Gematria
Gematria is the calculation of the numerical value of Hebrew words. Each letter corresponds to a number, the sum of a word's letters gives its value, and words with the same sum are considered connected in meaning.
How the Count Works
The standard system, Mispar Gadol, assigns the letters values from 1 to 400: Aleph is 1, Bet is 2, and so on in order up to Tav at 400. In some systems, the five final letter forms get values from 500 to 900.
| Range | Letters |
|---|---|
| 1–9 | Aleph – Tet |
| 10–90 | Yod – Tsadi |
| 100–400 | Qof – Tav |
There are other methods too: Mispar Katan reduces values to a single digit, Atbash swaps letters on a mirror principle, and Mispar Siduri counts letters by their ordinal position.
What It's Used For
In Jewish tradition, gematria is a tool for interpreting texts, not for prediction. Commentators linked words with the same sum, finding in this an additional meaning of a biblical verse.
A classic example: the words “wine” and “secret” have the same sum, and from this comes the well-known interpretation that wine loosens the tongue.
Its use for prediction is late and largely external to the tradition.
Why There's No Calculator
Gematria doesn't exist for the Cyrillic alphabet: the system is built on the Hebrew alphabet. Transliterating a Russian name into Hebrew is ambiguous, and different versions give different numbers.
We'll build a calculator for Hebrew words once we get around to the keyboard layout. We won't calculate the “gematria” of a Russian name using a made-up table — that would be an imitation of the method.