In this week’s parsha, BaMidbar, we, the Jewish people are counted by the heads of families and we have a grand total of 603,550.
There is another concept that is brought down in Zohar Chadash on Shir HaShirim that the name of our nation, Yisrael – ישראל stands for Yesh Shishim Riboi Otios LaTorah ”There are 600,000 letters in the Torah.” There are also 600,000 Jewish souls, all of which were at Mount Sinai and so we have allusions to the idea that every Jewish soul is like a letter in the Torah and just like a Torah is incomplete without even one letter, so too are the Jewish people incomplete if there is even one Jew who is not fulfilling their purpose in life.
This idea is echoed in this week’s Parsha which starts the Book of Numbers, which our rabbis identify with the same title Chumash HaPekudim. Although the word Pekudim does mean “countings”, it also refers to remembering and accounting. All this with the fact that the final count was close to 600,000 teaches us about taking accounting of our own purpose in life so that we remember what we are to do, because every one of us counts. (from Rabbi Wagensburg’s shuir – very very summarized)
Now, there are many questions that could be raised. I want to ask three of them:
- Aren’t there actually 304,805 letters in the Torah?
- Why does it not just “work out” that there were exactly 600,000 people in the head count in the desert? What does the “extra” 3,550 in the count teach us?
- Why is the head count such a nice round number? To emphasize this question further, note that the totals for each tribe were as follows:
- Reuven 46,500
- Shimon 59,300
- Gad 45,650
- Yehuda 74,600
- Issachar, 54,400
- Zevulin 57,400
- Ephraim 40,500
- Manasseh 32,200
- Benyamin 35,400
- Dan 62,700
- Asher 41,500
- Naphtali 53,400
Each one of the tribes, except for Gad had a number that is rounded to the nearest 100 (or perhaps these were the actual counts).
Roee suggested a possible answer to the third question, that in says in the first verse that the LEGIONS of the children of Israels’ heads were to be counted. The word there is עדת. The Gemara in Berachos 21b explains that an עדה refers to at least 10 people. Roee suggested that here perhaps the word עדת refers to 10 groups of ten, or groups of people who are standing ten by ten. I like this answer a lot. This could potentially explain why all the tribes appear to be “rounded” to the nearest 100… except for Gad, who’s count is 45,650. So, we are left with a question still.
As for the first question, this article discusses that in pretty nice detail with well-cited information and is quite interesting to read. One idea that I’ll bring over, as I heard from Rabbi Wagensburg’s shiur for this week, is that each letter consists of other letters. So for instance, an Aleph consists of a Vav and two Yuds. So, for every Aleph in the Torah, we count a 3 instead of a 1. The following is found at the above wesbite, aishdas.com:
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also feel free to check out this link on the parsha
http://www.breslovworld.com/DynamicArtical.aspx?linknumber=1159
Rifka
the letters can be written out in several ways, so there is no one right or wrong way to count them
for example vav can be spelled out vav vav or vav aleph vav
it is called miluim ( their fillings) in Hebrew
Rifka
so Chaim just explained to me that each letter’s shape is made up of Hebrew letters not just their phonetic spelling
I am going to post some relevant info from Rav Ginsburg’s book the Hebrew letters
aleph is already mentioned as 3
beit is made up of 3 connected vavs with an opening on the left so it is also 3
gimmel is a vav with a yud for a “foot” so that’s 2
daled is 1 (two connected lines forming a right angle with a corner point)
hei also 1
vav is 1 letter
zain is 1
chet is a vav on the right and a zayin on the left with a thin hunchback bridge connecting them above so that is 2 letters
tet is 1 letter
yud is 1 letter
kaf is 1 letter
lamed is a vav whose yud (head) is looking down at a kaf so that is 3?
mem is 1 letter
nun is 1 letter
samech is 1 letter
ayin is an elongated nun with a wedged vav or zayin so that’s 2 letters
pei has hidden white beit in it so I am not sure if that is 1 or 2 letters
tzadik has a yud enwedged in the upper right side of a bent over nun so that’s 2 letters
kuf is a reish above with a zayin descending below the line on the left so that’s 2 letters
reish is 1 letter
shin has three vavs each with a yud on top coming from the same base ( so that is 6 letters?)
tav is a dalet joined to a nun so that is 2 letters
some of these letters have more to them but this is the basics
I can’t do the math but this should provide someone who can with the tools
have fun!
Rifka
one more thing if you would like to learn more about the Hebrew letters and to see them visually then go to http://www.inner.org and click on Hebrew Alphabet
I recommend getting the book and reading it
Rifka
OK, so… the math:
- Aleph 3 x 27,057
- Beit 3 x 16,344
- Gimmel 2 x 2,109
- Daled 1 x 7,032
- Hei 1 x 28,052
- Vav 1 x 30,509
- Zain 1 x 2,198
- Chet 2 x 7,187
- Tet 1 x 1,802
- Yud 1 x 31,522
- Kaf 1 x 11,960
- Lamed 3? x 21,570
- Mem 1 x 25,078
- Nun 1 x 14,107
- Samech 1 x 1,833
- Ayin 2 x 11,244
- Pei 1 or 2 x 4,805
- Tzadik 2 x 4,052
- Kuf 2 x 4,694
- Reish 1 x 18,109
- Shin 6? x 15,592
- Tav 2 x 17,949
The expression that you can plug into your handy google calculator is:
3*27057+3*16344+2*2109+1*7032+1*28052+1*30509+1*2198+2*7187+1*1802+1*31522+1*11960+3*21570+1*25078+1*14107+1*1833+2*11244+2*4805+2*4052+2*4694+1*18109+6*15592+2*17949
The result: 564 747
So, we are off by 35,253 which is 5.8% . Perhaps I miscalculated, mistyped, or something of that sort.
It needs to be noted as it was in the above article that this count of 600,000 is from Kaballah is describing something spiritual – not physical. In making these calculations, I am trying to find the physical truth that is hidden in this idea- not trying to prove or disprove this statement of Chazal, G-d forbid.