meth@csd2.UUCP (Asher Meth) (11/01/85)
I heard an interesting thought from Rabbi Yitchak Cohen (a 9th grade rebbi, teacher, at Yeshiva University High School, NYC). In the "Veyeeten Lecha" passages said at the conclusion of Shabbos, the last section begins with a passage in the name of Rabbi Yochanan (quoted from the Talmud, Megillah 31a) : Rabbi Yochanan says, Any place that you find the greatness of HaShem, you will find His humility. Rabbi Cohen quoted an explanation that interprets the passage as follows. Take the "gematriyah" (numerical equivalent) of the name of HaShem, whose four letters are Yud (10), Kay (5), Vav (6), Kay (5). NOTE that the hebrew letter with value 5 is the Hay. However, we do not spell out this four-letter name as one would actually pronounce it; thus the common change to saying "Kay" instead of "Hay". The gematriyah, sum of all the letters, is 26. Now take the "mispar kattan" - small counting - of this sum; i.e., keep taking the sum of the digits until the result is less than 10. For 26 the result is 8. This four-letter name is known as the "Shem Havayah". In English it is known as the Tetragrammatan (?) . (I am not sure of the exact English word to be used here.) Take multiples of this numerical value 26, and compute their "mispar kattan" values. We arrive at the following table : # x 26 "mispar kattan" =========================== 1 26 8 2 52 7 3 78 6 ( 15 becomes 6 ) 4 104 5 5 130 4 6 156 3 ( 12 becomes 3 ) 7 182 2 8 208 1 ( 10 becomes 1 ) WOW !! Look at this relationship ! The greater we multiply the name of HaShem, the smaller the "result" becomes. This is what Rabbi Yochanan was saying - the greater the name of HaShem, the more humility is expressed. It is taught that we are supposed to emulate HaShem. How? By emulating his actions. One might think that the closer one is to an important person, the better he knows him - the haughtier he should be, the more of a big-shot he becomes, the more clout he now pulls. We are taught the opposite - the closer one comes to HaShem, the better one knows Him, the more humble one must become. May each one of us, in his/her own way, emulate the attributes and actions of HaShem in a more positive fashion. May we then merit the coming of the Mashiach, speedily, in our days. Asher Meth ....... meth@nyu-csd2.arpa ....... allegra!cmcl2!csd2!meth
ins_akaa@jhunix.UUCP (Kenneth Adam Arromdee) (11/02/85)
In article <3780102@csd2.UUCP> meth@csd2.UUCP (Asher Meth) writes: > >I heard an interesting thought from Rabbi Yitchak Cohen (a 9th grade rebbi, >teacher, at Yeshiva University High School, NYC). > >In the "Veyeeten Lecha" passages said at the conclusion of Shabbos, the last >section begins with a passage in the name of Rabbi Yochanan (quoted from the >Talmud, Megillah 31a) : Rabbi Yochanan says, Any place that you find the >greatness of HaShem, you will find His humility. > >Rabbi Cohen quoted an explanation that interprets the passage as follows. Take >the "gematriyah" (numerical equivalent) of the name of HaShem, ... >... The gematriyah, sum of all the letters, is 26. Now take the "mispar >kattan" - small counting - of this sum; i.e., keep taking the sum of the digits >until the result is less than 10. For 26 the result is 8. >... >Take multiples of this numerical value 26, and compute their "mispar kattan" >values. We arrive at the following table : > ># x 26 "mispar kattan" >=========================== >1 26 8 >2 52 7 >3 78 6 ( 15 becomes 6 ) >4 104 5 >5 130 4 >6 156 3 ( 12 becomes 3 ) >7 182 2 >8 208 1 ( 10 becomes 1 ) > >WOW !! Look at this relationship ! >The greater we multiply the name of HaShem, the smaller the "result" becomes. >This is what Rabbi Yochanan was saying - the greater the name of HaShem, the >more humility is expressed. > >Asher Meth ....... meth@nyu-csd2.arpa ....... allegra!cmcl2!csd2!meth You've heard of "computer literacy"--here's a good case to encourage mathema- tical literacy. If you use ANY number with a digital root of 8 (i.e., a remainder of 8 when divided by 9) you'll get the SAME relationship. There's nothing mystical about it. Furthermore, when you get to 9 times, it starts at 9 again, going through 8,7,6.... Also try a number with a digital root of 7--it goes twice as fast: 7,5,3,1. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you know the alphabet up to 'k', you can teach it up to 'k'. Kenneth Arromdee BITNET: G46I4701 at JHUVM and INS_AKAA at JHUVMS CSNET: ins_akaa@jhunix.CSNET ARPA: ins_akaa%jhunix@hopkins.ARPA UUCP: ...{decvax,ihnp4,allegra}!seismo!umcp-cs!aplvax!aplcen!jhunix!ins_akaa
meth@csd2.UUCP (Asher Meth) (11/07/85)
Response to inquiry of Meyer Steinberg (?) by private mail on the calculation
of "mispar kattan". I tried mailing you an answer, but the path I had was bad,
and could not deliver the message. Please send me new mail so that I can
correct the path.
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Meyer :
As I understand it, "mispar kattan" is computed by adding up all the digits
in the number (or in the gematriyah), looping until the result is less than
10; i.e., repeat adding the digits into a sum, until sum < 10.
Is this more clear than before ? If not, please write back and I'll try
to clarify it to the best of my ability.
Asher Meth
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