Kabbalah of Numbers: Meanings of Numbers 1–13, 33, 44, 68

What Is the "Kabbalah of Numbers"

"Kabbalah of numbers" is a popular Russian-language name for two phenomena that should not be confused. First, it is book titles on numerology: Avessalom Podvodny, Sepharial, and Evgeny Kolesov all have books titled "Kabbalah of Numbers." Second, it is the interpretation of individual numbers — "kabbalah number meanings" that people search for in queries like "number 68 in kabbalah" or "number 13 in kabbalah." It is the second meaning that this article addresses.

The classical Kabbalah — a religious-mystical current of Judaism — does not give "portraits" of each number, like Pythagorean numerology: here numbers are significant primarily as letter values (gematria) and elements of structures — the ten sefirot, the twenty-two letters, the thirty-two paths of wisdom. Extended "characterizations" of numbers are a feature of Western esoteric numerology of the twentieth century (Sepharial) and modern authorial courses (Podvodny). More on the Kabbalah as a tradition and on gematria in the articles Kabbalah and Gematria in Numerology and "Gematria."

Below is a cheat-sheet table of the classic structural numbers of the Kabbalah (details in the system article Kabbalah and Gematria in Numerology):

Numbers 1–9: Planetary Numbers According to Sepharial

The first systematic set of single-digit number meanings under the name "Kabbalah" in the Western tradition is the book by the British astrologer and numerologist Sepharial (pseudonym of Walter Gorn Old) The Kabala of Numbers (first edition — 1911; scan on Internet Archive — 1920 edition). The book is in the public domain, full text available on Internet Archive. In the introduction, the author calls the science of numbers the oldest, links numbers with planetary influences, and gives the formula "God geometrises."

In the first chapter, citing John Heydon (Holy Guide, 1662), Sepharial gives planetary correspondences for numbers. The Sun and Moon have two numbers each: "positive" and "negative":

The days of the week are connected with these numbers: Sunday — Sun, Monday — Moon, Tuesday — Mars, Wednesday — Mercury, Thursday — Jupiter, Friday — Venus, Saturday — Saturn.

A technique common with Western numerology is reducing a multi-digit number to a single digit: so, 1911 and 1920 in Sepharial give 12, that is 3 (1911 = 1+9+1+1 = 12 = 3).

Important: Sepharial's planetary numbers are his system, and it does not correspond to the number card correspondences on this site (in the Pythagorean school, one is connected with the Sun, seven with Saturn according to Agrippa's classic scheme or with Neptune in Cheiro's account, and five with Mercury; in Sepharial, however, 4 is a "negative" number of the Sun, and 7 is a "positive" number of the Moon). We do not smooth over contradictions between schools. Moreover, the attribution "Kabbalah" here is conditional: this is Western esoteric numerology of the twentieth century, only nominally referencing the Kabbalah.

Number 13 in the Kabbalah

In the classical Kabbalistic and Jewish tradition, 13 is one of the most meaningful numbers:

• thirteen attributes of God (middot) enumerated in the Torah in the book of Exodus;
• bar mitzvah — the achievement of religious adulthood for boys at age 13;
• thirteen principles of faith formulated by Maimonides;
• thirteen hermeneutical rules for interpreting the Torah attributed to Rabbi Ishmael;
• gematria of the word "echad" ("one", אחד): Alef = 1, Chet = 8, Dalet = 4, total 1+8+4 = 13.

Thus, thirteen is the number of God's unity and a key node of the Jewish tradition. These meanings are elaborated in the article Kabbalah and Gematria in Numerology.

According to Sepharial, however, 13 is "The Reaping Skeleton" (The Reaping Skeleton), that is Death: the author calls it one of the most fatal numbers in all twenty-two Major Arcana of the Tarot (along with 16). This is his Tarot-Kabbalah of cycles, not the classical Kabbalah — in Sepharial's article this interpretation is presented as his authorial system.

Kabbalah Number Meanings: 33, 44, and 68

Number 33 in the Kabbalah: Lag BaOmer

The classic connection of the number 33 in the Jewish tradition is the holiday Lag BaOmer. In the abbreviation ל"ג, the letters Lamed (30) and Gimel (3) give 33: this is the 33rd day of the omer count — the period between Passover and Shavuot, observed on 18 Iyar. According to Kabbalistic custom of assigning sefirot to the days of the omer count, the 33rd day — the fifth day of the fifth week — corresponds to the sefirah Hod she-be-Hod. The status of this specific attribution in encyclopedic sources requires verification (see "Controversial and Gaps").

