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Exodus 18:1 - 20:23 This study of mysticism in Hebrew Gematria is dedicated in the loving memory of Dr. Karen Berland, may she rest in peace. Our sages say that Parshas Yisro was added in honor of Moshe's father-in-law. This parsha named after Yisro expresses his wisdom and powerful contribution to our system of justice in the Torah. Yisro was a man who understood government, politics and justice. He was Priest of Midian. He was a consultant to Pharaoh. And then he was an advisor to Moshe our teacher. Yisro was a convert to Judaism. He was a former spiritual leader of Midian. It is for these reasons and others that this week's parsha was named after him. In fact within our Torah there are only a few Parshos named after people: Noach, Chayei Sarah, Yisro, Korach, Balak and Pinchas. Now, holy reader, one can already begin to sense how very special Yisro is. We are informed that Yisro had seven names: Re'uel, Yesser, Yisro, Chovev, Chever, Keini and Putiel. Yeser: meaning abundance, surplus, excess. It was from the essence of this name that "Yeser" made this powerful contribution to the Torah. We see a special connection to his gift in the Gematria of his name. Yeser Notice that the name Yeser is a relative to the Gematria 609 and 611. The Gematria 611 represents "Torah". Torah This is significant because it tells us how close Yeser lived to the Torah before his conversion. It is also special because the letter Vav was added to his name. The letter Vav is a connecting letter in our language. It connects letters, words, sentences, paragraphs, thoughts, etc. Here the letter Vav represents a connection from Yeser to Yisro to the Torah! The Vav also represents a connection that a non Jew makes when he / she converts to Judaism. The non Jew receives a Hebrew name. The letter Vav is added to Yeser after his conversion thus becoming Yisro. In other words, it is somewhat comparable to adding the letter Hey to Torah. When we add the letter Hey to Torah it represents an article. So Torah becomes "The Torah." We now compare the Gematria of Yisro with "The Torah." Both are 616. Yisro Torah The Gematria 616 expresses the full acceptance of "The Torah" by Yesser who after his full acceptance of "The Torah" became know as Yisro. How fitting for the man who contributed our system of justice to our Torah! In addition to this, the Gematria 616 is "MYSTICAL" in the sense that it represents acceleration, the increase, the uplifting of one's day. We see this in the Gematria Godal of Yom, meaning "Day". The normal Gematria of "day" is 76 but when we accelerate the day, when we elevate the day, the normal Gematria transcends to Gematria Godal 616! Our day takes on a "GREATNESS". Can one think of a higher form of elevation than the day one converts or returns to Torah observance? Yom {day} Yom {day} Gematria
Godal One should notice the symbolic place that Parshas Yisro begins, Chapter 18 representing Chai {"LIFE"}... that is, the new life of Yisro! This past week we received a request that I would like to share with you. It helps explain the great significance of a Jew's Hebrew name. The names have been changed:
Holy reader, B'nei Yisroel had fallen to the 49th level while they were captives in Mitzriam. They were only one level from the very lowest level. They almost reached the place where they may have crossed the line that we spoke of in our study of Parshas Bo, entitled Remembering. We asked the question: "[The] point is, Can a Jew cross the line? Can a Jew reach a place where there is no point of return? Where S H U V A H does not exist?" Our sages say there were three reasons they did not fall to the lowest level which may have prevented their return. One of those reasons was that they kept their Hebrew names. They used their Hebrew identity! May each of us make our connection to "The Torah" as Yisro did! Best wishes! Dr. Akiva G. Belk JewishPath is a sponsor of B'nai Noach Torah Institute. As a sponsor we are permitted to offer one FREE E-Mail course on a limited basis per individual from BNTI's Introduction Courses. We invite you to visit and choose an E - Mail Intro Course. BNTI offers Intro Courses in Judaism and Spirituality {7 Noaich Laws}. BNTI Responses are NOT AUTO!!
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