Tell me more ×
Mi Yodeya is a question and answer site for those who base their lives on Jewish law and tradition and anyone interested in learning more. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 2 down vote favorite

According to halacha, when a person says the word "echad" (אחד) in Shema:

בדלי"ת צריך להאריך יותר כדי שיעור שיחשוב שהקב"ה יחיד בעולמו ומושל בד' רוחות העולם

[One should] draw out the dale more [than the Cheis] in order to think that Hashem is one in His world and he rules over the four corners of the world (Shulchan Aruch HaRav 1:61-7).

In Torah Or (נה,ב) the Alter Rebbe of Lubavitch explains that:

ובד' רוחות העולם שהם בחי' ו"ק העולם

...the 4 corners of the world which are on the level of the six directions of the world.

My question is, is there something unique about the number 4 in comparison to 6? In other words, can we learn anything from the number 4 that we would not have learned from 6?

share|improve this question
What's the ק in ו"ק? I take it ו is 6. – Double AA♦ Jan 14 at 3:01
Correct, the ו is 6 and the ק stands for קצוות - directions. – Binyomin Trager Jan 14 at 3:19
3  
It sounds to me like your question should be, why did the Baal haTanya use the number six instead of the number four. The sources that speak of the four directions of the world significantly predate his using the number six instead. – Shimon bM Jan 14 at 6:22
1  
Which additional two directions are you (and the Rebbe) referring to? If it's up and down, that's probably included in the "ches". – Shraga Jan 14 at 9:27
The Chei's refers to the 7 raki'im plus the physical world as a whole, but not directions within the physical world. – Binyomin Trager Jan 14 at 13:01
show 3 more comments

1 Answer

up vote 0 down vote

Without doing too much research, it may be based on this statement from the Shulchan Aruch HaRav, based on the Tur who in turn is quoting the Rosh (Orach Chaim 61:6), regarding the Dalet in the word Echad:

ויש נוהגין להטות הראש כפי המחשבה מעלה ומטה ולד' רוחות

Also, and I'd like to preface this with the disclaimer that I don't really know what I'm talking about, but you can draw a cube just using 4 corners.

cube with corners numbered

To (try and) explain. Every corner of a cube is made up of 3 edges. For example, in the picture above, corner 0 is made up of 3 edges: 5-0 ; 0-3 ; 0-7

So by starting with just 4 corners (i.e. 0,2,4,6), you could draw a whole cube. Or in other words, with 4 corners you have 6 directions.

Or perhaps, more simply, 4 directions is 2 dimensional, while adding up and down makes it 3 dimensional.

share|improve this answer
(Your last point is what Fred pointed out earlier in his last comment judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/24572/… ) – Double AA♦ Jan 15 at 18:37
@DoubleAA: It was all greek to me :) – Menachem Jan 15 at 22:19
1  
BTW You don't need 4 corners to make a cube. Once you have 3 corners the last corner is fixed, so you don't need to define it. 3 corners = 3 dimensions. – Ariel Mar 20 at 7:35
@ariel: but to draw it you need all 4 corners. – Menachem Mar 20 at 12:42
@Menachem To draw it you need 8 corners. Or 12 lines. What does the 4th corner give you the 3rd didn't? – Ariel Mar 20 at 20:52

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.