Hebrew Numerals

Hebrew numerals are an alphanumeric system where letters of the Hebrew alphabet are assigned numerical values. Known as "gematria," this system has been used for centuries in Jewish tradition.

How it works

Letters represent values from 1–9 (units), 10–90 (tens), and 100–400 (hundreds). Numbers are written by combining letters, with the larger values first. A single apostrophe (geresh, ׳) follows single-letter numbers, and a double apostrophe (gershayim, ״) is placed before the last letter of multi-letter numbers.

Special cases

15 and 16 use טו and טז instead of יה and יו to avoid writing God's name.

Units (1–9)

א ב ג ד ה ו ז ח ט

(א=1, ב=2, ג=3, ד=4, ה=5, ו=6, ז=7, ח=8, ט=9)

Tens (10–90)

י כ ל מ נ ס ע פ צ

(י=10, כ=20, ל=30, מ=40, נ=50, ס=60, ע=70, פ=80, צ=90)

Hundreds (100–400)

ק ר ש ת

(ק=100, ר=200, ש=300, ת=400)

Beyond 400

Numbers above 400 are written additively by combining tav (400) with hundreds:

500 = ת״ק = 400 + 100
900 = תת״ק = 400 + 400 + 100

Thousands are written as the units letter followed by geresh:

1000 = א׳
5000 = ה׳

Example

5786 = ה׳תשפ״ו = 5000 + 400 + 300 + 80 + 6