The Significance of the Number Fifteen
By Hillel ben David (Greg
Killian)
In this study I would like to examine the significance and meaning of
the number fifteen
(15). I have discovered that we always
find fifteen
in places of holiness and redemption, but I am
getting ahead of myself. Let’s start at the beginning.
Fifteen, in Hebrew, can be expressed with the letters yod (h) and a hey (v):
h =
10
v = 5
Normally we do not use the yod-hey - יה
(Kah) to express the number fifteen (10 + 5) as it
is one of the names of HaShem. Thus, the world was created with the
concept of fifteen.
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 26:4 for within
Kah-
יה
is HaShem,
the rock of the universe.
Longstanding tradition is to avoid the straightforward way of writing
the number fifteen. Accordingly, fifteen is written as tet-vav - טו: Nine+six. HaShem's
Name, as it were, is hidden within the number fifteen.
We could also retranslate the above pasuk as:
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 26:4 With the word kah
HaShem created the world.
The word kah, spelled with a yud and a hey, equals in gematria fifteen. Thus, the world
was created with the concept of fifteen.
Yet, the word kah only represents
half of HaShem’s Name. HaShem’s kingship will only be
fully revealed when Mashiach arrives.
So, if HaShem created the world with fifteen,
then it naturally follows that the world was given to
us as a way of percieving HaShem from this world.
Fifteen always represents the elevation from physical to spiritual. From this we can
understand the Kli Yakar that fifteen is often
used to represent the bond between man and wife,
as we shall soon see.
Bereshit 7:20,24 The
water rose 15 Amot (cubits) above the highest of mountains.... The water
covered the earth for 150 days.
The careful reader of the Torah's account of the great flood is
immediately struck by the recurrence of decimal factors of fifteen in the account.
The waters of the flood rose fifteen Amot above the ground, and they remained there for 150 days. With regard to Noach's Ark, we are told
that it measured 300 Amot in length and 50 in width (Bereshit 6:15). That would
make its floor space 15,000 square Amot. And
since the 30 Amot height of the Ark was divided into three equal compartments,
each compartment measured 150,000 cubic Amot
in volume. Kli Yakar (Bereshit 6:15), noting this interesting recurrence,
explains that the number fifteen indeed has in it a
symbolism that is related to the events surrounding the great flood.
The Kli Yakar adds that the number fifteen, and the Holy Name produced by
yod-hey - יה, often are used to represent the bond between man and wife. For
example, in the Temple a staircase separated between
the Women's Court and the Men's Court (Court of the Israelites). This staircase
consisted of fifteen
steps, upon which the Levite musicians stood and played their musical
instruments durings the Succoth celebrations.
According to some, the fifteen
"Songs of ascent" (Shir HaMaalot) of Tehilim (Psalms. 120-134) were
so called because they were sung on these steps[1]. The fifteen Songs of Ascent
were sung by the Levites while ascending the fifteen stairs in the Beit
HaMakdash, the
The waters of the Mabul (great flood) rose above the highest mountain fifteen amot, to signify
that mankind's activities had been anything but holy, and, had pushed the
Divine Presence, symbolized by the letters yod-hey,
toward heaven and away from man.
The fifteen
cubits represented HaShem's presence above the earth the hundred fifty days
represents the fifteen
permeating all ten aspects of creation.
The Talmud[2] states that a
successful marriage depends upon the inclusion
of HaShem in the relationship, that is, making the marriage Torah based. This is symbolized by the
fact that the word "Ish" (man: aleph-yud-shin) and "Ishah"
(woman: aleph-shin-heh) share common letters:
aleph-shin -- which spells the word for "fire" -- but also have one
letter different from each other: a "yod" in Ish and a
"hey" in Ishah, the letters of which we have been speaking.
The message is quite precise: Remove HaShem from a marriage (i.e.,
symbolized by fifteen, the yod-hey), and you are
left with "fire" (aleph-shin), unholy passion
and a flame that consumes the marriage.
YYY
Fifteen categories of women exempt their rivals from yibum (Positive mitzva
#216 - levirate marriage) and
chalitzah (the shoe-removal
ceremony relieving a brother-in-law of his obligation to marry his widowed
sister-in-law).
