I. Every letter of a word is reduced to its numerical value, and the word is explained by another of the same quantity. Thus from the words “Lo! three men stood by him” (Gen. xviii, 2), it is deduced that these three angels were Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, because ‏והנה שלשה‎ and lo! three men, and ‏אלו מיכאל גבריאל ורפאל‎ these are Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, are of the same numerical value, as will be seen from the following reduction to their numerical value of both these phrases. ‏ה‎ ‏ש‎ ‏ל‎ ‏ש‎ ‏ה‎ ‏נ‎ ‏ה‎ ‏ו‎ 5 + 300 + 30 + 300 + 5 + 50 + 5 + 6 = 701 ‏ל‎ ‏א‎ ‏כ‎ ‏י‎ ‏מ‎ ‏ו‎ ‏ל‎ ‏א‎ + 30 + 1 + 20 + 10 + 40 + 6 + 30 + 1 ‏ל‎ ‏א‎ ‏י‎ ‏ר‎ ‏ב‎ ‏ג‎ + 30 + 1 + 10 + 200 + 2 + 3 ‏ל‎ ‏א‎ ‏פ‎ ‏ר‎ ‏ו‎ 30 + 1 + 80 + 200 + 6 = 701 This rule in called ‏גמטריא‎ = ‏גרמטיא‎ which is a metathesis of the Greek word γράμμα, γραμμεία, or γραμματεία in the sense of numbers as represented by letters. 2. Every letter of a word is taken as an initial or abbreviation of a word. Thus every letter of the word ‏בראשית‎, the first word in Genesis, is made the initial of a word, and we obtain ‏בראשית ראה אלהים שיקבלו ישראל תורה‎ in the beginning God saw that Israel would accept the Law. This rule is denominated ‏נוטריקון‎ = notaricun, from notarius, a shorthand writer, one who among the Romans belonged to that class of writers who abbreviated and used single letters to signify whole words. 3. The initial and final letters of several words are respectively formed into separate words. Thus from the beginnings and ends of the words ‏מי יעלה לנו השמימה‎ who shall go up for us to heaven? (Deut. xxx, 12) are obtained ‏מילה‎ circumcision and ‏יהוה‎ Jehovah, and inferred that God ordained circumcision as the way to heaven. 4. Two words occurring in the same verse are joined together and made into one. Thus ‏מי‎ who and ‏אלה‎ these are made into ‏אלהיﬦ‎ God by transposing the ‏י‎ and ‏מ‎. Vide supra, p. 94. [28]