All Torah Light Spreads…Chaim Vital


A long time ago Rabbi Akiva taught me that the number 9 is of paramount importance to us. I must confess that while early on I understood it to mean the 9 pillars, I have yet to really know why, but last night I got a glimpse of one way the number 9 plays into the grand panoramic of our universe.
Rabbi Chaim Vital of blessed memory, wrote that all Torah light was spread by squaring and he was principally talking about the squaring of the Name of G-d, which is the “retrogressive selling of the Tetragramaton (YHVH), in other words (Y, YH,YHV, YHVH).
Nevertheless, we’ve know for quite some time that many significant aspects of the Torah are perfect squares of numbers, or are quickly decoded when we examine the square roots of certain prominent Torah numbers.  For example, as fully illustrated in The Genesis Prayer, the total number of words, letters, and verses in the Torah is exactly 390,625, or 58, which is also 6252, a perfect square of a perfect square of a perfect square of the number 5, which is perfectly fitting, considering that we are talking about the 5 Books of Moses.
Then last Shabbat, while studying the explanations of the Arizal about how the red heifer purifies, and what it had to do with regressive iterations of the YHVH, I had one of those Aha! moments: “Know also that the red heifer purifies the defiled by means of the divine attribute of mercy, as well. Specifically, by means of the regressive iterations of the four Names Havayah.”
“The numerical values of the regressive iterations of these four names are 184, 166, 130, and 144, as follows:”




YVD,   YVD HH,   YVD HH VV,   YVD HH VV HH = 144

The total of these four numerical values is (184 + 166 + 130 + 144 = 624), or just 1 shy of 625. We already know how 625 is the gematria of H’keter, the crowning sefira (dimension) and what that means to the construction and purpose of the Ten Commandments, but now we can understanding the meaning of R’ Chaim Vital’s statement and have  a better picture of what’s behind the letters in the Torah and in its construction.
Given that the 3 main elements of the Torah collectively 625 squared and that there are 625 numerical aspects to the Name of G-d squared, it means that each letter, and word and verse has at its seed it’s own numerical aspect of the YHVH, which makes each of the Alefs in the Torah unique unto itself. The same with the Bets, Gimmels, Dalets, etc. It means that each time the name Israel is said or read it’s different in that both the source of the complete name is unique each time, but the source of each of the five letter in Ysrael (TShREL) are different each time as well.
Now what those sources are are very complex and involve the integration of different veils, worlds and dimensions for each one.  And this is only on the level with which we can contemplate them, not on their real true nature that is beyond our comprehension.
For most of us, though, the significance is that our awe of the Torah should be magnified exponentially. Instead of taking the Torah readings and portions as collective stories, we should see the face of G0d in every word, letter, and verse of the Torah, and hear His voice speaking through them directly to us.
And as we listen to G-d’s voice, we understand that in choosing 6252, which equals 58, He knew that .625 is also exactly 5/8. And in choosing 5778 as the year of the geula, He also knew oh so poetically that 5778 is only 22 (as in the 22 letters) years shy of 5800.
But what I just learned about the number 9 is that  5778/625 = 9.2448 with 2448 HC being the year of the Exodus from Egypt and the reception of the 10 Commandments and the Torah. The year 2448 HC was when we last stood at Keter, with the windows to the tree-of-life wide open, exactly 66.6 jubilee years (3330 years) before 5778. Funny how the 3 digits in 3330 years, 3+3+3 = 9.  And this brings us to the number 666 and the mythical beast, who we (the Tanakh) will reveal in our next post.

4 thoughts on “All Torah Light Spreads…Chaim Vital

  1. We can play infinitely with digits. where does it lead us? To prove the consistency of the Torah? Then what? To “prove” mathematically the power of Torah? Then what? All of this, beside the pleasure of reception, leads nowhere close to the matara. it is intellectual pleasure, as any intellectual pleasure. it comforts on the finite side of the left, itzchak, gvura.
    nothing more. Yet the immeasurable, infinite side of Avraham, chesed, remains untold. The more so with the middle line. This is a real question: do those maths lead you somewhere?
    just asking. Hakol tuv, haver.

    1. I could reply to your questions directly, but the bottom line is that nothing gets revealed unless it’s meant to be, and it’s not for us to know what’s G-d’s plan, only to strive to be a part of it. B”H Moshiach will come soon and all will be understood. Until then, we do EVERYTHING we can to bring H’Moshiach, and yes, knowing the Torah’s math (encoding), in other words’ it’s divine pathways, can help to that.
      Kol Tuv

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