Yevamoth 2a
FIFTEEN [CATEGORIES OF] WOMEN EXEMPT THEIR RIVALS1 AND THE RIVALS OF THEIR RIVALS
AND SO ON, AD INFINITUM, FROM THE HALIZAH AND FROM THE LEVIRATE MARRIAGE; AND
THESE ARE THEY: HIS DAUGHTER, THE DAUGHTER OF HIS DAUGHTER7 AND THE DAUGHTER OF
HIS SON; THE DAUGHTER OF HIS WIFE, THE DAUGHTER OF HER SON AND THE DAUGHTER OF
HER DAUGHTER; HIS MOTHER-IN-LAW, HIS MOTHER-IN-LAW'S MOTHER,10 AND HIS
FATHER-IN-LAW'S MOTHER; HIS MATERNAL SISTER, HIS MOTHER'S SISTER, HIS WIFE'S
SISTER AND HIS MATERNAL BROTHER'S WIFE;
The Mishna in Pirkei Avot (5:25)
states "a fifteen
year old begins the study of Gemara."
The Talmud[3] gives us fifteen signs of what the world will be like immediately prior to
the coming of the Mashiach. This pre-Messianic
period is known as the Ikvesa
D'meshicah - the "footsteps of the Messiah", the
time when we believe the Mashiach is just around the corner and his footsteps can be heard.
Here is the list of the signs that signal the Messiah's imminent
arrival, as quoted in the Talmud:
Sotah 49b When the footsteps
of the Messiah
can be heard...
(1) chutzpah (insolence) will increase;
(2) inflation will soar;
(3) the vine will yield its fruit, but wine will be
expensive;
(4) the dominant power in the world will promote the denial
of G-d;
(5) no one will be able to reprove another [for everyone will be guilty
of the same transgressions];
(6) the meeting place (of Torah scholars) will be used for
immorality;
(7) the Galilee will be destroyed, and the Gablan will become desolate;
(8) the people who live on the border will go around begging from
town to town and will not be pitied;
(9) the wisdom of the Torah scholars will rot, and those who fear sin will be
despised;
(10) the truth will be hidden;
(11) young people will shame old men, and old men will stand
up before youngsters, a son will degrade his father, and a daughter will
rebel against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
(12) a man's enemies will be the members of his household;
(13) the face of the generation will be like the face of a
dog;
(14) a son will not be ashamed before his father;
(15) On whom can we rely? On our Father in heaven."
Midrash: Only the living call HaShem by the name of yod-hay; the dead are not allowed
to do so, as the verse says:
Tehillim (Psalms) 115:17 The dead do not praise yod-hay.
It is a rule that the dead never mention HaShem's
two-letter name.[4]
YYY
Fifteen words in the bircat kohanim, the priestly blessings.
bircat kohanim contain three lines
consisting of three, five and seven
words, totaling fifteen
words and fifteen is
the gematria (numerical)
equivalent for the Divine Presence (יה).
Rabbenu Bachya stated that this
sequencing reminds us of the three Patriarchs, the five books of the Torah and the seven days
of the week (or seven dimensions of heaven). The number of letters in each of the three verses of the Priestly
Blessing are also structured mathematically in a sequence of fifteen, twenty and
twenty-five words.
Fifteen is the number of
words in the blessing we say over the Yom Tov candles.
ברוך
אתה יהוה אלוהינו
מלך העולם,
אשר קדשנו
במצותיו
וצונו להדליק
נר של יום
טוב.
Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu,
melekh ha'olam, asher kid'shanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu l'hadlik ner shel Yom Tov.
Blessed are You, Adonai our God, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us
through the mitzvot and has commanded us to kindle the festival lights.
When we light these candles we ascend from the days of work to the day of rest (of the festival). We ascend from the physical world to the spiritual
world.
We also begin our ascent every morning when we pray. One of the very
first parts of shacharit (morning prayers) are the fifteen Birchot
HaShachar (morning blessings). These are the first fifteen of the 100 blessings we will say
during the day. With these blessing we begin to transcend this world and enter
HaShem’s world. The goal of the moring prayers is to make ourselves one with
HaShem.
The moon, an oft used simile for Klal Yisrael, grows daily until it reaches it’s apex on
the fifteenth day of the month. We have
several festivals that occur during this climatic
period.
Pesach is on the fifteenth day
of Nisan.
Succoth is on the fifteenth
day of Tishri.
Tu B’Shevat (Rosh Hashana for fruit trees)
is on the fifteenth day of Shevat.
Tu B’Av is on the fifteenth
day of Av
Shushan Purim is the fifteenth
of the month of Adar (or Adar bet).
The Maharal writes that these festivals are
to teach us that when Klal Yisrael were at their zenith,
they had acquired fifteen levels of holiness
(as enumerated in Dayenu), the ultimate sphere of holiness as represented in HaShem’s name יה.
There are two numbers that play a significant role by the Pesach Seder, which occurs on the fifteenth of Nisan. One number is four,
and the other is fifteen.
