphabet, " .Thetransformationgroupsthuscontaintriplets

oflettersandtherearealtogether9suchgroups:

Wisdom " (pronounced:Albam):inthistransformationthealephbetisdivided

into two equal parts with 11 letters in each. The result is 11 pairs of letters. This

transformation is considered the soul of the 231 letter pairings which were discussed

earlier:

Understanding " (pronounced,Atbash): In this transformation,which isalso

called the transformationofreflected light,the first letterof thealephbet ispairedwith

thelast,thesecondletterwiththesecondtolast,andsoon.11pairsresultasfollows:

Knowledge " (pronounced,Achbee):Herethealephbetisdividedintotwoparts

with11lettersineach.ThenthelettersineachhalfarepairedasinAtbash,thefirstwiththelastandsoon.The isleftoverinthefirsthalfandthe isleftoverinthesecond:

Beauty(ZeerAnpin) "" (pronounced,AchasBata):Inthistransformationthe22 letters of the alephbet are divided into three equidistant groups, with one letter

remaining.Thus,altogetherthereareonly7transformationgroupswith3or4lettersin

each,asfollows:


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"""""""

Kingdom " (pronouncedAtbach):inthistransformationtheletters(including

the5final letters )aregrouped intothreegroupsof9 letters.3 letters, areleft

overwithoutapairing:

Wecannowdrawthefollowingmodelofallthesetransformations:

crown

understanding wisdom

knowledge

beauty"""""""

kingdom

Oneofthemostimportantpointstobemadeisthatthetransformationsofwisdom,

understanding, and knowledge, the chabad, form a mathematical transformation ring.

Whatthismeansisthatifyoustartwithaletterandperformallthreetransformations

(inanyorder)onit,youwillendupwiththeoriginalletter.

1.Thenumberofbonesinthehumanbodychangesovertime.Infantsstartoutwithlessbony

material and more cartilage. As thebody matures, cartilage solidifies intobone. According to

medicalstudies,attheageof18,theaveragemalebodyhas248bones.Asthepersoncontinuesto

mature,thenumberofbonesinthebodydropsbecauseasmorecartilagehardens,smallerbones

begintocoalesce,fusingtogethertocreatelargerbones.2.MidrashBereisheetRabbah12:9.3.SeealsoKabbalahandMeditationfortheNations,p.1014.4.Genesis9:26.5.TheprohibitionofmurderisindeedoneofthesevenuniversalNoachidelaws.Formoreon

the relationshipbetween Gods image and this prohibition see Kabbalah andMeditationfor theNations,p.26.

6.Proverbs10:8.SeeKeterShemTov9.7.Seeourlecturefor24thofTevet,5768.


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8.Sanhedrin65b.9.In Hebrew, Rava is spelled , which is a permutation of , created. The word for

human in Aramaic, , also ends with the three letter . The phrase that describes this

event in the Talmud plays on this phonetic similarity: , pronounced: Rava baragavra.

10. Genesis21:12.11. Moshe Rabbeinu states (see Deuteronomy 13:4) that Gods entire purpose in having us

overcomehardshipinlifeisthatwecometorecognizeourinnerpotential.12. Genesis22:2.Godsexactwordswere:PleasetakeyoursonIsaacandgoforyourown

saketothelandofMoriah,andraisehimthereasanelevated[offering]ononeofthemountains,

asIwillinstructyou.13. Seealsop. !. ,note !. .14. SeeWhatYouNeedtoKnowAboutKabbalah.15. This was foundby Mr. Tuvia Wexler in connection with Leviticus 24:59. In these five

verses(whichcontain248letters),theTorahdescribesthepreparationoftheShowbreadplaced

on the sanctuarys table every week.The first versereads: You shall take fine flour andbakefromittwelvecakes:twotenthmeasuresshallbeinonecake.Themeasuresmentionedare12

cakes(orloavesofbread)madefrom2onetenth(10)measures,yieldingthethreenumbers2,10,

and12thatyieldtheobservationwehaveappliedinadifferentmannerto248.16. 144isalsothe12thFibonaccinumber,whichistheadditiveseriesbeginningwith1,1.This

isauniquephenomenonintheFibonacciseries.17. Thestructure thatwehavejustdescribed,where theversesofShabbataresandwiched

betweentwoverseswithsimilarstructureechoesthewaythemannafellinthedesertbetween

twolayersofdew.ThemannawasablessingoftheShabbatandfellinthemeritofkeepingthe

Shabbat. Itwasparticularly in themanna that thedoubleblessingofShabbatwashighlighted,

becauseonFriday,twoportionsofmannawouldfallfromtheheavensforeveryperson.

18. Psalms91:1415.

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