[Avodah] Why four?

Lisa Liel lisa at starways.net
Fri Jun 29 13:53:08 PDT 2012


^ is the standard convention for exponentiation.  So 2^2 is two squared.

7 is the number of directions.   Up, down, back, forth, left, right, and 
time, which we see as unidirectional.  So 7 represents the whole world, 
and is the number of days of creation.  Eight, being one more than 7, 
represents Hashem, who isn't bound by the world.  The gematria of YKVK 
is 26, which boils down to 8.  We find five in chomesh (while you could 
make a case that it's really 4, the Torah uses the term chomesh, so 
clearly we're intended to see 5 in it.  For 3, we have Torah, Neviim, 
Ketuvim, we have Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov.  We have Torah, Avodah, 
and Gemilut Chasadim.  We have three repetitions of lo tevashel gedi 
b'chalev imo.  We have three kings of a united kingdom of Israel.

There are only so many numbers.

Lisa


On 6/29/2012 1:46 PM, Harvey Benton wrote:
> please explain the other
> fascinations eg, 3, 5, etc,
> and  what does ^ mean???
> thanks
> hb
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> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Lisa Liel <lisa at starways.net>
> *To:* Harvey Benton <harvw613 at yahoo.com>; The Avodah Torah Discussion 
> Group <avodah at lists.aishdas.org>
> *Sent:* Friday, June 29, 2012 11:32 AM
> *Subject:* Re: [Avodah] Why four?
>
> Because it's a fun number.  2+2, 2x2, 2^2.  The word four has four 
> letters in it.  So does arba.  And vier.
>
> Honestly, I don't get the question.  There's also a fascination with 
> 3.  And 5.  And 6.  And 7.  And 8.  Every number has its own 
> significance or significances.
>
> Lisa
>
> On 6/29/2012 12:44 PM, Harvey Benton wrote:
>> arba nichnas l'pardes
>> 4 sons
>> 4 questions
>> etc,
>>
>> why the fascination with four??
>>
>> hb
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>>    
>
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