(Raziel Hamalach, Amsterdam, Kabbalah book, 1701)
The Tenach, Bible, Gematria, and Names
My classmate (three years of Hebrew language together), gave an awesome presentation this past semester on Hebrew names in the Tenach (Torah) and Bible with their translations and meanings. I knew some of the names and their meanings, but her research was so in-depth that it was completely engrossing and gave me things to contemplate.
I started to think about the Tenach and Bible from a literature and oral tradition standpoint and how fascinating it can be, even for someone nonreligious, nontheist, atheist, or ignorant of Judeao-Christian traditions.
Hebrew names in the Torah and Bible symbolize or represent their characters/personality and hint at actions within the respective books. The names hold meaning and, from a literature standpoint, the stories would appear to have come first and the names created afterwards. The origin of the stories can find their roots in ancient creation stories and myths of Mesopotamia/Sumeria and they are presumed to be passed down generations through oral traditions of storytelling, which is fascinating in itself: thousands of years of storytelling… it’s appealing to a literature freak like myself. This storytelling culture is not unique to the middle east and I could go off on a tangent here about it… but I won’t right now.
To give an example of a symbolic name, we can look at “ישראל” or “Israel,” the name given to Jacob (Yakov) in the Tanach by God after his battle with the angel. There are at least two interpretations of his new name when we break it down to the root words. The first three characters of his name, “ישר” (yish-arr), means “straight/honest” and the last two characters, “אל” (al), means “God,” so his name in this context means “honest to God” and portrays his changed character and showing Israel’s loyalty to God. Another way to look at the name is to see the “י” or “ih” at the beginning of the word to reference the future sense of the word, “שר” (shar), meaning “minister.” In keeping the last two characters, “אל” (al) meaning “God,” putting the words together makes “Israel” mean “he will be the minister of God” showing his future with just his name. It was a little difficult to explain this, so I hope it’s not too confusing.
Anyway, to add complexities to the matter, Gematria comes along (associating numbers with Hebrew letters: א=1, ב=2) and names of the biblical characters take on more or added meaning. We talked about how the infamous 666 came from Revelations and that John, who is attributed with writing it, could have been influenced in associating the anti-christ with the Roman emperor Nero, who is infamous for his horrendous acts AND… when computing gematria to the emperor’s name, it equates to 666. So… no devil, only the infamous Nero, don’t worry, he’s dead.
Regardless of your feelings or beliefs on religion, this is pretty damn neato.
![Philip Roth, 1962, photographer - Carl Mydans
“Portnoy’s Complaint: Portnoy’s Complaint n.[after Alexander Portnoy (1933- )] A disorder in which strongly-felt ethical and altruistic impulses are perpetually warring with extreme sexual longings, often of a perverse nature. Spielvogel says: ‘Acts of exhibitionism, voyeurism, fetishism, auto-eroticism and oral coitus are plentiful; as a consequence of the patient’s “morality,” however, neither fantasy nor act issues in genuine sexual gratification, but rather in overriding feelings of shame and the dread of retribution, particularly in the form of castration.’ (Spielvogel, O. “The Puzzled Penis,”Internationale Zeitschrift für Psychoanalyse, Vol. XXIV, p. 909.) It is believed by Spielvogel that many of the symptoms can be traced to the bonds obtaining in the mother-child relationship.”
After reading this for the first time… being raised by a similar Jewish mother and grandmother (who would’ve been Portnoy’s mother’s age) and having had several unsuccessful relationships while believing myself superior than everyone else … well, this book hit home, like I’m sure it did to many of my fellow atheist Jews over the years since this book’s publication.](http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_llmda6OHlO1qannlmo1_500.jpg)
![yama-bato:
Vladimir Nabokov’s butterflies
“From the age of seven, everything I felt a connection with a rectangle of framed sunlight was dominated by a single passion. If my first glance of the morning was for the sun, my first thought was for the butterflies it would engender.
[…] I have hunted butterflies in various climes and disguises: as a pretty boy in knickerbockers and sailor cap; as a lanky cosmopolitan expatriate in flannel bags and beret; as a fat hatless old man in shorts”.
Vladimir Nabokov, Speak, Memory
Nymphalis antiopa LINNAEUS, 1758.
One of the most beautiful butterflies in northern latitudes. In Europe, it is possible to meet up to the northern tip of Norway. Mentioned in the works of Nabokov’s 12 times. During the writing of Nabokov’s novel “The Gift” belongs to the genus Vanessa.
Velvety black, with a warm shimmer plum ripe, Here it is opened, through this velvet live sweet lit some cornflower seeds azure along the circular fringe, yellow as shaky rye. Sat on the trunk, and breathing gear delicate wings, then dropping to the crust, then turning to the Rays … Oh, how they rejoice, as twinkle divine! Say: Deep night in a frame of two fawn dawns. Hello, oh hello, dream northern birch grove! Awe, and laughter and the love of my youth eternal. Yes, I know you in the Seraphim with marvelous rendezvous, Know your wings, this sacred pattern.
Vladimir Nabokov, butterfly (Vanessa antiopa), 1921
http://www.nabokovmuseum.org/butterfly1.html](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lldjx4WVOe1qahuhjo1_500.jpg)
![(Domenichino’s Cumaean Sibyl (1620-3)) This painting is used on the Oxford Press’ cover of Madame de Stael’s Corrine, or Italy and I think it captures the kind of person Corrine and de Stael represent to their audiences… the inspiring genius.
Part III of III: Intertextual Romanticism or A Link Through a Couple of Cool Novels and a Poem: Madame de Stael linked to Benjamin Constant (Romantically) and linked to Alexander Pushkin (post-death, not Romantically).
This small chapter brings to a close my sloppy and and hopefully somewhat interesting link through some cool and emotionally tortured Romantic (big R, not small r) authors from France and Russia. Madame de Stael, noted anti-Napoleonist, had a rollercoaster affair with Benjamin Constant (little known inside the U.S. unfortunately) for over a decade. Her prose can be a challenge because of its density, she took lots of lovers, was not really that attractive physically (look at paintings of her… she seems to grow a thick mustache as she ages). I mean, it’s not that uncommon, but the painters included it and it isn’t very flattering at all for a Romantic heroine, dammit… but de Stael was a larger than life celebrity for her time and her novel, Corrine, or Italy, is fantastic - part travelogue, all European Romanticism. I’ve never been to Italy, but her writing about the ancient art of Rome allowed me to picture it accurately (at least, according to pictures I’ve seen). Besides this novel and her appearances and lovers, she is a tremendous talent in literature.
The connection:
In Part I, I noted how Constant’s novel, Adolphe, was a somewhat autobiographical-disguised-as-a-novel account of his love affair with de Stael and told about Pushkin’s co-option of Constant’s fictional love letters in Part II, in Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin. There really isn’t a real-life connection between Pushkin and de Stael, but Pushkin respected her, and so that’s the small link. When I was scourging through my university library’s Pushkin collection while doing my research, I came across an invaluable book: The Critical Prose of Alexander Pushkin (with Critical Essays by Four Russian Romantic Poets) - edited by Carl Proffer. It translates Pushkin’s criticism and includes his contemporary critics. In response to Russian critic Mr. A. M. and his condemnation of de Stael and her writings, Pushkin writes this high praise of her:
“One should speak of this lady [Pushkin co-opts the critic’s use of “lady”] in the courteous language of an educated person. This lady was rewarded with the persecution of Napoleon, the trust of monarchs, the respect of Europe- and the very discourteous and not very bright journal article of Mr. A. M.” (27)](http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ll424bF5jm1qannlmo1_500.jpg)
