We were told to count to 50, yet every year we count to 49, and let G-d count the 50th day for us? But that’s not what we were told to do.
As an adjunct to our last Article on the splitting of the Torah at Bamidbar (Numbers) Chapter 1 into the precise Phi proportions and to the connection to the year 5778 (2018 CE), we’d like to add a secret about the 12 tribes, actually 13, listed in the 54 verses of Bamidbar chapter 1. They appear to be listed haphazardly, but that is anything from the truth. The sages and the Zohar tell us that they are listed in a specific in order for us to connect through them to the stars and to destiny, but there is a deeper, never been reveled secret about them as well.
The 13 initials in there order of appearance are R for Reuben, then Sh for Shimon, then G for Gad, then Y for Yehuda, then Y for Issacar, then Tz for Tzebelun, then E for Ephraim, then M for Menash, then B for Benjamin, then D for Dan, then E for Asher, then N for Naphtali, then finally L for Levi.
As you may have noticed the initials M-B as in the 42-Letter Name (MB Shemot) appears in the middle of them, the Name the sages have said is necessary for bringing about the Geula (final redemption), but what the true secret is that that the first 11 Names add up to 577 and the final 2 to 80, a well-conceived allusion to 5778-0, especially considering that the prior two portions in the Torah had 57-78 verse respectively.
They are further arranged so that the 6 tribes numbered 4 through 9 would add up to 70, as in the 70 Nations, the 70 years of King David, and the last 70 years from when Israel became a Nation in 5708 HC.
In his commentaries on this portion (Bamidbar) the Arizal discusses the reason that the Levites were counted from age 30 and everyone else from age 20. In essence, it is because the Levites represent the left side of the Tree-of-Life, the side of Gevurah, which is comprised of the 5 crowns (or proto Gevurah) within the sefira (dimension) of Da’at; the 5 midot (emotional expressions) of Gevurah within Zeir Anpin that are the dimensions of Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach and Hod; and the 5 manifesting stages of Gevurah within the dimension of Yesod, for a total of 15. Since there are male and female aspects to each, the total is 15 plus 15 or 30. 30 is also the numerical value for the letter Lamed (L), the initial of the tribe of Levi.
Not coincidentally, Lamed is one of the two central letters of the Hebrew alef-bet, the other being Caf (C), nor is it coincidental that that complete numerical value (standard plus ordinal) is 42; or that the complete value of Caf(C)is 31, that of El (G-d); or that the complete value of Caf-Lamed (CL), spelling Kol, meaning “All (everyone)”, is 73, the same as Chochma (wisdom). And using a little known, but highly revelatory form of ancient gematria we see at the essence of the letters Caf-Lamed (CL): (42 x 31)/(42+31) = 26.04, the sum of the 4 letters of the Tetragreammatom (YHVH), which oddly enough is the same as 2 x (42 x 31), which is also = 2604, further emphasizing this important connection.
The Beginning
Nevertheless, the letter Lamed(L) as seen from above starts out as a point, becomes a straight line and spirals into a circle, a metaphor for the formation of the universe as described in Rav Ashlag’s Ten Luminous Emanations. It’s one of two letters that spiral; the other being the letter Pe(P), and as we’re told by Abraham, The Patriarch in his Sefer Yetzirah (The Book of Formation) these are the two letters (PL) that control (have dominion over) the month of Tishrei, which begins with Rosh HaShannah. This is also why the sequence of the counting of the tribes begins with the word for counting (Pekudaihem) and ends with Levi, thus (PL).
Now, the letter (P) forms a more natural recognizable spiral, and thus is associated with the spiraling numerical constant Phi, as opposed to the Letter (L), which is associated with the mathematical constant Pi, as would be appropriate for a line becoming a circle.
What bother these letters also have in common is that they are both composed of the letters Caf (C) and Vav(V) as in (CV), representing the number 26, associated with the Tetragrammaton (YHVH). Nevertheless, it’s their association together within the letter Alef (ELP) that is significant to our discussion. The letter Alef (E), as prototypical energy, existed before the Torah and thus physical existence began and it was comprised of an upper and lower Yud(Y) with two Vavs(V) splitting apart the two Yuds (Y). It was from the lower Yud (Y) that a sea of energy emanated and formed the skeletal structure of out universe, and within that sea were the mathematical constants Pi and Phi (represented by L and P)to guide the currents of physicality. Thus was completed the Alef (ELP) prior to the Bet (B) of the Torah.
We spoke earlier of the 15 aspects of Gevurah (the filter of judgment) represented by the Lamed(L), but there are also 15 aspects of Chesed (loving kindness) to balance them out, making 30 aspects in total, which happens to be the ordinal value of E-L-P (the letter Alef spelled out). Now the letter Alef, (E) has a letter value 1 and the spelled out letter’s numerical value is 111, or Oneness in every sense of the word. And from that oneness came everything (kol).
