THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS AND NUMERALS.

"And the wheel turns forward" original: 'וחזור הגלגל פנים'. This refers to a mystical technique in the Sefer Yetzirah where letters are arranged in a circle and rotated to find new combinations., the table "turns" in front of each letter, as the pair N-G The letters Nun (נ) and Gimel (ג) "turning" in front of the letter Ayin ע becomes Oneg ענג; a Hebrew word meaning "delight" or "pleasure", and when a letter is added at the end, it is called "and the wheel turns backward" original: 'וחזור הגלגל אחור', the table "turns" behind each letter, as N-G turning behind the Ayin becomes Nega נגע; a Hebrew word meaning "plague" or "affliction." This is a classic example in Jewish mysticism showing how the same letters can represent opposite concepts depending on their order.. Thus, as either Oneg or Nega can be formed from the combination N-G by adding an Ayin, so all the triliteral Roots consisting of three letters. combinations can be made out of the biliteral Roots consisting of two letters. combinations, by adding an additional letter, either at the beginning or at the end of the two-letter pairs, and the quadriliterals Four-letter combinations. from the three-letter ones, and so on, without the necessity of writing the letters anew when new combinations are desired.

How infinite numbers of words are formed out of the twenty-two letters, the Sefer Yetzirah The "Book of Formation," an ancient Jewish text that views the Hebrew alphabet as the building blocks of the universe. demonstrates by permutations The different ways a set of items can be arranged; for example, the letters A and B can be arranged as AB or BA. in which letters never repeat themselves but only change their places. Out of two letters⁶) two biliteral words are formed as: B-A, A-B original: 'בא, אב'. Out of three letters six triliteral words are formed as: G-B-A, G-A-B, B-G-A, B-A-G, A-G-B, A-B-G original: 'גבא, גאב, בגא, באג, אגב, אבג'. Out of four letters 24 quadriliteral words are formed as: A-B-G-D, A-B-D-G, A-G-D-B, A-G-B-D, A-D-B-G, A-D-G-B, G-D-A-B, G-B-D-A, G-B-A-D, G-A-B-D, G-A-D-B, B-D-G-A, B-D-A-G, B-G-D-A, B-G-A-D, B-A-D-G, B-A-G-D, D-G-B-A, D-G-A-B, D-B-G-A, D-B-A-G, D-A-G-B, D-A-B-G These represent all possible arrangements of the first four letters of the Hebrew alphabet: Aleph, Bet, Gimel, and Dalet.. Out of five letters 120 quinqueliteral words are formed, out of six letters 720 six-letter words are formed and out of seven letters 5,040 seven-letter words are formed. The Sefer Yetzirah gives the factorials In mathematics, the product of an integer and all the integers below it. For example, 4 factorial (4!) is 4x3x2x1 = 24. up to that of seven and concludes the Mishnah In this context, a "Mishnah" refers to a specific paragraph or teaching unit within the Sefer Yetzirah. by saying: "Go and count further, what the mouth is unable to pronounce, and the ear is unable to hear."

⁶) See text, § 8.