icer in command. “I vouldn’t go dat vay if I vas you!”“Why not?” asked the commander.
“Because dere’s a bacon tree just over dat hill!”
“A what?”
“A bacon tree! A bacon tree!”
“What are you talking about? There’s no such thing as a bacon tree!”
“I’m telling you, dere’s a bacon tree over dere!”
“You senile old man, you don’t know what you’re talking about!” And with that, the commander waved his men onward, and the platoon marched over the hill.
A short while later, the soldiers came screaming back over the hill, broken, bloodied and far fewer in number than when they had first passed. When the commanding officer saw the old man still sitting there he yelled, “Why didn’t you warn us there was an ambush waiting for us?”
“I did varn you!”
“You told us there was a bacon tree, not an ambush!”
“Bacon tree, ham-bush, vat’s de difference?”[1]
Many are familiar with the traditional albeit much misunderstood method of Hebrew textual analysis known as “gimatriya.” In its most basic application, the numerical values of Hebrew letters, words or phrases are calculated in order to reveal hidden layers of meaning. Likewise, if different Hebrew words or phrases have equal numerical values, this equation indicates a conceptual connection.[2]
Some examples of basic gimatriya: Yaakov (Jacob) commands his sons to descend (“redu”) to Egypt.[3] The word redu consists of the letters resh (200), daleth (4) and vav (6), equaling 210. This word thereby alludes to the ultimate sojourn of Yaakov and his descendants in Egypt until the Exodus, which equaled 210 years.[4] Another example: the word “ha-teva,” meaning “nature,” equals 86, the same numerical value as the word “Elo-him” (G-d). This alludes to the truth that although there appears to be a force that we call Nature that allows the world to proceed automatically, this appearance of Nature is in fact none other than the Divine Providence of the One Who guides all affairs from the most cosmic to the most infinitesimal.[5]
Another less common and even less understood application of gimatriya is known as “counting with the kolel.” (No, this does not mean that one need consult with a local gathering of Torah scholars to help one tally up the numbers.) The Hebrew word “kolel” means “inclusive.” Counting with the kolel means that sometimes, when two words or phrases have similar numerical values, but differ by a value of 1, one can “include” into the value of the lesser word or phrase a value of 1 that does not appear in the tally of letters, bringing the value of that word or phrase to equal the other, thus facilitating the resultant cross-reference of conceptual content.
A famous example of this is Yaakov’s promise to Yoseph (Joseph) that his children will each inherit a portion equal to the other sons of Yaakov: “Menasheh and Ephrayim shall be to me as Reuven (Reuben) and Shimon (Simon).”[6] The Baal ha-Turim comments that this equality between Yaakov’s sons and Yosef’s sons is reflected in the gimatriya of their names, as “Menasheh” plus “Ephrayim” together equal “Reuven” plus “Shimon.” However, when one does the math, one finds that the names “Menasheh” and “Efrayim” together tally 726, while “Reuven” and “Shimon” equal only 725. Only with the addition of the kolel are these numbers reconciled.[7]
But any intelligent person, upon encountering this bizarre methodology of adding an imaginary 1 to make things add up, must ask, “What’s going on here? What kind of cheap trick is this?” 725 and 726, although certainly close in value, are completely different figures! Any student of elementary mathematics who writes as an answer on his math test a number that is off by 1 from the true solution will receive no credit for such an answer as it is absolutely wrong! An error of but 1 can make all the difference between the successful re-entry of a NASA space-shuttle into the earth’s atmosphere or its catastrophic and fiery destruction along with the lives of all astronauts on board. The difference between a bacon tree and a ham-bush can turn the tides of war, as demonstrated above. There is no such thing as “close enough” or “just about” when determining an absolute figure in mathematics, and the Torah, the hallmark of Truth, can be no less demanding in its standards of exactness! What then is the meaning of “counting with the kolel” and how can it function as a legitimate tool of Torah-study?
I heard the following explanation from Rav Yaakov Hillel, shlita, one of contemporary Jewry’s most eminent Torah scholars.[8] If one visits a shipyard, one finds the facility brimming with materials of varying type and size – wood and metal beams, nuts and bolts, nails and s
crews, rope, material for sails, etc. Ask one of the workers to describe the present items and he replies that they are building materials, perhaps even specifying the identity of each component. “This is the rigging, here are the sails, there is the rudder, and there, the steering wheel.” Some weeks later a visit to the dock reveals there the same materials, now in a new configuration. Ask any passerby to describe the present structure and he undoubtedly replies, “Why, it is a ship of course!” Why does the worker at the shipyard identify the individual parts while at the dock the same pieces, merely rearranged, project the title of “ship”?
