Some questions:
1. How do you know a gematriya is valid?

If it's in Sha's or rishonim.

And Midrash?

yeah, midrash, too. I was not precise. I meant anywhere in Chazal or earlier [although you'd be had pressed to find gematriyot that pre-date the Greeks], so that includes chazaldik midrash and any and all other chazaldik writings.

Which makes the Ba'al Haturim....?

He was a Rishon. I said sha's [and by that I meant anything chazaldik] and rishonim.

Sorry, I forgot.


What do you do when you hear someone saying a gematriya like America=Pe'or?

Me, personally? I doubt you really want to know.

What is one supposed to do then?

I suppose the proper response would be something like, "Wow. That's incredible. Thank you for saying over that torah and for giving me a lot to think about."

What's the connection b/w Gematriya and the Greeks?

What's the connection b/w Gematriya and the Greeks?

1. the word, gematriya, what language is that word?
2. how come the mishnah shekalim 3:2 describes the use of greek letters as numbers:
3. what is the first recorded use of gematriya using hebrew letters? what's the first Babylonian and Greek use? which came first?

3. I have no clue, but would be interested to hear.

The use of letters to signify numbers was known to the Babylonians and the Greeks. The first use of gematria occurs in an inscription of Sargon II (727–707 B.C.E.) which states that the king built the wall of Khorsabad 16,283 cubits long to correspond with the numerical value of his name. The use of gematria was widespread in the literature of the Magi and among interpreters of dreams in the Hellenistic world. The Gnostics equated the two holy names Abraxas and Mithras on the basis of the equivalent numerical value of their letters (365, corresponding to the days of the solar year). Its use was apparently introduced in Israel during the time of the Second Temple, even in the Temple itself, Greek letters being used to indicate numbers (Shek. 3:2).
In rabbinic literature numerical gematria first appears in statements by tannaim of the second century.