Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel

While I am not a big fan of biblical numerology, I do believe that numerological patterns still play an important role in the sacred texts and spiritual imagination of a people; the mind instinctively looks for patterns in the strangest places. Such thinking is not unique to Jewish biblical interpreters or mystics; it is common with all people of all faiths–whether it be seeing the face of Jesus  or Mohammad in a cloud formation, or in some other peculiar place–as people, we impose our mental  images and conceptions about order on the world and universe  around us.

In this short posting, I thought it would be fun to show my readers some examples of how the rabbis sometimes utilize a “gematria,” to prove a point; of course, one could prove anything using this interpretive device. The great medieval commentator Abraham ibn Ezra warned us against what he considered, “bogus,” interpretations that say more about the mind of the interpreter than it does the actual text one is commenting upon.

Nevertheless, some of the numerological patterns are, if nothing else, interesting and even suggestive–especially when people talk about its significance. Continue Reading

One of the most important hermeneutical paradigms introduced by the early and medieval rabbis is a belief that the Scriptures contain more than one layer of exegetical meaning. This intertextual approach came to be known during the medieval era by the acronym  פַּרְדֵּס”PaRDeS,” standing for “Peshat,” “Remaz,” “Derash,” and “Sod.” Briefly defined, peshat is based on the literal and factual meaning of a verse[1] and roughly corresponds to the medieval concept of sensus literalis as developed by the medieval Christian scholars Thomas Aquinas and Nicholas of Lyra: “that which the author intends.”[2] It is also helpful to remember that the early rabbinic approach of peshat serves to define the practical character of a community.[3] Remez (allusions) refers to the subtle types of word games and puns that are embedded in the text (cf. Gen. 1:31; 2:23; 6:8). Sometimes this may take the form of Gematria (numerology) Temurah (anagrams) and Notarikon (acrostics). Continue Reading

What is the meaning of  וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים of Genesis 1:2?  Older translations^[1] read, “Spirit of God”  (rûah °élöhîm) while newer translations seem to prefer “a wind of God,” or a “mighty wind . . . ”

Both readings are plausible.^[2] The term רוּח (rûah) connotes a moving power that is both mysteriously intangible and unseen; hence, “mighty wind” is an apt metaphor. When read in this context, °élöhîm is used not as a noun but rather as a descriptive adjective connoting a sense of that which is “powerful” and “awesome.”^[3] Accordingly, this translation suggests that God utilized a mighty tempest in the primal design of the earth.

The Septuagint  translates רוּחַ (rûah = spirit) as πνεῦμα  (pneuma), which has basically the same meaning in Greek as it does in Hebrew.  For the visionaries of the 8th century B.C.E.,  the rûah of God is the driving force (elan vital)  that seeks to liberate, heal, remake, and transform communities into spiritual centers of social justice; rûah is the life-breath and life-principle that points us toward the most profound dimension of human experience. Continue Reading