Hebrew as a memory system: letters, roots and numbers
Living Memory is our research into Hebrew as a way to organise memory. We work in four layers.
1. Letters. Each of the 22 letters has a sound, a shape, a traditional meaning and a number. Bet, for example, means “house” and stands for 2. Dalet means “door” and stands for 4. Learning a letter means learning all four at once, which gives the memory several hooks instead of one.
2. Roots. Most Hebrew words grow from a root of three letters, and a root is a small family of related words. The root K-T-B has to do with writing: katav, he wrote; ktav, handwriting; michtav, a letter. Learn the root and you can recognise the family.
3. Numbers. Each letter has a value, so each word has a total, and the tradition of gematria notices words that share one. K-T-B adds to 20 + 400 + 2 = 422. Echad, “one”, adds to 1 + 8 + 4 = 13, and so does ahavah, “love”. For us this is a memory hook, the way a rhyme is. Two words that share a number are easier to remember together. We do not claim it shows that they share a meaning, and we try not to be carried away when a match feels beautiful.
4. Reshimot. Reshimot means notes or records. It is the name of our private working record, where each lesson or decision is added after the one before it, so that the history cannot be quietly rewritten. The record stays private. What reaches this journal is only a plain summary of the topic, and only after a person has approved it.
Why bother. We want tools for remembering that we can inspect, and a way for a community to keep its own memory in a form anyone can learn.
Our own research notes. Hebrew letter meanings and gematria are traditional methods, not scientific findings.