Did Jew Know That - And It Counts

by Rabbi Peg Kershenbaum, Temple Judea Scholar-in-Residence

I mentioned in former blogs some of the gifts we’ve received from Arabic. Let’s not forget to count numbers! Our standard numbering system uses what’s called Arabic numerals. While some of these are recognizable as the digits we’re all familiar with, others are not. Western Arabic numerals look like “our” numbers; Eastern Arabic numerals do not.

Our Hebrew texts don’t have symbols for numbers; some texts spell out the numbers in words; others use the aleph-bet to count and depict numbers. Many things “count” in Judaism: we number the days, the months, the years, the weeks between Pesach and Shavuot and more.

We are about to celebrate a holiday called Tu b’Shvat, the 15th day of the month of Shevat. The holiday marks the beginning of spring when buds are seen on almond trees and sap begins to flow in trees—at least in Israel! We’ll join in solidarity with those in different climes on January 30 with our Tu b’Shvat Seder! (Do register and partake of the festivities.)

How does it all add up? The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Aleph א = 1; Bet ב =2; Gimel (you’ve seen this on the dreidel!) ג=3; Dalet ד=4; Heyה =5; Vuv ו=6; Zayin ז=7; Chet (sounds like you’re gargling) ח= 8; Tet ט=9; Yud י=10. There will be more, but this will give us the basis for figuring out Tu b’Shvat!

As we’ve all been told by teachers over the years, you have to be very careful with numbers or things just won’t add up. A sofer, when writing a Torah scroll, checks the number of words in a line, the number of sheets of parchment, the spaces between paragraphs and innumerable other details! Our rabbis checked numbers written in words to make sure they didn’t spell something inappropriate. As it happened, Tu replaces one of those words.

The first ten digits are just fine. When we get to 11, in effect, we start again, using Yud as ten and Aleph next to it to make 11: יא. We go along just fine until we get to 15. That would have been a Yud and a Hey next to it. But that would have been part of one of the Names of God. We see that Name at the end of the word HalleluYAH!

In the Ten Commandments (that would be י Commandments, but who’s counting?), we’re told not to take God’s Name in vain. So, the rabbis developed a workaround. Sure, ten plus five equals fifteen. But so does nine plus six! And טו isn’t one of God’s Names! Theology meets Arithmetic! (A similar formula applies to the next number. Can you figure out how to write 16 in Hebrew?)

While we are in the first month of our secular year, we’ll soon reach the 15th day of the 11th month of the Jewish year. More on that next time!

Chazak! Chazak! V’Nitchazeik! Be strong! Be strong! And let us strengthen one another!