The word aviv, spring, equals fifteen in gematria, and Pesach is
referred to as Chag HaAviv, the spring festival.
We declare our praise to HaShem through the
number fifteen, because HaShem redeemed us on the fifteenth
of the month of Nissan
There are fifteen parts of the Pesach seder:
1) Kadesh 6)
Ra-chatza 11) Shulchan Orech
2) Ur-chatz 7)
Motzi 12)
Tzafun
3) Karpas
8) Matzah 13)
Barech
4) Ya-chatz 9)
Maror 14)
Hallel
5) Magid
10) Korech 15)
Nirtzah
As we progress through these fifteen steps of the haggada,
we ascend from this world to the next world even as
the first half of the seder, before dinner, speaks to the past redemption and the second half speaks to the future redemption.
15 steps in the seder song dayenu:
Why are there fifteen stanzas of
Dayenu? The fifteen lines correspond to HaShem's name: Yod and hey - ה
+ י. Yod represents the next world, and
hey represents this world. Fifteen always
represents the elevation from physical to
spiritual.
Five Stanzas of
Leaving Slavery
1) If He
had brought us out of Egypt.
2) If He had executed justice upon the
Egyptians.
3) If He had executed justice upon their
gods.
4) If He had slain their first born.
5) If He had given to us their wealth.
6) If He had split the sea for
us.
7) If He had led us through on dry land.
8) If He had drowned our oppressors.
9) If He had provided for our needs in
the wilderness for forty years.
10) If He had fed us manna.
Five Stanzas of Being With HaShem
11) If He had given us Shabbat.
12) If He had led us to Mount Sinai.
13) If He had given us the Torah.
14) If He had brought us into the Land of Israel.
15) He built the Temple for us.
Note that Dayenu
begins with the words: kamah maalot tovot - how
many good favors has HaShem bestowed upon us.
The song then lists fifteen generous
gifts that HaShem has given us. But the word maalot may not only mean “good favor,” but may
also mean ascent, referring to our ascension from the physical
to the spiritual.
|
Hebrew |
English Translation |
|
אִלּוּ
הוֹצִיאָנוּ
מִמְּצָרִים וְלֹא
עָשָׂה
בָּהֶם
שְׁפָטִים |
If He had brought us out from Egypt, and had not carried out judgments against them |
|
אִלּוּ
עָשָׂה
בָּהֶם
שְׁפָטִים וְלֹא
עָשָׂה
בֶּאֱלֹהֵיהֶם |
If He had carried out judgments against them, and not against their idols |
|
אִלּוּ
עָשָׂה
בֶּאֱלֹהֵיהֶם וְלֹא
הָרַג אֶת
בְּכוֹרֵיהֶם |
If He had destroyed their idols, and had not smitten their first-born |
|
אִלּוּ
הָרַג אֶת
בְּכוֹרֵיהֶם וְלֹא
נָתַן לָנוּ
אֶת
מָמוֹנָם |
If He had smitten their first-born, and had not given us their wealth |
|
אִלּוּ
נָתַן לָנוּ
אֶת
מָמוֹנָם ןלא קָרַע
לָנוּ אֶת
הַיָּם |
If He had given us their wealth, and had not split the sea for us |
|
אִלּוּ
קָרַע לָנוּ
אֶת הַיָּם וְלֹא
הֶעֱבִירָנוּ
בְּתוֹכוֹ
בַּחָרְבָּה |
If He had split the sea for us, and had not taken us through it on dry land |
|
אִלּוּ
הֶעֱבִירָנוּ
בְּתוֹכוֹ
בַּחָרְבָּה וְלֹא
שָׁקַע
צָרֵינוּ
בְּתוֹכוֹ |
If He had taken us through the sea on dry
land, and had not drowned our oppressors in it |
|
אִלּוּ
שֶׁקַע
צָרֵינוּ
בְּתוֹכוֹ וְלֹא
סָפַק
צָרַכְנוּ
בַּמִּדְבָּר
אַרְבָּעִים
שָׁנָה |
If He had drowned our oppressors in it, and had not supplied our needs in the desert for forty
years |
|
אִלּוּ
סְפֵק
צְרָכֵינוּ
בַּמִּדְבָּר
אַרְבָּעִים
שָׁנָה וְלֹא
הֶאֱכִילָנוּ
אֶת הַמָּן |
If He had supplied our needs in the desert
for forty years, and had not fed us the manna |
|
אִלּוּ
הֶאֱכִילָנוּ
אֶת הַמָּן וְלֹא
נָתַן לָנוּ
אֶת
הַשַּׁבָּת |
If He had fed us the manna, and had not given us the Shabbat |
|
אִלּוּ
נָתַן לָנוּ
אֶת
הַשַּׁבָּת וְלֹא
קָרַבְנוּ
לִפְנֵי הַר
סִינִי |
If He had given us the Shabbat, and had not brought us before Mount Sinai |
|
אִלּוּ
קָרַבְנוּ
לִפְנֵי הַר
סִינִי וְלֹא
נָתַן לָנוּ
אֶת
הַתּוֹרָה |
If He had brought us before Mount Sinai, and had not given us the Torah |
|
אִלּוּ
נָתַן לָנוּ
אֶת
הַתּוֹרָה וְלֹא
הִכְנִיסָנוּ
לְאֶרֶץ
יִשְׂרָאֵל |
If He had given us the Torah, and had not brought us into the land of Israel |
|
אִלּוּ
הִכְנִיסָנוּ
לְאֶרֶץ
יִשְׂרָאֵל וְלֹא
בָּנָה
לָנוּ אֶת
בֵּית
הַמִּקְדָּשׁ |
If He had brought us into the land of Israel, and not built for us the Holy Temple |
Notice that the praise of Dayenu[5] takes us from abject slavery to the very throne of HaShem in the Promised land. We progressed from the physical to the spiritual.
