This week's Torah reading is Lech Lecha. In it, God tells Abraham to change his name from Avram to Abraham, the explanation given is that Abraham stands for “father of a multitude of nations” (אַב הֲמוֹן גּוֹיִם); Abraham is destined to become the father of many nations.
How many nations? The ordinal value (each letter equals its place in the Aleph-Bet) of “a multitude of nations” (הֲמוֹן גּוֹיִם) is 70 (the sum of 5, 13, 6, 14, 3, 6, 10, and 13). Indeed, the Torah identifies the original division of Noah’s offspring into 70 nations (Genesis chapter 10 and see our article on this topic: www.patreon.com/posts/math-on-noach-42906982).
What about the word “father [of a multitude of nations]” (אַב)? Its ordinal value is simply 1 (the value of the alef, א) plus 2 (the value of the beit, ב). The 2 allude to Ishmael (Islam) and Esau (Christianity), the leaders of the 70 nations, both direct descendants of Abraham (Ishmael was Abraham’s son, Esau his grandson). The 1 represents the Children of Israel, Abraham’s people, whose task is to bring God’s word—His will and His wisdom—to all 72 nations. The father figure in Kabbalah is associated with the sefirah of “wisdom,” chochmah in Hebrew, and the value of the Hebrew word for “wisdom” (חָכְמָה) is 73 exactly the ordinal value of the full title, “father of a multitude of nations” (אַב הֲמוֹן גּוֹיִם)!
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Abraham: Father of a multitude of nations
This week's Torah reading is Lech Lecha. In it, God tells Abraham to change his name from Avram to Abraham, the explanation given is that Abraham stands for “father of a multitude of nations” (אַב הֲמוֹן גּוֹיִם); Abraham is destined to become the father of many nations.
How many nations? The ordinal value (each letter equals its place in the Aleph-Bet) of “a multitude of nations” (הֲמוֹן גּוֹיִם) is 70 (the sum of 5, 13, 6, 14, 3, 6, 10, and 13). Indeed, the Torah identifies the original division of Noah’s offspring into 70 nations (Genesis chapter 10 and see our article on this topic: www.patreon.com/posts/math-on-noach-42906982).
What about the word “father [of a multitude of nations]” (אַב)? Its ordinal value is simply 1 (the value of the alef, א) plus 2 (the value of the beit, ב). The 2 allude to Ishmael (Islam) and Esau (Christianity), the leaders of the 70 nations, both direct descendants of Abraham (Ishmael was Abraham’s son, Esau his grandson). The 1 represents the Children of Israel, Abraham’s people, whose task is to bring God’s word—His will and His wisdom—to all 72 nations.
The father figure in Kabbalah is associated with the sefirah of “wisdom,” chochmah in Hebrew, and the value of the Hebrew word for “wisdom” (חָכְמָה) is 73 exactly the ordinal value of the full title, “father of a multitude of nations” (אַב הֲמוֹן גּוֹיִם)!
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