Gematria (גימטריה) is a traditional Hebrew system that assigns numerical values to letters of the alphabet. It functions as a linguistic–numerical method, allowing words and phrases to be represented as numbers. This system is based on the idea that each Hebrew letter corresponds to a specific numerical value.
The Basic Structure
Hebrew uses 22 letters, and each one has a fixed numerical value:
- Units:
א = 1 ב = 2 ג = 3 ד = 4 ה = 5 ו = 6 ז = 7 ח = 8 ט = 9 - Tens:
י = 10 כ = 20 ל = 30 מ = 40 נ = 50 ס = 60 ע = 70 פ = 80 צ = 90 - Hundreds:
ק = 100 ר = 200 ש = 300 ת = 400
Some systems extend beyond 400 using final letter forms (e.g., ץ = 900), but standard Gematria typically stops at ת.
How It Works
To calculate the numerical value of a word, each letter’s value is added together. For example:
- The word שלום (shalom):
ש = 300 ל = 30 ו = 6 ם = 40 → Total = 376
This process is purely arithmetic and can be applied to any Hebrew word or phrase. 