The answer, of course, is obvious. Although these are the exact same pieces, down to the very last nail, that lay at the shipyard just weeks earlier, as separate components each projected its own identity, but once combined, no one can deny that something “new” has been created, even though no new material has been introduced. The same material, rearranged, contains new properties not before present, e.g. it can float on water, sail in the wind, house a crew and transport passengers and cargo. In a more contemporary example, water (H2O), a liquid, demonstrates properties not present in either hydrogen (H) or oxygen (O), its composite gases, even though its atomic weight and number indicate that nothing other than hydrogen and oxygen are present. In other words, the whole is more than the sum of its parts.
So too in gimatriya. Counting with the kolel means to view the word or phrase not as its distinct components but as an inclusive whole that contains properties not present in the original letters alone. This “enhancement” or new property is assigned a minimum value (1) and calculated together with the rest of the letters.
Rav Hillel further explained that the concept of the “kolel” is not limited to gimatriya or inanimate objects, but is true of the Jewish nation as well. The Mishnah in Avoth (3:6) teaches, with Scriptural support, that when a group of Jews join together in a sacred endeavor such as learning Torah, the Shechinah (Divine Presence) manifests with them. The Mishnah proceeds to demonstrate that this is true not only for large groups of Jews (10), but is true for smaller numbers of Jews as well, bringing a Scriptural verse to demonstrate each example, down to a partnership of two, and ultimately even a lone Jew.
This teaching is curious. If Scripture indicates that the Shechinah manifests for even one Jew engaged in Torah study, certainly then it manifests for two! And all the more so for 10! What need is there for further Scriptural sources, or even for any teaching regarding the manifestation of Shechinah for a group? Let the Mishnah demonstrate that the Shechinah manifests for a single Jew engaged in Torah study and be further silent!
The answer is that the Mishnah speaks not of a quantitative increase in Shechinah with the addition of Jews, but of a qualitative increase! There is a new quality of Shechinah that manifests with the “inclusion” of Jews, as more Jews unite in a sacred undertaking. A partnership of Jews is greater than one plus one, as is a quorum of ten Jews more than five and five, the whole becoming more than the sum of its parts. As Jews increase in quantity, the manifestation of Shechinah increases in quality.
This is the secret of the Revelation at Sinai. The Torah tells us that, “Israel encamped (vayichan) there opposite the mount.”[9] The word “vayichan” literally means “he encamped,” even though it refers here to a nation of millions of individuals. Rightly, the verse should have utilized the word “vayachanu” meaning “they encamped.” Rashi explains that this means that the nation encamped “like one man with one heart.” The entire nation of millions of Israelites united in the firmest of unities for the purpose of receiving the Torah. In keeping with the above principle, this massive, unprecedented and all-inclusive unity of the entire nation of Israel generated an explosive manifestation of the Shechinah so powerful as to facilitate the Divine Revelation at Mount Sinai! In other words, the unity of the Nation of Israel at Sinai was not merely incidental and quaint – it was a necessary catalyst!
It is from this concept that the phenomenon known as a “kollel” – a society of men gathered to study Torah – gets its name, as Jews unite to explore the Divine wisdom of the Torah and bask in the “inclusion” of Shechinah thereby generated. For this reason Jews of all walks of life will gather, on Shavuoth night, in synagogues and Houses of Study around the world to engage in Torah learning, forming a global kollel, recreating in miniature the Sinai experience and reliving the Shavuoth of yore.
In the wake of Shavuoth, may we all unite in the service of the Almighty and the study of His Torah, “like one man with one heart,” and thereby merit a revelation of the Divine in fulfillment of the verse,[10] “And the Almighty shall be King over all the Earth; on that day the Almighty shall be One and His Name [shall be] One.”
[1] Special thanks to the David Weiss, CPA humor factory.
[2] It is important to note that the usage of gimatriya is far less arbitrary than popularly believed. Knowing how and when to invoke gimatriya requires a sensitivity and nuance not available to just any layman or enthusiastic neophyte with a calculator, but possessed only by a minority of great Torah scholars with a tradition from previous generations of like scholars as to the implementation of this delicate technique. In other words, it may make for a cute sheva brachos speech, but leave the real thing to the experts.
[5] Heard from Rabbi Akiva Tatz, shlita.
[7] The Beney Yisaschar (Maamarey Chodesh Kislev-Teves, Maamar 2:2) takes this one step further and says that this verse is in fact the source for this method of gimatriya. The Torah, by explicitly stating that “Menasheh and Efrayim (726) shall be for me as Reuven and Shimon (725),” stamps its approval on equating two figures despite their difference of 1.
[8] Rav Hillel cited the work Meor ha-Shemesh as the source for this explanation.
