In this study I would like to understand the significance of the number forty-two (42). The meaning of the number forty-two is very profound. This number is at the root of creation and affects our lives directly. Each particular number has a unique meaning that speaks to it’s significance, and forty-two is no different. Whenever we speak of the significance of numbers, we are speaking of a mystical meaning which must be explained in the physical world, yet it requires a teacher to lead us to understand its significance.

As we begin this fascinating study of the number forty-two, please keep in mind that Chazal[1] have taught that every occurrence of the number forty-two, and indeed every other number, is related to every other occurrence, whether in the Tanach[2] or within the natural world. Thus a great deal of insight can be gained by comparing and analyzing different sets of forty-two.

We find the number forty-two in many places, sometimes this number is revealed by being mentioned explicitly, and sometimes this number is concealed in a list of forty-two items which are not enumerated. This revelation and concealment hints to a man who is revealed to the world when he goes out, and to a woman who is concealed within the home that she builds for her family. Penultimately the mission of these two is to become one. Ultimately, the mission of the entire world is to become one with HaShem.

To help us begin to understand this number, lets start with a working definition that we shall expand as we study. Forty-two signifies a new, unified creation that is a process with components.

בם is also an allusion to the Written and the Oral Torah. The ב represents the Written Torah which begins with a ב. The מ represents the Oral Torah which begins with a מ.

Forty-two is expressed in Hebrew as: Mem Bet - מב. To understand this number, we must first understand its components: Mem - מ and Bet ב, forty and two.

Forty – Mem מ

Every time one finds the number forty in Torah, its inner meaning is the ascent from one level to the next higher one. For example: We get a new mission at forty. But the attainment of a higher level can come only after first reaching and fulfilling all aspects of the previous level, and then making an emptiness in the middle to allow for the emergence of something entirely new.

Forty finds perfection in mikveh[3] which has forty seahs of water and is spelled with two mems: מם. The word for “water” is mayim. The immersion in the mikveh is a return to the state we had in Gan Eden, a state where a man composed of male and female parts could walk with HaShem in the garden.

Forty is composed of 4 X 10, of י X ד.

The fact that forty is four times ten means that we need to understand a bit about these two numbers, in order to complete our understanding of the number forty-two.

Ten is a unity made up of parts. The nature of the parts is subsumed into the nature of the unity. This explains how a minyan of ten men in the synagogue becomes a spiritual entity at prayer time. A minyan is an entity capable a saying kaddish and other special prayers that can only be said when a congregation of at least ten men is present.

The Kaddish sanctifies the great name of HaShem, that is the great name of forty-two letters. The Kaddish is composed of units of four and ten and twenty-eight words or letters; 4+10+28 = 42. The Kaddish is the means for the elevation of the Bne Israel from one stage to the next in their journey of life, leading ultimately to Olam Haba, the world to come.

We learned in our study of the Temple that the body of Mashiach is a body composed of the righteous of Israel. This body is a unity composed of parts. The body is composed of Israel and the head is Mashiach. This is the ultimate expression of ten: A unity made of parts.

The number four signifies completion or fullness.

Now four times ten equals forty; so a complete category of being, or world, has forty aspects. In other words, forty represents the completion of a whole mode or way of being, and when one passes the number forty, One leaves that mode of being behind and enters an entirely different level, he enters another world. One gets an entirely new mission when he turns forty.

Forty thus hints to the completion of a messianic mission that results in a man who has been born again.

At this point we should have a reasonable understanding of the number forty. Now lets examine the last component of the number forty-two.

Two – Bet ב

The second letter of the Hebrew alef-bet, bet - ב, mirrors the symbolism of the number two. It is called Bet. The letter bet ב is the picture of a house with an open door. This letter is the first letter of the Torah and of the book of Bereshit (Genesis). Like the number two, bet stands for the beginning of man’s journey. If we look at the number two in a positive sense, it stands for man, his realm and all that was created by HaShem for man’s benefit. If we look at it in a negative light, two stands for all that is separate or opposed to HaShem.

The number one implies that there exists but a single reality. It suggests absolute conformity. The number two represents separation, division, and disunity (the two items have undone that unity that existed when there was only one item). Two represents right and left, giving versus restraint. The number three, however, finds an underlying unity between disparate entities. Thus the thirteenth hermeneutic rule of Ishmael expresses this resolution as: When two Biblical passages contradict each other the contradiction in question must be solved by reference to a third passage.

The number two is expressed as the female dimension (she can double herself – Thus the duplicated organs of the body are expressed in Hebrew by a feminine gender).