The popular Russian-language interpretation "33 — the number of letters in the Russian alphabet" is a private observation without encyclopedic sources; it is mentioned here only as "according to one of the popular versions." More on the number 33 in Western numerology (master number, "age of Christ") on the number 33 card.

Number 44 in the Kabbalah

No separate Kabbalistic meaning of the number 44 is recorded in verified open sources (Russian and English Wikipedia, Jewish Encyclopedia). In popular practice, 44 is connected with the word "dam" (דם, "blood") by calculation using the standard Hebrew letter value table: Dalet = 4, Mem = 40, sum 4+40 = 44. The letter value table itself is an established fact (see Gematria — Wikipedia), but the semantic link "44 = blood" is not confirmed by written sources and belongs to popular practice.

Number 68 in the Kabbalah: "Chayyim" — "Life"

Similarly, 68 is the most frequent query in the cluster ("number 68 in kabbalah" — approximately 97 impressions per month). There are no classical Kabbalistic interpretations of 68 in open encyclopedias; popular practice connects 68 with the word "chayyim" (חיים, "life") by the table: Chet = 8, Yod = 10, Yod = 10, Mem = 40, sum 8+10+10+40 = 68.

An additional caveat: in Podvodny's book, the interpretations cover numbers from 1 to 66, so 68 is not covered even by this popular source. The link "68 = chayyim = life" is confirmed only by calculation using the table; no authoritative written source introducing this correspondence has been found in verified open encyclopedias.

Numbers 4, 11, and 7 in the Kabbalah

Three numbers most frequently linked to the Kabbalah in queries also have classical support:

• 4 — the number of the Tetragrammaton, the four-letter name of God (יהוה). See number 4.
• 11 — according to Cornelius Agrippa, "exceeds ten, the number of the commandments, but does not reach twelve, the number of grace and perfection," therefore it is called the number of sinners and penitents. See number 11.
• 7 — the sacred seven: seven days of creation and the week, the seven-branched menorah; according to midrash, "all sevens are beloved." See number 7.

Books "Kabbalah of Numbers"

The query "kabbalah of numbers" in Yandex (approximately 426 impressions per month) leads primarily to books. Here are the main bibliographic facts.

Sepharial, The Kabala of Numbers

Sepharial (Walter Gorn Old, 1864–1929) — British astrologer, numerologist, and author of occult works; according to the English-language Wikipedia, Walter Gorn Old was born on March 20, 1864, in Handsworth and died on December 23, 1929, in Hove (dates confirmed by the Russian edition annotation on LiveLib). The Kabala of Numbers was first published in 1911 (according to English Wikipedia); the scan on Internet Archive is the 1920 edition. The book consists of 19 chapters, including "The Power of Numbers," "Various Methods of Kabalism," "The Significance of Numbers" (chapter XI), and "God Geometrises." Full text in the public domain — on Internet Archive. Russian editions are reflected in the LiveLib catalogue: "Kabbalah of Numbers. Numerology" (trans. N. Dorofeyev, 2001, ISBN 5-89395-148-4) and "Kabbalah of Numbers" (2008, ISBN 5-98857-127-1).

Avessalom Podvodny, Kabbalah of Numbers

Avessalom Bonifatyevich Podvodny — pseudonym of Alexander Georgievich Kamensky, born May 11, 1953, in Moscow, educated as a mathematician (Moscow State University); Russian writer, poet, philosopher, esoteric, psychologist, and astrologer, author of more than 40 books on astrology, psychology, and esotericism (data from the author's page in the open bibliographic catalogue LiveLib; no independent sources besides LiveLib found in open access — see "Controversial and Gaps").

The book "Kabbalah of Numbers" was first published in 1990 (according to LiveLib; discrepancies in other catalogues are possible), republished by Veligor in 2005, ISBN 5-88875-048-4 and 5-902-323-05-3. According to the publisher's annotation (paraphrased), it is a modern numerology course on a Neoplatonic foundation: numbers from 1 to 66 receive authorial interpretations, the material borders on astrology and magic.

Important. This is an authorial numerology system, not a source on the classical Kabbalah or gematria. Exact interpretations of numbers from the book are copyrighted text; only the general outline is given here, without quotations or close paraphrasing.

