This edition: May 27, 1999; First edition: September 19, 1997.

In [WRR2], Witztum, Rips and Rosenberg found a surprising correlation between famous rabbis and their dates of birth and death, as they appear as equidistant letter sequences in the Book of Genesis. We make a smaller or equal number of mistakes, and find the same phenomenon in Tolstoy's eternal creation "War and Peace".

1. Introduction
    1.1. Acknowledgement
2. Their choices, our choices
    2.1. Modifications to specific appellations
    2.2. Modifications to the list of personalities
    2.3. Modifications to the list of dates
    2.4. Our list of appellations
3. The Results
4. Bibliography

Our inspiration comes from reading the paper [WRR2] by Witztum, Rips and Rosenberg (WRR). The outline of the story in [WRR2] is as follows:

• WRR (along with Prof. S.Z. Havlin) prepared a list of very famous rabbis and a list of dates that pertain to these rabbis, and found that equidistant letter sequences (ELSs) for certain appellations for these rabbis appear relatively near to ELSs for their corresponding dates in the Book of Genesis. To make their research completely objective, they chose the appellations and dates using a rigid procedure that leaves little or no choice. They specified all selection, identification and spelling rules in their paper [WRR2]. (We note that in [Hav], written more recently, Havlin acknowledges making many mistakes in preparing the list and says that if he were to do it again, he would have done it differently. Some further comments on the inconsistency and absolute arbitrariness of the WRR-Havlin list and on [Hav] were made by Prof. Menachem Cohen of the Department of Bible in Bar-Ilan University. See [Co1]).
• Just to be sure, a referee who read an early draft of [WRR2] asked that a second list of famous rabbis (and corresponding dates) be made, using exactly the same procedure. WRR did just so (again with help from Prof. Havlin), and noticed the same unlikely proximity of ELSs for appellations and for dates, using the same method of study as in the case of the first sample of rabbis.
• A statistical study of the proximities for the second sample of rabbis gave a significance level of 4/10⁶ (using their "P₄-score"). There is no way WRR (or Prof. Havlin) could have produced these results by fine tuning the choices of names and spellings, as these choices were made following rigid procedures that were established and refereed before a referee suggested making the second list. So, believing all that, we are forced to conclude that something truly unusual is going on in the Book of Genesis.

1.1. Acknowledgement

In [WRR2], WRR write:

The list of appellations for each personality was provided by Professor S.Z. Havlin, of the Department of Bibliography and Librarianship at Bar Ilan University, on the basis of a computer search of the "Responsa" database at that university.

2.1. Modifications to specific appellations

1. The word HML)K (the angel) is a noun (sometimes used as an adjective), and is not really an appellation. Since it is a common noun, the word HML)K by itself, does not uniquely identify Rabbi II-3 (the third Rabbi in WRR's second list of personalities), Rabbi Avraham HaMalach. It is inconsistent to use this as an appellation for Rabbi Avraham, while at the same time not to use HXSYD (the Hasid, the pious) for Rabbi I-11 (the eleventh Rabbi in WRR's first list), Rabbi Yehuda HaHasid (the word HXSYD at least always refers to a human...). We also note that when we turned to an independent expert to form a completely a-priori list of appellations for the Rabbis in question (see details in [MBBK]), he used the combination RBY )BRHM HML)K, but not the adjective HML)K on its own. Thus we remove the appellation HML)K.

2. Rabbi II-6, Rabbi Eliezer Ashkenazi, is sometime called after his book titled "M($Y H'". Thus we inserted the widely used appellations M($Y H' and B(L M($Y H'.

3. We add the acronyms HMHRX") and MHRX") (Rabbi II-10, Rabbi Haim Abulafia). The last acronym appears very often in the Bar-Ilan Responsa Database [Re], it is used in [Az], and its omission in [WRR2] is especially questionable. In [Hav], Prof. Havlin explains the omission of HMHRX") and MHRX") by asserting that they are also used in relation with other Rabbis. But in other places, Havlin does use appellations that refer to more than one Rabbi. A good example is HR)B"D, which appears in Havlin's lists both as an appellation of Rabbi I-1, Rabbi Avraham, The Ra'avad of Posquieres, and for Rabbi II-1, Rabbi Avraham, Av-Beit-Din of Narbonne. We allow ourselves a similar leeway.

