“The total of Jacob’s household who came to Egypt was seventy souls”
In Pardes Rimonim, Rabbi Moses Cordovero summarizes various methods for performing gematria—numerical calculations on the Torah text. One of these he dubs “numerical number” (יִרָּפְסִר מַּפְסִמ) and it involves calculating the value of a number by writing it out in Hebrew. For example, the value of “10” would be the value of the word for “ten” (הָרָׂשֲע), which is 575. This is based on how the Torah writes the names of the numbers.
In our reading there are many numbers written as words. Let us see what we can learn from them.
Let us begin with a well-known question. The fifth reading includes a list of the members of Jacob’s family that travelled to Egypt. The Torah ends the list by noting there were 70 souls. But, if we count carefully, we see that only 69 names are listed. Who is missing? An even more careful examination will pinpoint the problem to Leah’s descendants, which are said to include 33 souls, but only 32 are listed. It is this observation that led the sages to identify the concealed 70th soul (the 33rd from Leah) with Yocheved, who was born as they entered Egypt. Interestingly, Yocheved (דֶבֶכֹיו) is hinted to in the first word of our reading, which introduces the entire list, “And these” (הֶּלֵאְו), as the two words have the same numerical value, 42.
Another option presented by the commentaries is that the missing soul is not among Leah’s 33 descendants, but part of the general list with 70 souls. In that case, the commentaries identify the missing soul with Jacob himself.
If we calculate the numerical number of all the numbers spelled out as words in our reading, we will find: “Leah thirty-three” (שֹלָׁשְים וִשֹלְׁה שָאֵל) equals 1352; “Zilpah sixteen” (הֵרְׂשֶ עׁשֵׁה שָפְּלִז) equals 1297; “Rachel fourteen” (רָׂשָה עָעָּבְרַל אֵחָר) equals 1086; Bilhah seven (הָעְבִׁה שָהְלִּב) equals 419; Jacob sixty six (שֵׁשְים וִּשִׁב שֹקֲעַי) equals 1438; Joseph two (םִיַנְׁף שֵסֹיו) equals 556, and finally “Jacob seventy” (יםִעְבִׁב שֹקֲעַי). The sum of all these is 6752, which is the product of 422 and 16, where 422 is the value of “seventy” (יםִעְבִׁש)!
One final point: adding 422 and 16 gives us 438, the value of the names of Jacob’s four wives: “Leah Zilpah Rachel Bilhah” (הָהְלִּל בֵחָה רָפְּלִה זָאֵל).
(from Einayich Breichot BeCheshbon, pp. 242-245)
