How does the Hebrew numeral system work?

Each of the 22 letters has a value: aleph to tet are 1 to 9, yod to tsadi are 10 to 90, and qof to tav are 100 to 400. Numbers are written by combining letters whose values add up to the target, largest first.

Why are 15 and 16 written differently?

Fifteen would normally be yod-he (10 plus 5) and sixteen yod-vav (10 plus 6), but those combinations spell part of the divine name. By tradition they are instead written tet-vav and tet-zayin (9 plus 6 and 9 plus 7).

How are hundreds above 400 written?

The alphabet only reaches 400 with tav, so 500 to 900 are built by combination: 500 is tav plus qof (400 plus 100), 600 is tav plus resh, and so on up to 900 as tav plus tav plus qof.

What is a geresh or gershayim?

When letters are used as numbers, a geresh (single stroke) marks a one-letter numeral and gershayim (double stroke) is placed before the last letter of a multi-letter numeral. This tool adds gershayim so the output reads as a number.

Can it write Hebrew calendar years?

Yes. Years such as 5786 are usually written without the thousands digit, so 5786 appears as the 786 part, תשפו, which is the common way Hebrew dates are printed.

What is the Hebrew Numeral (Gematria) Converter?

Convert integers into Hebrew alphabetic numerals using the standard gematria values, handling the 500 to 900 hundreds by letter combination and the special 15 and 16 spellings that avoid the divine name. Runs in your browser. It runs free in your browser on Gera Tools, with nothing uploaded.

Hebrew Numeral (Gematria) Converter

Name: Hebrew Numeral (Gematria) Converter
Creator: Gera Tools
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Hebrew uses its 22 letters as numerals, a system identical to the basis of gematria. This converter turns an integer into the standard letter combination, correctly handling the hundreds above 400 and the special spellings of 15 and 16.

How it works

The number is split into hundreds, tens and units, each mapped to letters:

units    א1 ב2 ג3 ד4 ה5 ו6 ז7 ח8 ט9
tens     י10 כ20 ל30 מ40 נ50 ס60 ע70 פ80 צ90
hundreds ק100 ר200 ש300 ת400 (500–900 combine with ת)

Letters are concatenated from the largest value down, reading right to left in Hebrew. Two rules are applied: hundreds from 500 to 900 are formed by adding tav (400) blocks, and the values 15 and 16 are written טו and טז (9 + 6 and 9 + 7) rather than spelling part of the divine name. A gershayim mark is inserted before the final letter to signal that the string is a number.

Example

The Hebrew year 5786 is conventionally printed as its last three digits, 786, which is תשפ״ו — tav (400) + shin (300) + pe (80) + vav (6). Watch for the 15/16 exception: a verse 15 is טו, not יה. Output here is unpointed; in printed texts the letters may also carry vowel points, which do not change the numeric value.

Where Hebrew numerals appear

Hebrew alphabetic numerals are still used in several contexts in modern life:

Jewish calendar dates: The Hebrew year is printed in the alphabetic system on religious documents, tombstones, and calendars. The thousands digit (the five thousands) is commonly omitted so a year like 5786 appears as תשפ״ו.
Chapter and verse references in religious texts: Printed editions of the Tanakh, Mishnah, and Talmud use Hebrew numerals for chapter and verse markers.
Seder nights: The Haggadah lists the plagues, the songs, and the dayenu refrains using Hebrew numerals.
Numbered lists and outlines in documents: Formal Hebrew documents, legal briefs, and rabbinic responsa often number sections with the aleph-bet system.
Dedication inscriptions: Synagogue plaques, memorial stones, and dedications frequently include a Hebrew date rendered in alphabetic numerals.

The geresh and gershayim punctuation marks

Without some marking, a sequence of Hebrew letters could be misread as a word. The gershayim (״) — two apostrophe-like marks placed before the final letter — signals that the whole string is a number. A single-letter number receives a geresh (׳) after it. For example:

The number 3 written as gimel: ג׳
The number 586 written as tav-pe-vav: תפ״ו (gershayim before the final vav)

Both marks are specific Unicode characters (U+05F4 for gershayim, U+05F3 for geresh) and are distinct from the ASCII apostrophe or quotation mark, though in practice informal usage often substitutes the ASCII characters.

Gematria versus the numeral system

This converter implements the numeral system — the practical assignment of values to letters for writing numbers. Gematria is the interpretive tradition of finding hidden meaning in the numeric sums of words. The underlying letter-to-value mapping is the same, but the purposes differ: the numeral system expresses a specific integer, while gematria analyses the total of a word or phrase. Use this tool for writing numbers; for gematria analysis of words, add the values of all letters in the word.