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There have been various mystical numerological reflections about the fact that, according to the system of gematria, the Hebrew letters of chai (חַי) add up to 18 [2] (see Lamedvavniks etc.). For this reason, 18 is a spiritually meaningful number in Judaism. Many Jews give gifts of money in multiples of 18 (see below). [2]
The medieval period saw the rise of Kabbalah, a mystical tradition within Judaism that ascribed profound spiritual and magical significance to the Hebrew alphabet. Kabbalists believed that the Hebrew letters were not merely symbols for sounds but were imbued with divine energy.
A swastika composed of Hebrew letters as a mystical symbol from the Jewish Kabbalistic work Parashat Eliezer, from the 18th century or earlier. The founder of the academic study of Jewish mysticism, Gershom Scholem, privileged an intellectual view of the nature of Kabbalistic symbols as dialectic Theosophical speculation.
The method of gematria involves numeric values assigned to Hebrew letters, giving every word a value, allowing one to look for patterns in the text based on those numerical values. According to the Zohar, gematria is the highest category of interpretation, called "Sod" which refers to mystical interpretation.
About the Mystery of the Letters (Περὶ τοῦ μυστηρίου τῶν γραμμάτων, Peri tou mystēriou tōn grammatōn) is an anonymous Christian treatise containing a mystical doctrine about the names and forms of the Greek and Hebrew letters. It was probably written in the 6th century in Byzantine Palaestina Prima.
Derash (דְּרַשׁ ) – from Hebrew darash: "inquire" ("seek") – the comparative meaning, as given through similar occurrences. Sod (סוֹד ) – "secret" ("mystery") or the esoteric/mystical meaning, as given through inspiration or revelation. Each type of Pardes interpretation examines the extended meaning of a text.
Hebrew letters are invested with special meaning in Judaism in general, and in Kabbalah even more so. The creative power of letters is particularly evident in Sefer Yetzirah (Hebrew: book of creation), a mystical text that tells a story of the creation which is based on the letters of the Hebrew alphabet , a story which diverges greatly from ...
As a mystical concept, the number 36 is even more intriguing. It is said that at all times there are 36 special people in the world, and that were it not for them, all of them, if even one of them was missing, the world would come to an end. The two Hebrew letters for 36 are the lamed, which is 30, and the vav, which is 6.