Thus we see that fifteen always represents the elevation from
physical to spiritual.
On the festivals, we have a requirement is
to read a minimum of fifteen verses from the
Prophets since fifteen is the minimum number
of verses that must be read from the Torah for the five
persons honored with aliyot.
Galatians 1:18
Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.
Y Y Y
Vayikra (Leviticus) 27:1 And HaShem spake unto
Moses, saying, 2 Speak unto the children
of Israel, and say unto them, When a man shall make a singular vow, the persons
shall be for HaShem by thy
estimation. 3 And thy estimation shall
be of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old, even thy
estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary.
4 And if it be a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels. 5 And if it
be from five years old even unto twenty years
old, then thy estimation shall be of the male twenty shekels, and for the
female ten shekels.
6 And if it be from a month old even unto five years old, then thy
estimation shall be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female thy
estimation shall be three shekels of silver. 7 And if it
be from sixty years old and above; if it be a male, then thy estimation shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female ten
shekels.
YYY
Hosea 3:2 So
I bought her to me for fifteen of silver, and an homer
of barley, and an half homer of barley:
YYY
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 38:5
Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith HaShem, the God of David thy father,
I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.
Midrash Rabbah - Leviticus
X:5 Whence is derived the view of R. Judah b.
Rabbi that prayer effects complete pardon?--From the case of Hezekiah. The
original term of Hezekiah's kingship was only fourteen years, as it is written,
Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, etc. In those days
was Hezekiah sick unto death (Isa. XXXVI, 1 and XXXVIII, 1), but after he
prayed, fifteen years more were given him,
as it is said, Then came the word of the Lord... behold I will add unto thy
days fifteen years (ib. 5).
YYY
Exodus
27:14 The hangings of one side of the gate shall
be fifteen cubits: their pillars three,
and their sockets three.
Ex
27:15 And on the other side shall be
hangings fifteen cubits: their
pillars three, and their sockets three.
YYY
Ex
38:14 The hangings of the one side of the gate
were fifteen cubits; their pillars
three, and their sockets three.
Ex
38:15 And for the other side of the court gate, on
this hand and that hand, were hangings of fifteen
cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three.
YYY
Fifteen generations from Abraham to King Solomon; then fifteen generations from
Solomon until the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash.
There were fifteen who ruled Israel
as judges:
|
Othniel |
(3:7-11) 1st Judge after Joshua's death |
|
Ehud |
(3:12-30) Fought the Moabites |
|
Shagmar |
(3:31) Led Israelites against the Philistines |
|
Deborah |
(4-5) Prophetess, guided Barak to victory over the Canaanites, only
female judge |
|
Gideon |
(6-8) Defeated Midianites with 300 men |
|
Abimelech |
(9) Only judge to win leadership through treachery |
|
Tola |
(10:1-5) Judged Israel for 23 years |
|
Yair |
(10: 1-5) Judged Israel for 22 years |
|
Jepthah |
(10:17-12:7) Defeated Ammonites |
|
Ibzan |
(12:8-15) Judged people for seven years |
|
Elon |
(12:8-15) Judge for ten years |
|
Abdon |
(12:8-15) Ruled for eight years |
|
Samson |
(13-16) Fought Phillistines singlehandedly |
|
Eli |
(1 Samuel 1:9) Priest, ruled people from the sanctuary at Gilo |
|
Samuel |
Last judge before the kingdom came under the rule of Saul |
Abarbanel and Metzudat David say that the number fifteen is a hint of the fifteen prophets who prophesied concerning the redemption of Klal Yisrael at the "end of days." The fifteen
are:
Midrash Rabbah - Genesis XCVII The tribes are enumerated
fifteen times in the Torah [together].