Why did the Torah start with the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet and not the first? In his masterwork “The Wisdom in the Hebrew Alphabet”, Hakham M. L. Munk explains that the Hebrew letter “bet” with its numerical value of two: Symbolizes our world, since everything earthly is embedded in plurality. All that was created for man’s use came in pairs:

The Torah – WRITTEN and ORAL;

The Commandments – ‘Mitzvot’ – POSITIVE and NEGATIVE precepts;

The Intermediaries – MOSHE and AHRON;

The World – HEAVEN and Earth;

The Luminaries – SUN and MOON;

Human – MALE: ADAM and FEMALE: EVE;

Two Tablets – BETWEEN MAN and GOD and BETWEEN MAN and his NEIGHBOR;

Two Drives and Two Hearts – The EVIL Inclination and the GOOD Inclination;

Two Worlds – THIS WORLD – ‘OLAM HAZEH’ and THE WORLD TO COME – ‘OLAM HABAH’

Torah teaches us that everything, at all levels, comprises pairs: A giver and a receiver.

At this point we understand the basic meaning of forty-two as expressed by the Hebrew letters. Now, lets look to see where we find the number forty-two to see how this definition is expressed in this world.

Journeys of the Bne Yisrael

There were forty-two camping places, or stages, to our journey in the wilderness, as detailed in Bamidbar (Numbers) chapter 33. You can read the details by referring to a previous study titled: Stages.

Leaving Egypt to reach Eretz Israel was a process of elevation (aliyah) and the forty-two letter name helped the Jews in this endeavor.

Degel Mahane Ephraim

Sefat Emet

Tiferet Shelomo

Mei Hashiloach

Y Y Y

Notice the following verses from Bamidbar (Numbers) chapter 33:

"They journeyed from Ra'amses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the month of the first month, on the day after the Pesach; Benei Yisrael left with a high hand in the sight of all of Egypt. And the Egyptians were burying those whom God had smitten - all the firstborn; and God had also executed judgments upon their gods" (3-4).

"They journeyed from Sukkot and encamped at Eitam, which is on the edge of the wilderness" (6).

"They journeyed from Eitam and turned back to Pi ha-Chirot, which faces Ba'al Tzefon, and they encamped in front of Midgal" (7).

"They journeyed from before [Pi] ha-Hirot and passed through in the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and they walked a distance of three days in the wilderness of Eitam, and encamped at Mara" (8).

"They journeyed from Mara and came to Eilim, and in Eilim there were twelve fountains of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there" (9).

"They journeyed from Alush and encamped at Refidim, and there was no water there for the nation to drink" (14).

Middle Section verses 15 through 35

"They journeyed from Etzion Gever and encamped in the wilderness of Tzin, which is Kadesh" (36).

"They journeyed from Kadesh and encamped at Hor ha-Har, on the border of the land of Edom" (37).

"Aharon the Kohen ascended to Hor ha-Har, according to God's word, and he died there in the fortieth year after Benei Yisrael came out of the land of Egypt, in the fifth month, on the first of the month" (38).

"And Aharon was a hundred and twenty-three years old when he died at Hor ha-Har" (39)

"The Canaanite king of Arad, who dwelled in the Negev, in the land of Canaan, heard that Benei Yisrael were coming" (40).

"They journeyed from Ovot and encamped at Iyei ha-Avarim, on the border of Moav" (44)

"They journeyed from Almon-Divlataima and encamped in the mountains of Avarim, before Nevo" (47)

"They journeyed from the mountains of Avarim and encamped on the plains of Moav on the Yarden, near Yeriho" (48).

"They encamped on the Yarden, from Beit ha-Yeshimot to Avel-ha-Shittim, on the plains of Moav" (49)

Even a cursory glance at the above, reveals that the entire middle section, verses 15-35, follows the standard format. All the deviations are concentrated in the first fourteen verses and in the fourteen verses at the end. The deviations - additions, elaborations - emphasize the departure from Egypt and entering the uninhabited desert, on one hand, and then finally, after a lengthy stay in the desert, once again returning to civilization, specifically Eretz Yisrael.

Thus the forty-two stops are divided into three sets. Each set contains fourteen verses.

Verses 1-14

14 total verses.

Verses are non-standard in that they contain more details.

Verses 15-35

14 total verses.

Verses in standard format with no extra details.

Verses 36-49

14 total verses.

Verses are non-standard in that they contain more details.

From the above table we see forty-two comprised of three sets of fourteen. Thus we see the same pattern we will see in the genealogy of Mashiach, the korbanot of Balak, the Midrash of the Egyptian famine, and in the forty-two letter name of HaShem.

These were the journeys of the Bne Israel as they moved from this world of constriction[4] to the world of Gan Eden [5]. These journeys are also the same stages that every Jew experiences as he moves through life. These are journeys where the Bne Israel, and every Jew, were to work on themselves to prepare to be born again. That is why they were in the wilderness for forty years[6].

How do we know that they were to be born again? As we learned in our study of the number forty, when one is immersed in the mikveh, one is returning to the state of his creation in Gan Eden. This was a state of sinlessness that allowed man (Adam) to walk with HaShem in Gan Eden.

Bamidbar chapter 33 contains within it a summary of the entire forty years that the Bne Israel were in the desert, including all the locations the Bne Israel camped at, forty-two in all, starting with Ramses.

