Remez

The World of Hints

If P’shat is the simple meaning of the text, Remez is the alluded meaning.

For example:

When the Torah discusses the Jewish people’s departure from Egypt, it can be interpreted as an allusion to the future Exodus of Jews from their exile.

This does not mean that the Torah does not mean to tell us about the Exodus from Egypt. It certainly does not suggest that the story of the Exodus should not be taken as fact. What it does mean is that the Torah, when discussing one topic, can also be alluding to another.

There can even be more remote hints. The hint of the Exodus from Egypt to the Exodus from our exile is an allusion of an entire section of the Torah to an entirely different event, albeit with some similarities.

There are other hints that are based on similar words. If the Torah uses a certain term in one place, by applying the method of Remez, it can be compared to another section of the Torah where the same expression is employed. This method is actually one of the thirteen methods of Torah interpretation called “gezeirah shavah.”

Initials

An even more remote type of Remez is the roshei tevot or sofei tevot formula. This means that we can take a series of words and use their initials to find a message to which the text alludes.

Alternatively, we might follow the last letters of a series of words to find the hidden message.

For example:

The first three words of Genesis end with the three letters, aleph, mem and tav, that form the Hebrew word emet, truth. That this word is hinted in the beginning of the Torah is an indication of the Torah’s high regard for and identification with truth.

It is also said to allude to the statement in Psalms: “The head of your word is truth.” This means that at the head or beginning of the Torah one can find an allusion to the word for truth.

Gematria and Torah Codes

Other forms of Remez are the gematria of a word. When two words share the same numerical value, it is an indication of a certain relationship. ** Recently much has been said of the Bible Code, where words and phrases can be found in the Torah by skipping letters.

For example, by taking the first occurrence of the letter tav in the Torah (which appears at the end of the first word “Breishit) and counting fifty letters, one finds the letter vav. When one repeats this exercise two more times (skipping fifty letters and ignoring the space between letters) one can form the word Torah, the very name of the Book.

This pattern can also be found in the beginning of the book of Shmos as well as in Bamidbar and Devarim.

Very often, one can find allusions to totally unrelated matters through this method of skipping letters. For example, references to Maimonides and his works have been found “encoded” in the Book of Exodus where the Torah speaks of Moses and the wonders he performed when he was in Egypt (much like Moses Maimonides who also performed wonders in the Land of Egypt).

In other words, we can even find hints to events and personalities of the future in the Torah.

These messages that can be found are within the framework of Remez, these are allusions in the Torah to totally unrelated subjects and ideas.

Here is not the place to discuss the controversial nature of the Torah codes that have become popular in recent years. I am mentioning this Torah Code only to illustrate the different ways the Torah can hint to other things.

[There are some who have mischaracterized these codes as the “Secrets of the Torah.” These are not secrets. The true secrets are the mystical meanings of the text, the teachings of Kabbalah and Chassidut, as will be explained shortly. The codes are a legitimate approach to Torah interpretation that sees the text alluding to other subjects, but these other subjects may not constitute the secrets of the Torah. It is true that the Kabbalists frequently used Remes to buttress some of their mystical teachings. But Remez, in and of itself, particularly the Torah Codes, do not represent secrets of the Torah.

Another misuse of these Codes is to prove the Divinity of the Torah. It is a mistake to base our belief on the Divinity of the Torah on these codes. The doubter will not accept any proof if he or she is not prepared to accept the Divine origin of the Torah and follow its Divine dictates. While these codes are powerful tools to show the precision of Torah; its main objective is to whet our appetite to study the meat and potatoes of Torah.]

From the book Safe Kabbalah, Part Two: The Fourth Dimension by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.