Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Significance of numbers in Judaism


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was Keep. Most of those who argued "keep" cited policy and guidelines well. Those who said "delete" did not. I chose to close this non-admin because its close has been long overdue and there has been no further comment. This topic has been shown to be notable, and any changes to help it meet Wikipedia guidelines can be done without deleting it. Dew Kane (talk) 23:37, 12 September 2010 (UTC) (non-admin close)

Significance of numbers in Judaism

 * – ( View AfD View log  •  )

Tagged as trivia and examplefarm since November 2009. Numbers have only trivial significance in Judaism. E.g. 29: The number of days in some months of the Hebrew calendar. This is completely trivial, and has no bearing whatsoever on "The meaning of Life" for Jews. In effect, the title of this article is a contradiction in itself, because there is no significance to numbers in Judaism: they are not e.g. deities or possessed of an intrinsic holiness. Debresser (talk) 22:36, 26 August 2010 (UTC)

Note that the suggestion to delete this article has been brought up by several editors over half a year ago already. See Talk:Significance_of_numbers_in_Judaism. Debresser (talk) 22:42, 26 August 2010 (UTC)


 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Judaism-related deletion discussions.  — Malik Shabazz Talk/Stalk 03:29, 27 August 2010 (UTC)


 * Delete per nom. — Malik Shabazz Talk/Stalk 03:39, 27 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Keep this important WP:NOTABLE subject. It is just as important as Hebrew numerals! And this article/WP:List would go a long way to explain the connection between Hebrew numerals i.e. the letters of the Hebrew alphabet that also function as numbers in Hebrew and Judaism. So it's a deep and complex connection all around. The nominator cites no WP policies and makes absurd assertions because this matter has nothing to do with "deities" or "meaning of life" and nowhere does the articles/list say so, and it's not a WP requirement to have only "profound" subjects (Mickey Mouse is also on WP, and he is neither a "deity" and Mickey is very trivial in the broader scheme of things!). The article/list needs and deserves time for expansion per WP:DEMOLISH. IZAK (talk) 12:53, 27 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Keep. Obviously notable topic (whether or not the article treats it appropriately). The results of book and academic article searches for numerology in Judaism remove any possible doubt. Bongo  matic  13:23, 27 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Keep Meets WP:GNG because there are reliable sources on this topic. Not just that, but this is a culturally significant topic; there are more than just trivial references. In Judaism, many numbers have actual significant meanings, and this list displays that. Xyz7890 (talk) 01:18, 29 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Keep a notable subject backed by reliable and verifiable sources. Alansohn (talk) 03:51, 29 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Keep. Numbers have tremendous significance in Judaism; witness the system of gematria, which assigns number values to Hebrew letters and then compares them with other words to find similar concepts. All the classic commentators on the Torah, and all the Kabbalists, refer to gematriyot and their meanings. The significance of numbers per se in Judaism is found in the liturgy, such as the song "Who Knows One?" at the end of the Passover Seder. This is a notable rather than "trivial" subject backed up by reliable sources, and should be kept. Yoninah (talk) 19:39, 30 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Keep, but . . . . I agree that sources show that numerology is an important topic in Judaism and in Jewish culture, and it appears to me that at least some of the content of this table is worth keeping.  However, please note that we also have an ill-sourced article entitled Hebrew numerology as well as a somewhat better one for Gematria (the latter of which is also the target of a redirect from Hebrew Numerology (note the differing capitalization) . Based on the !votes so far, this AfD does not appear likely to result in a "delete" but perhaps it should spur us to consider some sort of merger, or reorganization of these three overlapping articles? --Arxiloxos (talk) 04:42, 31 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Comment: Thank you for pointing out those articles, Arxiloxos. The Hebrew numerology article looks like Christian OR and I am going ahead and nominating it for deletion. The Gematria article looks like it could use some editing to make it less daunting. And this article, Significance of numbers in Judaism, looks like the easiest to understand and just needs more references. Yoninah (talk) 22:02, 31 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Update Hebrew numerology was just deleted through AfD. Yoninah (talk) 12:13, 7 September 2010 (UTC)
 * Keep - it's cute. Chesdovi (talk) 23:25, 1 September 2010 (UTC)
 * Delete. Inherently WP:SYNTH.-- brew crewer  (yada, yada) 02:45, 2 September 2010 (UTC)