At first thought, the number forty-two may not be significant, but the Pri Tzadik points out that forty-two is the number of letters found in the special and holy Name of HaShem that prophets used to pronounce and meditate on when going into a state of prophecy. Therefore, the Pri Tzadik teaches, these forty-two stops correspond to this forty-two letter Name.

What is the significance of this correspondence?

We know that each camp the Bne Israel established throughout their forty years in the desert was not merely a place to become rejuvenated; they were places to become reJEWvenated. In other words, each journey represented a new path to an even higher level of spiritual growth and connection to Torah, and each camp was the time and place to integrate that new level. This way, when it came time to leave, the Bne Israel were a new people, or, rather, the same people on a higher level. This was a process of growth that was to continue until the Bne Israel, simultaneously, reached perfection and the Land of Israel. The goal of the growth was to enable us to return to Gan Eden, The Promised Land!

This, the Pri Tzadik points out, is also an analogy for life. Everyone has forty-two "stops" to make on his way to personal spiritual completion, for which he was put here on the earth. What that forty-second level will look like for each person will be different, but it means the same thing for all of us: Spiritual completion. The completion that comes from the two becoming one, the completion of a mission of creation.

The Zohar understands the recounting of these forty-two stations on a mystical level.

Soncino Zohar, Bereshit, Section 1, Page 30a - AND THE EARTH WAS VOID AND WITHOUT FORM. This describes the original state-as it were, the dregs of ink clinging to the point of the pen-in which there was no subsistence, until the world was graven with forty-two letters, all of which are the ornamentation of the Holy Name.

According to the Kabbalah, HaShem brought the world into being by virtue of the first forty-two letters of the Torah, the forty-two building blocks or stages of creation. The forty-two stages of travel, in Bamidbar chapter 33, echo the genesis of the world and reflect a second process of creation, one that lasted forty years. In recounting the forty-two journeys, Moses now tells the Bne Israel that, in fact, a new creation has occurred. The creation of the nation has paralleled the creation of the world.[7]

Owned by	HaShem
Previously owned by	Egyptians
Between	Egypt and Israel
Chased by	Egyptians
Taught by	HaShem
Type of	Exile

This leads us to The Name that contains forty-two letters.

The forty-two letter Name[8]

Forty-two is the number with which HaShem creates the Universe in Kabbalistic tradition. This is based on an understanding that the first forty-two letters of the Torah contain one of HaShem’s names. The divine name consisting of forty-two letters was thought by Abulafia[9] to be derived from the first forty-two letters of Bereshit, which starts with the letter bet and ends with the letter mem. Mem bet being the way we represent forty-two when using Hebrew letters, as we saw previously.[10]

The forty-two letter Name is the force behind the mitzva for a man to marry and have children, because children are created by marital union.

The Talmud also speaks of this forty-two letter name:

Kiddushin 71a Rab Judah said in Rab's name: The forty-two lettered Name is entrusted only to him who is pious, meek, middle-aged, free from bad temper, sober, and not insistent on his rights. And he who knows it, is heedful thereof, and observes it in purity, is beloved above and popular below, feared by man, and inherits two worlds, this world and the future world.

The early commentators say that the forty-two letters are simply derived from the first forty-two letters of the Torah. You may find other possibilities if you count letters of the beginning of the creation story in different ways. The Name is either a particular combination of forty-two letters, known to the Kabbalists from traditional writings, or the name "I Am that I Am", which comes out to 42 in gematria. In any case, the letters of the creation story have become moments of sexual union within the divine life.

The forty-two letter name is written as fourteen sets of three letters, as in the following example[11]:

אב"ג ית"ץ קר"ע שט"ן נג"ד יכ"ש בט"ר צת"ג חק"ב טנ"ע יג"ל פז"ק שק"ו צי"ת

So again we see this association of the numbers three and fourteen with the number forty-two.

The forty-two letter name is also found in a permutation of the first forty-two letters of the Torah. Thus the forty-two letter name is associated with creation.

Torah is the blueprint for creation. As such, it should come as no surprise to learn that there are forty-two lines in each column of Torah text [12]. Our Hakhamim mandated this number based on the number of camps found in Bamidbar chapter 33. Thus every page hints to its role in creation, in the forty-two journeys, and with man’s reconciliation.

In The Midrash

The Midrash also speaks of forty-two years made up of three sets of fourteen years:

Midrash Rabbah - Genesis LXXXIX:9 THE SEVEN GOOD KINE ARE SEVEN YEARS, etc. (XLI, 26). R. Judah said: [The dreams] betokened fourteen years [of famine and plenty respectively], since Pharaoh saw it thus.[13] R. Nehemiah said: Twenty-eight years of each, since Pharaoh dreamt thus and narrated thus to Joseph.[14] The Rabbis said: Forty-two years were intended, since Pharaoh dreamed, recounted his dreams to Joseph, and Joseph repeated them to Pharaoh.[15]

In Our Prayers

The prayers found in the siddur contain several profound uses of the number forty-two. Whether in the number of words or letters, forty-two is an integral building block used by the prayers to achieve results.

In the Shema

In the verse Shema Israel