Gematria Refigured: A New Look at How the Torah Conveys Ideas Through Numbers (Mosaica Press, 2022), by Rabbi Dr. Elie Feder
Reviewed by Rabbi Reuven Chaim
Klein (Rachack Review)
Many of us have long been turned
off by the way that unsophisticated preachers and popular speakers have abused
the modality of gematria (“alpha-numerical calculations”) to superficially
“prove” all kinds of ideas that make us uncomfortable. On the one hand, we know
that Chazal call gematria “toppings to wisdom” (Avos 3:18), yet
on the other hand we’ve seen many unwise people harness gematria for all
sorts of purposes. How do these two notions jibe?
Rabbi Dr. Elie Feder, a maggid
shiur and professor of mathematics, offers a partial answer to this
question in his excellent, thought-provoking book. He offers a framework that
shows how Chazal (and especially Rashi’s commentary to the Pentateuch) used gematria
in a very controlled way and for very specific purposes. He argues that
Chazal understood that gematria is an appropriate
exegetical/hermeneutical tool when used to unpack textual ambiguities in Tanach
that must refer to a quantity, but do not explicitly do so. Meaning, when the
Scripture uses a word in the exact context where we would otherwise expect it
to provide a number, the rabbis understood that that word (or set of words)
must be interpreted in a number-like fashion — that is, gematria, which
empties a word of its semantic meaning and finds meaning through its numerical
value.
Using this novel methodology, the
twelve chapters of this fascinating book elucidate fifteen different cases in
which Chazal invoked gematria as part of their textual interpretation.
To give one example, in Chapter
6, the author discusses the Talmudic assertion that the default duration of a
Nazirite vow is thirty days (Nazir 5a). This rule is derived by way of gematria
from the word tihiyeh in the verse, “all the days of his Nazirite
vow, a razor shall not pass over his head; until the completion of the days
that he had separated himself for God, he shall be (tihiyeh) holy
..." (Num. 6:5).
In explaining the logic behind
this exegesis, Feder offers a scholarly analysis of the meaning of the Nazirite
vow and follows the Maimonidean understanding that the Nazirite vow is a useful
device to help wean a person from unbridled indulgence towards a more moderate
lifestyle. After providing the reader with that background, Feder makes it
clear how this would mean that the Nazirite vow, by its very nature, is only a
temporary treatment that will help shift a person into the right gear. Yet, if
the Nazirite vow is inherently only to be used as a temporary fix, why then
does the Torah not provide us with a clear quantifiable amount of time that the
vow is to last? In lieu of explicitly providing us with such a quantity, the
Torah merely uses the vague term tihiyeh (“he shall be”) without
qualification. As Feder explains it to us, it is precisely in cases like this
where Chazal understood that the lexeme in question should be understood
through a different paradigm than its normal semantic sense, and therefore they
employed gematria to argue that since the alpha-numerical value of the
word tihiyeh is thirty, the standard/default duration of a Nazirite vow
is thirty days.
Rabbi Feder’s book is brimming
with these sorts of well-grounded discussions and insights that support the
argument that gematria (as used by Chazal) is not mere sophistry, but is
a valid and sound methodological tool. Throughout the book, Rabbi Feder provides
the reader with many other interesting thoughts about things like the names of
God, the nature of idolatry, the story of Esther, and the prohibition of
counting Jews. Time and again, the author stresses the importance of taking
quantity into account (like when weighing one’s inevitably sins versus one’s deliberate
mitzvos) and not just viewing things from a qualitative perspective. His
ideas are clearly informed by the sort of Rationalist Judaism taught by his
teacher Rabbi Israel Chait, and his analogies often draw from the world of
science. In short, this book is innovative, thought-provoking, and quite
interesting.
Rays of Wisdom: Torah Insights that Light up our Understanding of the World (Eshel Publications Inc., 2022), by Rabbi Mattisyahu Rosenblum
Reviewed by Rabbi Reuven Chaim
Klein (Rachack Review)
This book offers a sophisticated,
modern way of looking at some very decidedly Orthodox ideas and notions. The late
author was a graduate of Yale University and long-time Rebbe at Machon Yaakov
in Jerusalem. (His is also the younger brother of the world-renowned Chareidi
author and journalist Jonathan Rosenblum). Unfortunately, the author passed
away at a young age and was unable to see the actual publication of this book
into which he had poured his last energies.
About half the essays are
presented as Rabbi Rosenblum’s correspondence with a former student (“Jordan”),
and the rest are well-written stand-alone compositions (mostly related to the Weekly
Parashah and yearly events). In almost every essay, the author translates deep,
almost-Kabbalistic ideas into an easily-accessible English. Many of these ideas
are drawn from the teachings of the late Rabbi Moshe Shapiro, plus יבלחט"א Rabbis Aharon Lopiansky and Beryl Gershenfeld — although
the author often adds his own spin to the discussion.
This book grapples with questions
like how to care about the environment from a traditional perspective, and how
a nuanced Ultra-Orthodox take on such ideologies as Relativism, Zionism, and
Feminism might look. The essays are both illuminating and inspiring, showing a
level of sophistication and erudition that befits an intellectual Torah Scholar
of the author’s caliber.
The Shofar: Halachos, Minhagim, and Mesorah (Mosaica Press, 2022), by Benzion Ettlinger
Reviewed by Rabbi Reuven Chaim
Klein (Rachack Review)
This book is a fascinating collection
of everything you ever wanted to know about the laws/customs of blowing the shofar
and its associated rituals. The author — a descendant of the great Rabbi
Yaakov Ettlinger, author of the Aruch L’Ner — is a seasoned baal
tokeia from the KAJ community in Washington Heights. He collected many
Halachic rulings and customs related to the shofar and the various ways
of fulfilling the commandments of Rosh Hashanah from many different sources. These
sources include a wide variety of seforim and mimetic traditions. The
author was very close with Rabbi Shimon Schwab and cites him along with other
important figures from his community.
One of the things that makes this
book unique is that he talks about customs practiced by many different types of
Jewish communities (including Yekkes, Sephardim, Teimnanim, Briskers, and
more). In doing so, he discusses things like how to blow the shofar, how
many blasts each community is accustomed to blowing, what to look out for when
buying a shofar, and whether it is permitted to have a kiddush on
Rosh Hashanah morning before fulfilling the commandment of shofar.
Ettlinger’s work also features inspirational insights related to the shofar mostly
drawn, of course, from the theological works of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch,
but also from Chassidic thinkers like the Sefas Emes and the Novominsker
Rebbe.
Unfortunately, the bilingual
presentation of the book makes following the footnotes somewhat confusing, and
in the publisher’s great haste to release the book before Rosh Hashanah, there
were multiple typographical/editorial oversights which should be fixed before
the next edition. But these issues should not detract from a very interesting
and easy-to-read compendium on all matters related to the shofar.
