Hidden Meanings in Numbers

Finding hidden meanings in numbers is called gematria. For example, the four consonants of God's name (Y-H-W-H) have numerical values as follows: 10, 5, 6, 5. The sum of the squares is 186, which is the numerical value of M-Q-W-M, which means "place." This reminds the rabbis that God is omnipresent (in every place). Or, the numerical value of both the words wine and secret is 70 which lead to the saying "when wine enters, secrets are out."Gematria sounds more like a parlor game rather than true scholarship, but I would be interested to know if you discuss this in future courses.