Gematria: An Enigma Resolved
For years I have been troubled with understanding the ideas behind Gematria. I have no doubt that my difficulty was compounded by the often-trite application by many who use poetic license in their various speeches. So many bar mitzvah boys had their names twisted into a gematria that amazingly matched up with the numerical value of the parshah they leined just minutes before! Ditto for the chasan and kallah during sheva brachos.
