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Gematria

Appendix I
abOut the authOr

gematria

Rabbi Avraham Arieh Trugman has been involved in Jew-
ish education for over forty years. As a founding member of
Moshav Mevo Modiim in 1976, he went on to be director at the One of the most important of the thirteen rules (recited every
moshav’s Center of Jewish Education, which successfully ran morning during the first part of the Morning Prayer Service) adopted
programs for over five thousand participants from over twenty- by the Sages to interpret the Torah is the gezerah shavah, a method
five countries a year. In 1988 he took the position of regional which compares similar words used in different biblical contexts to
director of NCSY in Denver, Colorado, where he and his wife clarify their meaning. This device is used literally hundreds of times
created a new region. He returned to Israel in 1995 and cur- in the Talmud to shed light on issues ranging from Jewish law, to the
rently serves as the director of Ohr Chadash: New Horizons in alluded, allegorical, and mystical meanings of the text. Quite simply,
Jewish Experience, which he founded with his wife. it is the rabbinic way of “connecting the dots” of Torah and of life
Rabbi Trugman is the author of Seeds and Sparks: Inspira- itself.
tion and Self-Expression through the Cycles of Jewish Life, The Gematria, Jewish numerology, works according to the same
Mystical Power of Music, The Mystical Meaning of Dreams, principle. In Hebrew, each letter has a numerical equivalent.
Secrets of the Magen David, The Mystical Nature of Light, Re- According to Kabbalah, if two words or phrases share the same
turn Again: The Dynamics of Reincarnation, Sefirat HaOmer, numerical value, they possess some deep underlying connection.
Becoming a Master of Time: A Spiritual Guide to Time Man- Gematria reveals a deeper set of correspondences that the external
agement, Reflections at Sunset: Collected Poems of Rabbi Avra- layer of the text alludes to and points to an entire mathematical
ham Arieh Trugman, Prophecy & Divine Inspiration, The Lights structure underlying the Torah. Just as physics and chemistry rest
of Chanukah: One Hundred Meditations, Hamaayan Hamit- on a mathematical foundation, so too the deeper dimensions of Torah
gaber and Shivim Panim (both in Hebrew); and has published are revealed though gematria.
articles and poems in a wide variety of publications. He has
also produced five CDs of original music: Strings of the Soul, Indeed, the Sages relate to the Hebrew letters the same way
Modeh Ani, From World to World, Symphony of the Spirit and scientists do to atoms, particles, molecules, and elements – as the
Merkavah. building blocks of creation. We can explain that just as an incredible
amount of energy is packed into an infinitesimally small atom,
Rabbi Trugman appears at Shabbat programs and lectures Divine light and energy are intensely contracted into the Hebrew
extensively worldwide. letters, which function as conduits, serving as the channels of Divine
speech. Although the languages of science and Torah are different
they both describe the same reality.

Yet, it is not Kabbalah alone that employs gematria. The Talmud,
the Midrash, and Rashi also use this technique to illustrate a cogent
idea when necessary, and it has been used as well by a wide variety of

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