The Bne Israel brought fifteen things
for the building of the Mishkan:
Shemot (Exodus) 25:1 And HaShem spake unto
Moses, saying, 2 Speak unto the children
of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it
willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering. 3 And this is the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and brass, 4 And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair,
5 And rams’ skins dyed red, and badgers’ skins, and shittim wood, 6 Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense, 7 Onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the breastplate. 8 And let them make me a sanctuary;
that I may dwell among them.
Yochanan (John) 11:17 ¶ Then when Yeshua
came, he found that he had lain
in the grave four days already. 18 Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem,
about fifteen furlongs
off: 19 And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them
concerning their brother. 20 Then
Martha, as soon as she heard that Yeshua was coming, went and met him: but Mary
sat still in the house. 21 Then said Martha unto Yeshua, Lord, if thou
hadst been here, my brother had not died. 22
But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give
it thee. 23 Yeshua saith unto
her, Thy brother shall rise again. 24
Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25 Yeshua said unto her, I am the resurrection,
and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in
me shall never die. Believest thou this? 27
She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Mashiach, the Son of God, which should come into the world. 28 And
when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly,
saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee. 29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him. 30 Now Yeshua was not yet come into the town,
but was in that place where Martha met him. 31
The Jews then which were with her in the
house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went
out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep
there. 32 Then when Mary was come where
Yeshua was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if
thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. 33 When Yeshua therefore saw her weeping, and
the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was
troubled, 34 And said, Where have ye
laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. 35 Yeshua wept. 36 Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!
37 And some of them said, Could not this
man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should
not have died? 38 Yeshua therefore again
groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon
it. 39 Yeshua said, Take ye away the
stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this
time he stinketh: for he hath been dead
four days. 40
Yeshua saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest
believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was
laid. And Yeshua lifted up his
eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. 42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but
because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. 43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a
loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 44 And
he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his
face was bound about with a napkin. Yeshua saith unto them, Loose him, and let
him go.
Notice that Lazarus was in Bethany while
Yeshua was in Jerusalem which was fifteen stadia (furlongs) away. This suggests that the distance
between these two cities is the distace between the physical and the spiritual.
Bethany representing the physical (life and death of Lazurus) and Jerusalem representing the physical. This is all the more
apparent when you realize that it was Chanukah and
that Yeshua was in the Temple while Lazarus was dying:
Yochanan (John) 10:22 And it was at Jerusalem the feast
of the dedication, and it was winter.
Chanukah is the festival where we have the
light of creation which is a light which is only spiritual. Thus we see, again,
that fifteen represents the ascent from the
physical to the spiritual.
The Gemara in Sotah tells us the following:
Sotah 17a
Explained Rebbi Akiva: When a man and woman are true to each other, HaShem
rests His Divine Presence between them. (This is attested to by the fact that
the word for man [Ish] and the word for woman, [Isha] are identical except for
the letter "yod" of Ish and the letter "hay" of Isha.
Together, these two letters
spell out one of the Holy Names of HaShem -Rashi.)
If, however, they are not true to each other, a fire
will devour them (since HaShem will remove His Holy Name from between them,
making the words Ish and Isha each into "Esh," or fire -Rashi).
Only the living call HaShem by the name of yod-hay; the dead are not
allowed to do so, as the verse says, "The dead do not praise yod-hay"
(Tehillim 115:17). It is a rule that the dead never
mention HaShem's two-letter name.[7]
The name of yod-hay represents HaShem as He appears to us in this world,
through the veil of nature. This is the yod
of the man and the hay of the woman.
Since all creatures eventually expire, the continued existence of the world is possible only through reproduction. The bond of
man and woman in order to reproduce through marriage
is symbolic of nature in general. It is through such a bond, and the natural
processes that it represents, that HaShem's Presence becomes known in this
world. As the Gemara said, the Divine Presence of
yod-hay rests upon a man and wife who are faithful to each other.
YYY
This study was
written by Hillel ben David
(Greg Killian).
Comments may be
submitted to:
Greg Killian
1101 Surrey Trace SE
Tumwater, WA 98501
Internet
address: gkilli@aol.com
Web page: http://www.betemunah.org/
(360) 584-9352
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Send comments to Greg
Killian at his email address: gkilli@aol.com