Temura

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Temura ( Hebrew תמורה) is a method of Jewish hermeneutics , along with others like Gematria , Zeruph and Notarikon . In addition, Temura is the title of a mixed natractate from the 5th order Kodaschim . There it is about the exchange of sacrificial animals.

Word meaning

The word Temura denotes both the process and the result of an "exchange" or an "exchange". It is derived from the root מור ( mur ), which means something like "to swap, to change".

The procedure

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The process is relatively simple. You lay out a complete alphabet in a circle and a second in this circle. Now you can twist the inner circle around one or more letters and thus get different keys (Atba; the next Aschbath, then Arbash etc. etc.) Now you write down the word that you want to have explained and look for a key (The wheel must not be turned during the procedure.) The partners corresponding to the individual letters. The word has practically been encrypted. The early users were not concerned with cryptography as we understand it today, but with hermeneutics.

There are also by far more complicated keys. You split the alphabet exactly in the middle, write the first 11 characters on the outer ring, the last 11 in the inner ring and thus get the Atbash , Albat etc. or you turn the direction of the inner alphabet and thus get the Albam, Atbal etc. etc. There are also many other, more complicated keys.

example

From the word יהוה (JHVH - GOD), if you push a letter further, i.e. in Atbah, the consonant sequence כוזו Kusu, which initially has no meaning, but the numerical value 39. As far as the zeruph - the procedure.

The number 39 is written in Hebrew. טל (valley), a word which in turn means "dew" - that is, which falls from the sky. After this word is called the tallit , the prayer shawl of the Jews. The 39 is again the sum of 26 and 13. The first number is the natural numerical value of the Tetragrammaton, the latter of the Hebrew word for unit אחד according to the Gematria of natural numerical values.

literature

  • Marc-Alain Ouaknin: Symbols of Judaism . Brandstätter, Vienna 1995, ISBN 3-85447-587-X .
  • Franz Dornseiff: The alphabet in mysticism and magic . 2nd Edition. Teubner, Leipzig 1925.
  • Jewish Encyclopedy