Category: Passover

At Pesach, the number four features heavily: four names for the holiday; four languages of redemption; four cups; four questions; and four children (often called “sons,” though not intrinsically gendered).

What is the nature of the number four, its uniqueness? Our minds are organized to think in four directions. Around these, one can create a circle. The squaring of the circle gives rise to the mandala shape, extensively researched by Carl Gustav Jung as an archetype that cuts across cultures and represents cosmos and perfection.

Four is also the first instance of higher complexity. One equals unity; two equals duality; three creates an initial complexity. But with four, we can begin to pair things off, to create separate structures.[1] It gives rise to combinations in the form of both X and Y; X but not Y; Y but not X; and neither X nor Y. We see this form, for example, on Sukkot in symbolism given to the four species: the two factors of taste and smell – symbolizing Torah and good deeds – are played off each other to create four different permutations, following the pattern mentioned. We also see this in listings in Ethics of the Fathers that follow this structure or a similar one (5:10-14).

Read the full article on The Times of Israel