Each Hebrew letter is associated with a symbol or image: aleph א is the head of a bull, beth ב is a house, gimmel ג is a camel, daled ד is a door, etc. These symbols were the pictographic forms that are similar to the ancient Phoenician alphabet. In gematrical interpretation, there is a direct relationship between the gematrical value and the concept behind the symbol. The first letter of the alphabet, aleph א, represented by the head of a bull, implies the Age of Taurus at the dawn of civilization. The letter gimmel ג is represented by a camel and becomes significant in the analysis of the camels used in the search for a wife for Isaac.

The slave, the door, and the ear

An example of the association of a symbol with a letter in gematrical interpretation can be seen in the case of ‘the slave, the door and the ear’.

In Exodus 21:2 it states:

If you buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve; and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing: (Ex. 21:2)

It further goes on to say that if the slave who has the opportunity of freedom, refuses, then his master shall bring him to the door and pierce his ear with an awl:

And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: Then his master shall bring him to the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him forever: (Ex. 21:5-6)

Let us examine the meaning behind this text. Door, dalet דלת in Hebrew, is the symbol associated with the letter daled ד which has a gematrical value of 4 (See Table 1). The number four is related to the phenomenal world – the world in which we live.

The word for ‘awl’ or nail in Hebrew is martzeh מרצע, spelled mem-resh-tzadek-ayin and has a gematrical value 40-200-90-70 = 400. As we noted previously 400 is the highest level of spiritual consciousness attainable on this earthly plane.

Therefore, the slave, by wishing to serve his master for all his days, is effectively fixing his spiritual consciousness to the phenomenal world, the 4. The slave is saying: I do not wish to reach the highest level of spiritual consciousness, level 400. I want food in my stomach, a roof over my head, and clothes on my body. This is my contentment.

And why is the nail pierced through the ear? As noted above, the ear is the prime organ through which we receive spiritual knowledge. So, by fixing the ear to the door-post – to the phenomenal world - the slave is saying: ‘I do not need to know more than is inherent in the phenomenal world, or, in terms of the story of Adam and Eve, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is sufficient for my life on this earth.