Evgeny Kolesov, "Kabbalah of Numbers, or the Joke Is on Us"

The LiveLib catalogue also has a book by Evgeny Kolesov "Kabbalah of Numbers, or the Joke Is on Us" — another example of the use of the title in Russian-language esoteric literature. Detailed content is not documented in open sources; here it is a bibliographic fact.

Differences from Gematria and Other Numerology Systems

Four closely related practices are easily confused:

• Gematria — a method of Jewish exegesis: Hebrew letters are converted to numbers, the word sum is calculated, and words with equal sums are declared symbolically connected. The object — words and names. More: the article "Gematria."
• "Kabbalah of Numbers" (popular) — interprets the numbers themselves, without necessarily referring to words: "the number 68 means life," "13 — the attributes of God." This is the subject of this article.
• Pythagorean numerology — works with dates of birth and names, reduces them to a single digit and describes character. See the Pythagorean system.
• Chaldean system — a private reconstruction of the early twentieth century (Cheiro), attributing the alphabet to the "Chaldeans" and working "by vibration" of letters; has nothing to do with the classical Kabbalah.

If you need to calculate the gematria of a word — you will need the Hebrew letter value table (gematria calculator); if you are looking for "the meaning of a number by kabbalah" — this is the subject of this article, but most such meanings come from popular books, not from the classics.

Criticism and Status

The classical Kabbalah does not give extended "portraits" of each number — extended interpretations of 1–66 and planetary correspondences belong to authorial systems (Podvodny, Sepharial) and in this article are presented as such: "according to one of the popular versions." From a scientific standpoint, numerology in general is considered pseudoscience: skeptical experiments in Great Britain (1993) and Israel (2012) did not confirm the predictive power of numerological methods. Everything presented is "according to tradition," not established scientific facts.

Controversial and Gaps

A section for honesty: what is weakly confirmed or not confirmed at all.

• Numbers 68 and 44. The meanings "chayyim = life" (68) and "dam = blood" (44) are confirmed only by calculation using the standard Hebrew letter value table (the table itself is a fact from Wikipedia). No classical Kabbalistic interpretations of these numbers have been found in open encyclopedias; no written sources introducing the links "68 = life" and "44 = blood" exist. Both meanings are marked as popular practice, not canon.
• Biography of Avessalom Podvodny. There is no separate article about him in Russian Wikipedia (the page is absent; API search yields only a mention in the article "Egregor"). Biographical data are verified against the author's page on LiveLib (born May 11, 1953, Moscow; graduated from MSU, mathematician; more than 40 books); no independent sources besides LiveLib found in open access.
• Dating of Podvodny's book. LiveLib indicates 1990 as the year of the first edition and 2005 for the Veligor reprint; discrepancies in other catalogues are possible.
• Biography of Sepharial. The dates 1864–1929 are confirmed by the English-language Wikipedia article "Sepharial" (Walter Gorn Old, March 20, 1864, Handsworth — December 23, 1929, Hove) and the Russian edition annotation on LiveLib. Bibliographic clarification: the first edition of The Kabala of Numbers — 1911, the archive.org scan — 1920 edition.
• 33 and "Hod she-be-Hod." The attribution of the 33rd day of the omer to the sefirah Hod she-be-Hod is given in English Wikipedia without a direct footnote; the status of the correspondence requires verification.
• Sepharial's planetary numbers ≠ Pythagorean. Sepharial's table (Sun = 1 and 4, Moon = 7 and 2) differs from the Pythagorean correspondences in the number cards — the contradiction between schools is recorded, not smoothed over.
• "33 letters of the alphabet" — a private Russian-language interpretation without encyclopedic sources.
• Slug discrepancy. In the early brief of the system article Kabbalah and Gematria in Numerology, this article appeared under the slug kabbalah-numbers; the current specification fixes the slug kabbalah-chisel — the SEO editor should align the related field on the ready page.

See Also

• Kabbalah and Gematria in Numerology — system article on Kabbalistic numerology and gematria
• Pythagorean Numerology — Western school with which Kabbalah number interpretations are compared
• Gematria Calculator — online calculation of a word's gematria using the Hebrew letter value table
• Number 4 — the Tetragrammaton and the four-letter name of God
• Number 7 — the sacred seven in the Jewish tradition
• Number 11 — the number of sinners and penitents according to Cornelius Agrippa
• Number 33 — master number and "age of Christ" in Western numerology