Page 51 - Coincidences in the Bible and in Biblical Hebrew

COINCIDENCES IN THE BIBLE AND IN BIBLICAL HEBREW
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of interpretation of Jewish scriptures—and, more generally, as an acceptable form
of learning messages from the Hebrew language.
While we do not express here our attitude regarding this practice, for reasons
detailed in the introduction, it should be unequivocally emphasized that this book
is not about Gematria. We would never, in this book, deduce that two words are
equivalent because they have same numerical values. On the other hand, our own
experience with the coincidences described in this book, as well as the common
attitude of Jewish rabbis and scholars over many generations, teach us that due to
the special structure of the Hebrew language, as detailed earlier, the composition
of the root of a word is meaningful, and if two words share the same root they
must be somehow interrelated.
Furthermore, although we relate to the numerical values of words as possibly
carrying information and demonstrate this with numerous examples, these exam-
ples are still referred to, in this book, as coincidences (unless statistical analysis
is applied). In any case, the numerical equivalence of words (or phrases) would
never be taken to imply that the words are somehow interconnected by a hidden
concept.
This basic tenet of Gematria is not adopted here; neither is it addressed as a
theme of discussion anywhere else in the book.