In this portion of Bamidbar, Moses counted all the Israelites over the age of 20 except the Levites, which he counted over the age of 30, together they represented 20+30 or Caf(C) plus Lamed (L) making CL (kol), everyone. And 20+30 = 50, as in the 50 days which we were told by G-d to count in preparation for receiving the Torah in marriage every year at Shavuot. This is just as it was when the 600,000 Israelites counted the 50 days in the desert (bamidbar) from the crossing of the “End Sea” (Yam Suf) to the reception of the 10 Commandments and the Tree-of-life reality (10 sefirot/dimensional existence beyond physicality) at Mt Sinai.
Of course, 600/50 = 12, as in the 12 Tribes that Moses was counting.
And if you recall, Pharaoh sent and lost at sea his 600 choice chariots (governing angels) in that same sea crossing, so it’s not coincidental that 20 x 30 = 600 or that “sea” (YM) has a numerical value of 50. Nor is it coincidental that the Torah mentions the exodus 50 times יציאת מצרים, which literally means going out of the “straits of the sea” מצר ים.
A Deeper Code
A clue to the depth of the Torah encoding is further found within the word which we broke down above “straits of the sea” מצר ים, since two of the first three letters (Resh-Zaddi) represent the central core (heart) of the 42-Letter Name Matrix and the third letter Mem (numerical value 40) represents the rest of the 40 letters. This was in the same was that CL was at the core/heart of the alef-bet. And since we know from the sages and tzaddikim, including the Baal Shem Tov of blessed memory that the 42-Letter Name represents not only the 42 journeys that the Israelites made in the desert (BMDBR) but the 42 journeys we much make in life and the 42 journeys of our soul on the way to redemption, we may infer that going out of the “straits of the sea” מצר ים is also exiting through the 42-Letter Name.
Counting 50
As discussed in previous articles, the Torah repeatedly insists that we count the 50-year jubilee cycle and first tells us to do so in the first chapter of the Behar-Bechukatai 57-78 connection. Nowadays, because there is no Temple, we pretty much ignore that command. Are we making a mistake?
Should we be counting 50?
Yitro (Jethro), whose gematria value is 616, the same as “The Torah,” told Moses how to manage his 600,000 Israelites, which was an allusion to how the universe is managed from above. He told him that Moses should put leaders and sub-leaders over 1000’s, 100’s, 50’s and 10’s? Thousands, hundreds and tens is logical and is more than suggestive of how the 10 sefirot are divided and subdivided by 10’s, but why subdivide by 50 as well?
It doesn’t make sense to have someone over essentially only two people (100/50) so there must be a secret in here, a hidden message Yitro was conveying to Moses, especially since it was conveyed to Moses moments (Torah time) before receiving the 10 Commandments.
The full answer to the meaning of counting 50 lies in the spiritual dimensions of time and space itself, but there are some simpler ones that we can grasp. For instance, if we count the jubilee years (50-year intervals) from the birth of Adam to the midpoint of the 70-year life of King David (2854 HC – 2924) we get precisely 57.78 jubilee years. And from that pivotal midpoint (2889 HC) to the year 5778 HC, when the Geula is prophesized to occur, we get another 57.78 jubilee years.
Of course, 2889 HC is exactly 441 years after the Torah was received on Mt Sinai in 2448 HC and 441 is the numerical value of Emet (Truth) and 212.
And of course there are 66.6 jubilee years from 2448 to 5778 and 66.6 jubilee years from Adam to the destruction of the First Holy Temple in 3338. But all this can be found in The Divine Calendar, except this new tidbit that there are 325,077.8 sidereal days in the 17.8 jubilee years from 2448 HC to 3338 HC.
This doesn’t answer the question why we should count 50; that deeper meaning, whose answer lies in the 32 sides of the 5th dimensional hypercube, will take time to explain. But our time already seems to be marked, whether it’s the temperature of the surface of the Sun, 5778 K or 57.78 jubilee years, the year 5778 (2018 CE) is hurtling towards us. This is also why that first chapter in Bamidbar that split the Torah into the Phi proportion has 54 verses (like the 54 portions in the Torah and the 54 special letters in the Torah) because the sum of the positive integers through 107 is 5778 and 107 x 54 = 5778, and Phi18 = 5778.000
It’s been said by the sages that the Israelites, stuck in Egypt (MZR YM), were at the 49th gate of negativity and counting by 50 we see that in 2448 HC they were also in the 49th Jubilee year from Adam. It’s also been said that if we reach the Tree-of-Life reality, we will have reached the 50th Gate of Binah. Now that’s something worth counting.
Physical Coincidence
It’s probably just coincidental also that Euler’s Constant is .577215… and that when we use Euler’s Number, noted as ℮ (2.7182818…), which is the base of the natural logarithmic scale, in the equation ℮*Pi√Phi we get 5.277845, which one could argue is not 5.778 and they’d be right, but there are also 5845 verses in the Torah, as in 5.277845.
Of course, counting is just math and math is just at the core of physics, so when we ignore God’s Commandments in the Torah we are ignoring physics, not escaping them, as we would be in the Tree-of-Life reality.