In Parashat Noach verse 11:1 states,
וַיְהִ֥י כׇל־הָאָ֖רֶץ שָׂפָ֣ה אֶחָ֑ת וּדְבָרִ֖ים אֲחָדִֽים׃
Everyone on earth had the same language and the same words.
On this the Ba'al HaTurim comments:
שפה אחת בגימטריא לשון הקדש:
שפה אחת, "one language", in Gematria [this corresponds to] לשון הקדש "the holy tongue" [= Hebrew].
Which would be really nice if it worked…but if you do the actual Gematria, the value of שפה אחת is 794, that of לשון הקדש is 795
How do we understand this? I heard someone want to say that you “add 1” because it’s 1 language but I have a hard time accepting that, especially since he didn’t say that and I haven’t seen this in other Gematrias he has mentioned (would love to see other examples if anyone knows of any)
Thanks
