Shana Tova!
Well, it's not Rosh Hashana, at least in the usual sense. But it is the Rosh Hashana - the New Year of the Torah reading cycle - starting IN THE BEGINNING from Bereishit. Just today (in Israel, where we keep just one day of the Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah holiday) I had the great fortune of being the Chatan Bereishit - having the Aliya of the first portion of the Torah, something I had once many years ago. So, I feel it's a new beginning for me, and so may it be for all of you!
Rabbi Moshe Soloveitchik ZT'L writes that the importance of Siyum HaTorah (celebrating the completion of Torah learning) on Simchat Torah is NOT because we are finishing the Torah with V'Zot HaBeracha - but because we are starting a new cycle of the Torah with Bereishit. Thus, it's a special time to start on the right foot (and we begin reading the Torah anew from the RIGHT side of the scroll!) with Chiddushei Torah - new insights in Torah learning - which we are told by our holy rabbis to write down for others to make a positive influence on their lives.
For many years, I have come up with many Gematriot - the numerical value of given letters, words, etc. with some Torah insights; and in the last few years, with discoveries in the Hidden Codes of the Torah as well. But last night on Simchat Torah, learning the Shulchan Aruch - the Code of Jewish Law - on Simchat Torah, I came up with something that seems to be so simple, yet so strikingly amazing, that I never noticed before!
You see, the number of the chapter on the "Order of Simchat Torah Day" in the Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim which deals with Halacha - Jewish Law in everyday life, including the Shabbat and Jewish Holidays is Number 669. Now, you will notice at the end of some Chumashim (the Five Books of Moses that we sometimes call the Torah) where it mentions the number of letters, words, verses, Parshiyot (portions-similar to the Hebrew word), and Parshiyot. It's no typo - there are two contexts of Parshiyot. You see, the Parshiyot that's normally talked about are the particular portion(s) that we read for a specific Shabbat. However, in the more technical sense, a Parsha/portion of the Torah is how it appears in the Sefer Torah (Torah scroll) that we read from. As Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses) wrote it down as dictated by Hashem (G-d), spaces are left between one portion and another Some have longer spaces while others have shorter spaces. If the Torah is not written with spaces in between the portions as they are supposed to appear in the Sefer Torah - it is NOT a kosher Sefer Torah! Now with this being said, the total number of such Parshiyot in the Sefer Torah are 669, the very number of the chapter - Chapter 669 - in the main book of Jewish Law - Shulchan Aruch, that deals with the laws of the Simchat Torah holiday when we finish reading the Sefer Torah!
The Commentary of the Ba'al HaTurim on the Chumash which gives all kinds of Gematria hints and comparisons of verses with the same wording, ends off his commentary on the Chumash with the mention of 669 portions of the Torah having the Gematria of the word - Gematriot! Isn't the Torah trying to tell us that the whole makeup of the Torah has to do with numbers?!
Now for some out there who aren't all that much into this kind of thing, and are basically only interested in the Talmud & Jewish Law, that's fine. Indeed, it is most important to know what the Jewish Law is to be a good Jew and serve Hashem. But it has to be admitted that these type of Gematria discoveries have brought many closer to the Torah - especially proving that indeed the Torah is none other than from Hashem himself - and not a man made book. In fact, the Rambam - Maimonides tells us that a Jew who does not believe that the Torah is from Hashem as opposed to being man-made (Moshe just wrote down what Hashem told him to write) does not have a share in the world to come. The well known Aish HaTorah organization & learning centers worldwide http://www.aish.com/ has these Discovery lectures that reveal some of this type of information including Gematriot & Hidden Codes that show that it is Hashem Who is speaking to us, not some man-made religion.
Now, for those who are quite keen with the Gematria scene may tell me that they know the word Gematriot to equal a different number: 679. So, who is saying the right thing here?
Stay tuned for an explanation in our next post...
MOTZAEI SIMCHATORAH/23 Tishrei 5769
P.S. The time that is shown for this post is 4:07 PM. As this is the FIRST post, the last word of the FIRST chapter of Psalms is Toeveid, which is the Gematria of
407. Moreover, the word Oht/Letter, which is the basis of the concept of Gematriot, is also the Gematria of 407.
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