אור החיים הקדוש

Gematria & the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh

Calculate the numerical value of Hebrew words, learn the Aleph-Bet, and study the Torah commentary of Rabbi Chaim ibn Attar (1696–1743).

Who was the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh?

Rabbi Chaim ibn Attar (1696–1743) was born in Tangier, Morocco, taught in Livorno, Italy, and spent his last years in Jerusalem. His commentary on the Five Books of Moses, called Ohr HaChaim (“Light of Life”), is printed beside the text on almost every page of a Chumash and is studied in yeshivot and homes around the world.

What is gematria?

Every Hebrew letter carries a number — aleph is 1 and tav is 400. A word therefore has a value, and words with the same value are set side by side to look for a link between them. It is a way of studying, not a way of predicting.

What you can learn here

Free tools for beginners and for people who already learn: letter values, vowels and pronunciation, his own commentary on the Torah, and a weekly plan you can tick off.

How to begin

1. Open the gematria calculator and type a Hebrew word, or a number.
2. Learn the letters from aleph to tav, with their vowels and their sounds.
3. Follow the weekly calendar: one passage of the Ohr HaChaim, one exercise, one Torah reading.

Shabbat times, prayer times and the Hebrew calendar

Look up candle lighting, prayer times and the coming holidays for your own location, and see the weekly Torah portions and the yahrzeit of the Ohr HaChaim (15 Tammuz) on a Hebrew calendar.

Common questions

Do I need to know Hebrew to start?

No. The letters page shows every letter with its vowel and its sound, and the calculator can also turn a number back into Hebrew.

Is a gematria result a ruling or a prediction?

Neither. It shows the numerical value of a word and other words with the same value; it is a study aid, not a halachic answer.

Does the site keep an account or store my work?

No account is needed. Your weekly ticks and your saved pages stay on the device you use.