Numeric Values of Letters
Hebrew letters are used to denote numbers, nowadays used only in specific contexts, e.g. denoting dates in the Hebrew calendar, denoting grades of school in Israel, other listings (e.g. שלב א׳, שלב ב׳ – "phase a, phase b"), commonly in Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) in a practice known as gematria, and often in religious contexts.
| א | 1 | י | 10 | ק | 100 | ||
| ב | 2 | כ | 20 | ר | 200 | ||
| ג | 3 | ל | 30 | ש | 300 | ||
| ד | 4 | מ | 40 | ת | 400 | ||
| ה | 5 | נ | 50 | ך | 500 | ||
| ו | 6 | ס | 60 | ם | 600 | ||
| ז | 7 | ע | 70 | ן | 700 | ||
| ח | 8 | פ | 80 | ף | 800 | ||
| ט | 9 | צ | 90 | ץ | 900 |
The numbers 500, 600, 700, 800 and 900 are commonly represented by the juxtapositions ק״ת, ר״ת, ש״ת, ת״ת, and ק״תת respectively. Adding a geresh ("׳") to a letter multiplies its value by one thousand, for example, the year 5769 is portrayed as ה׳תשס״ט, where ה represents 5000, and תשס״ט represents 769.
Read more about this topic: Hebrew Alphabet
Famous quotes containing the words values and/or letters:
“We must be physicists in order ... to be creative since so far codes of values and ideals have been constructed in ignorance of physics or even in contradiction to physics.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“After the planet becomes theirs, many millions of years will have to pass before a beetle particularly loved by God, at the end of its calculations will find written on a sheet of paper in letters of fire that energy is equal to the mass multiplied by the square of the velocity of light. The new kings of the world will live tranquilly for a long time, confining themselves to devouring each other and being parasites among each other on a cottage industry scale.”
—Primo Levi (1919–1987)