Gematria Refigured
Author: Rabbi Elie Feder
Book Type: Hardcover 205 pages
$22.99
In stock
Gematria is a polarizing topic. While many love it, many others view it with skepticism.
What is the purpose of gematria?
Can we truly learn anything from the numerical representation of words?
What is beneath these creative yet apparently simplistic interpretations?
While jointly pursuing semichah and a PhD in mathematics, it seemed natural for Elie Feder to love gematria. However, he was bothered by these compelling questions. That is, until he discovered the purpose of gematria.
Gematria Refigured presents the discoveries that led to the author’s transformation from a gematria skeptic to a gematria lover. It develops a theory which elucidates how the Torah and Chazal use gematria to direct us toward a very specific type of idea. Through its many examples, this work illustrates how gematria can help us uncover novel insights, while providing interesting and clearly formulated perspectives into many mitzvos, themes, and stories in Tanach.
Tuvia Mairanz (verified owner) –
Rabbi Feder has used his fascinating journey to a new understanding of gematria as a way of presenting many deep ideas in a clear and easy to read manner. Each chapter brings new and profound insights not only to the method and wisdom in Chazal’s use of gematria, but more importantly, to the underlying topic beyond the gematria. Rabbi Feder’s analysis of these topics demonstrate his clear, incisive and original way of thinking. I look forward to more books by this author. I highly recommend this well written and enlightening book.
Rabbi Uri Pilichowski –
Book Review: Gematria Refigured by Rabbi Dr. Elie Feder
If you’re like me you roll your eyes whenever someone gets up to give a Dvar Torah and begins with a Gematria. A Dvar Torah that begins with a Gematria is a clear sign of a less than serious Dvar Torah. If you’re also like me you never really understood the countless sayings of Chazal, Rashi and the Ba’al Haturim that all utilize Gematria to explain the Torah.
Rabbi Dr. Elie Feder has come to the rescue – a brilliant Torah scholar with a PhD in Mathematics, Rabbi Feder (I know him personally) explained in the introduction to his new book, “Gematria Refigured,” that he began as a Gematria skeptic as well. After twenty years of study and research, Rabbi Feder has developed a methodology to Gematria (with an analytical approach) that the Torah scholar and layman can both appreciate.
In Gematria Refigured Rabbi Feder teaches the methodology to analyzing Gematria and shows over ten examples of famous Gematria based explanations and how the methodology applies to explain the episode. Not only does this book help explain Gematria for the first time, it also provides many Torah ideas you’ll be quoting for years.
If you’re a Gematria skeptic I highly recommend Gematria Refigured. If you’re a Torah student (Shouldn’t we all be?) I recommend learning this sefer soon. You won’t be disappointed.
Mrs. M.D –
I could not put this book down once I started reading it! Even more, I went from reading the book to LEARNING the book! I was looking up sources, asking my own questions and really thinking through the personally relevant concepts that were being conveyed. “Gematria Refigured” certainly brings to light what on the surface always bothered me about seemingly arbitrary numbers used by the Rabbis of the Talmud but brilliantly shows a very deliberate coherence and order of the most fundamental philosophical underpinnings of Judaism that are expressed in these gematria “numbers.” HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!!
TedM –
Rabbi Feder has used his fascinating journey to a new understanding of gematria as a way of presenting many deep ideas in a clear and easy to read manner. Each chapter brings new and profound insights not only to the method and wisdom in Chazal’s use of gematria, but more importantly, to the underlying topic beyond the gematria. Rabbi Feder’s analysis of these topics demonstrate his clear, incisive and original way of thinking. I look forward to more books by this author. I highly recommend this well written and enlightening book.
fisch –
I’ll start by saying I’m not really a gematria fan. I can’t add numbers in my head so I can never check if the arithmetic is accurate. Not to mention that it’s “ok” for it to be off by one and it seems like you can just make up anything you want. So I was curious to see if this book would change my mind.
The first thing I really enjoyed about it is that aside from each chapter being a standalone gem in its own right, it is overall the story of a mathematician talmid chochom who spent decades exploring gematria and finding a cohesive purpose and methodology to it. I almost enjoyed that journey as much as the explanation of the gematrias.
The author made an interesting (and to me, compelling) choice of addressing “famous” gematrias–ones that are from Rashi or chazal in gemara or midrash. So he’s exploring more of the “back to basics” gematrias, the “original” gematrias. I think I was familiar with just about all of them (the 207 sons of Haman was a new one to me). So many famous gematrias and he asks the questions that have bothered me for years, EVERY time I come across them: what is the point? Is it more than a mnemonic?
I especially enjoyed how each chapter takes an aspect of gematria that I personally davka felt was nonsensical and explained how it ends up being purposeful. That really surprised me. He addresses off by a couple of numbers gematria, gematrias where you add up different pieces (e.g. 8 strings and 5 knots of tzitzis to the gematria of 600 ציצית, which isn’t even a chiyuv–apparently you are yotzei with 2 knots!), and jumbling the letters gematria (taryag/garti), to name a few.
In the course of exploring gematria, the author ends up exploring a lot of fundamental mitzvos, stories, and points in Judaism. Come for the gematria, end up learning a lot about Torah and its wisdom.