[Avodah] Abra(ha)m Received an A+ / Gematria

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, October 15, 2007 4:06 pm, kennethgmiller at juno.com wrote:
: I have not been following this thread too closely, but it seems to me
: that gematria is base-10 NOT because of any drashos about
: "completeness" or whatever. Rather, gematria is based on the Torah's
: number system, and the Torah's number system is base-10.

I would have said that 10 does symbolize completion... The world is 10
Maamaros. The whole Torah is contained in 10 diberos. (One is
converted to the other via 10 diberos.) This is a theme in Avos, no?
The whole world is captured in 10 principles, then 7, then 4, then 3
-- leading us back to the opening of the book at its close (ignoring
the added pereq, which isn't mishnayos).

The fact that there are 10 numbers is in Seifer Yetzirah - combined
with the letters to make 32 gates.

10 sefiros are the sum of all spiritual forces / organizing principles.

RAM's more exoteric statement holds -- numbers are described in Tanakh
in base 10 (although "Ashtei-Asar" is an exception, it does so by
replacing the word for one, not by eliminating the concept of "ten
plus").

The same Borei who used 10 maamaros, sefiros, diberos and fingers
wrote the counts of seifer Bamidbar. Arguing which is fundamental and
led to the others is not particularly meaningful.

However, we don't find 100 that way. 40, as in 10 maamaros times 4
elements per maamar, yes. 6 x 10 for the physical world, and 7 x 10
for total completeness, also. (Although 70 also is an idiom for
"many", so misham eino ra'ayah.) But 10 x 10?

SheTir'u baTov!
-micha

-- 
Micha Berger             One who kills his inclination is as though he
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