[crystalk]

You don't understand. The Hebrew letters really are the numerals and they do have those values. This is not just a parlor trick. It is called gematria.

Your calculation uses just the ranks in the alphabet, like M is the 13th letter, etc. It has no tradition of equalizing things based upon their numerical letter equivalency, which in Hebrew goes back 3000 yrs.

Show me why the same saying is common in German, in fact German immigrants brought it to America, where it was translated into English. There the word for mud = schlamm, but "Sein Namen ist Schlamm" is still said...Was there a Dr. Schlamm that treated Goethe or someone?

[Marak]

Oh I understand where you are coming from. That does not mean I buy into your theory. The origin of the phrase coming from the Lincoln assassination has some credibility. That is not to say that I would dismiss other theories. Any written reference preceding 1865 would suffice.

As for parlor tricks, would you believe that if you took my phone number and added the digits together it would produce the identical sum as the phone number for the Kmart in Simi Valley?