The Hebrew alphabet consists of 22 consonants, 5 of which are repeated as 'finals,' for a total of 27 (2+7=9) characters and that's it.

There are no vowels, no punctuation marks, no musical notations for public chanting called cantillation, no numerals and no zero. Although the standard Hindu-Arabic numerals are in universal use, the Hebrew letters still function numerically when applied to the Hebrew lunar calendar and for religious purposes. But in antiquity and until the introduction of the Arabic numerals, the Hebrew letters were the sole Jewish means of quantification.

A Hebrew lunar date is given, for example, as Aleph Tishri Hai Tav Shin Nun Tet, 1 Tishri 5000, 700 59. In more familiar terms, Rosh ha-Shanah.

The Hebrew date in the alphanumerics of the alphabet is also to be found inscribed on the ketubah, the traditional 'marriage contract;" on the traditional cemetary monument; on a b'rit, bar- and bat-mitvah certificate; on a Rabbi's semikhah (ordination) certificate; in a traditional get (ritual divorce), and in every other context where a religious aspect is the theme, with or without the civil date appended.

But the letter/numbers serve in another capacity, not quantifica-tion but qualificiation, that is, the use of the nine cardinal numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and their corresponding letters to represent the 9 natural, organic compounds and processes of the Universe and Eternity, the name for both, Oh-lahm, being one and the same. 9 is the constant, there being neither more nor fewer components and processes than these.

This is not numerology; one can conjure or prognosticate with the letter/numbers, say, of one's date of birth or license plate. There is nothing magical, mystical, or metaphysical about them--only a system for understanding the Universe/Eternity in its sources, nature, functions and future.

One can conceivably compare the numbers to Dmitri Mendeleyev's 'Periodic Table of the Elements,' except for the fact that new elements are always in the process of discovery and the chart is by no means permanently and irrevocably fixed, as are the 9 number/letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

Others might be induced to consider the numbers as the equivalent of the 'Four Forces" in physics--gravity, magnetism, the strong and weak forces--except that here, too, there is talk of adding a 'Fifth Force.'

But a valid comparison can be made to the Law of the Conser-vation of Matter, which depicts the Universe as consisting of, or containing, a fixed quantity of energy, neither increased or diminished, and that energy is neither created nor can it be destroyed, only transformed or transferred from one state to another, but never eliminated from the Universe.

This is the story of the alphanumerics of the Hebrew alphabet.

The Alphanumerics

1 - conveyed in the letters Aleph, Yod and Qof = the primal, infinite energy of the Universe; Elohim, 'God'; natural, neutral, non-anthropomorphic; incapable of being 'angered' or 'placated'; the source, essence and wellspring from which all of life and matter derive; but in its pristine form, untamed and amorphous; permanent; En Sof, perpetual, endless, limitless, boundless; extending the limits of reality and potential beyond all scientific investigation and human comprehension; existing to serve and not to be served; immediately available, requiring no intermediary or intervention except its own catalytic agent, as the velocity of light squared is the catalyst for Einstein's energy/mass equivalence.

2 - conveyed in the letters Bet, Kaf and Resh = matter; physical, material, tangible, measurable, quantifiable, qualifiable; the totality of the Universe and Eternity; the organism and senses; all that is, was, and will be in the material sense; all derived from the primal, infinite energy of 1.

3 - conveyed in the letters Gimel, Lamed and Shin = the catalytic agent capable of converting or transforming 1 into 2; matter from the primal, infinite energy of 1. The equivalent of 'velocity of light squared.' Square root of 9 and 1/2 of 6.

4 - conveyed in the letters Dalet, Mem and Tav = the recapitulation of 1 by the process of combining all its component numbers: 4=1+2+3+4=10=1+0=1. Thus is 4 one of Judaism's 'sacred numbers' along with 1 and 7.

5 - conveyed in the letters He, Nun and Final Khaf = Life; in all its forms, aspects, manifestations, qualities, quantities, shapes and sizes.

6 - conveyed in the letters Vav, Samekh and Final Mem = the masculine prinicipal; the male factor in procreation by which the Universe and Eternity were infused with 5, Life.

7 - conveyed in the letters Zayin, Ayin, Final Nun = the second and final recapitulation of 1 by the process of combining all of its component numbers: 7=1+2+3+4+5+6+7=28=2+8=10=1+0=1. Thus is 7 one of Judaism's 'Sacred numbers' along with 1 and 4. 1+4+7=12=1+2=3=1+1+1.

8 - conveyed in the letters Het, Pe and Final Phay =infinity, eternity, immortality, the irrevocable plan and design of the Universe and Eternity and all contained within them; YHVH, Adonai, Shaddai.. 8 from 1; infinity from the primal energy; YHVH from Elohim; the stellar combination of Adonai Elohim; Shaddai from El. 8 nights of Hanukkah lights from the 1 shammash each night, the 'servant' and the source, identical in its consonants to the Hebrew shemmesh, sun. 8+1=9, the 'eternal feminine,' mother and matrix for Universe and Eternity and all that exists within them.

9 - conveyed in the letters Tet, Tsadde and Final Tsadde = the feminine prinicipal; the female factor in procreation by which the Universe and Eternity were infused with the power of 5, Life. 9 is the 'indestructible number' by virtue of the fact that no matter how many times one adds it to itself or multiplies it by itself the sum and product will always be 9. 9+9=18=1+8=9 and so on and on. 9x9=81=8+1=9 and so on and on.

Any number consisting of X digits with one or more 9's in it will yield the same digital root including or excluding the 9 or 9's.

67,985,649,722=65=6+5=11=1+1=2

678,564,722=47=4+7=11=1+1=2

By this system of the digital root, the sum of all digits in any number will always yield a number never less than 1 and never greater than 9.

As for zero, although it is to be found in Arabic, known as sif'r from which is derived the English word cipher, it is called in Hebrew loh k' loom, nothing or nonexistent, and is therefore not part of the Hebrew alphabet and alphanumerics.

The Digital Root

A standard arithmetical procedure in which the digits in any number are added to each other to produce the sum of the digits, as previously demonstrated; the same holds true for 'clusters of letters' called 'words.'