   
   The convergence of HMHRX") and his date of death, W NYSN, in War and Peace.

4. In [Hav], Prof. Havlin described the methodology he employed in producing the list of appellations. In his report he acknowledged a few omissions he made in the original list. One of those omissions is the appellation HRB XBY"B for Rabbi II-11, Rabbi Haim Benvenist(e). Thus we have added HRB XBY"B to our list, with and without the definite article H. We have also added the widely used HRB HXBY"B.

5. The appellations BNBN$T and BNBN$TY are both used for Rabbi II-11, Rabbi Haim Benvenist(e). WRR chose BNBN$T, we choose BNBN$TY. Incidentally, BNBN$TY appears in Responsa more than BNBN$T, as a surname of this rabbi in a ratio of between 2:1 to 3:1. The appellation BNBN$TY also appears in the heading of this rabbi's entries in [Vin, Hala, Halp, St, Ei], and in other places.

6. The last name of Rabbi II-12, Rabbi Haim Capusi, can be spelled either KPWSY or K)PWSY. In Responsa, they appear in an 8:3 ratio, which indicates quite clearly that both spellings are valid. See also the title of this rabbi's entry in [Ei]. WRR state explicitly in [WRR2] that in such cases they use both spellings. But in their list they took only the first form. For our list, we make the opposite mistake and take only the second form.

7. There is no doubt that the two forms B(L NS and B(L HNS are most often associated with Rabbi Meir, whose grave is near Tiberias, rather than with Rabbi II-12, Rabbi Haim Capusi. The vast majority of references to B(L HNS in Responsa refer to Rabbi Meir and not to Rabbi Haim Capusi. In particular, in the Responsa of the Chatam Sofer, (Part 6, Likutim, Article 27), we find that the formula "for the soul of B(L HNS" (without the proper name Rabbi Meir!) was used for contributing charity for the soul of rabbi Meir Baal Hanes, and not for the soul of Rabbi Haim Capusi. We note that on several occasions Havlin ruled out an appellation for a certain personality because it was more closely associated with some other personality (see [Hav]). Hence we remove the appellations B(L NS and B(L HNS.

8. Rabbi II-15 is Rabbi Yehuda Hasid Segal. WRR omitted the appellation YHWDH SG"L, his full name. For example it can be found in [Be, pp. 141, 143-144]. Notice that in the similar case of Rabbi II-23, HaMaharil, who was also called Yaacov Segal WRR did use the full name Y(QB SG"L. Following that precedent we add YHWDH SG"L to our list. We also use the appellation HR"Y XSYD, a parallel of the appellations HR"Y (MDN and HR"Y (MDYN used by [WRR2] for Rabbi II-24, the Yaabez. This appellation can be found in this rabbi's entry in [FR]. There are no appearances of these two appellations (for this rabbi) in the Responsa database, but then according to Prof. Havlin's this rabbi is one of the rabbis who are expected to appear only rarely in the Responsa. See [Hav].

9. The last name of Rabbi II-16, Rabbi Yehudah Ayash, can be written as (Y)$ or ()Y)$. The independent expert mentioned above used for the a-priori experiment the forms (YY)$ and ()YY)$, but for our "experiment" here we follow the "grammatical" dictum that Wiztum has set in the case of Oppenheim, i.e. that we must not use a "double yud" in transliterating foreign names, so we write (Y)$ and ()Y)$. The ratio of appearances of (YY)$ vs. ()YY)$ in the Responsa is about 800:1. However from the example of the name Caro for Rabbi I-19, we can see that WRR thought that, according to their "mater-lectionis" rule, both the forms (i.e. with and without aleph) should be included even when the ratio between them in the Responsa in 2000:0 (that seems to be the ratio between the last names Q)RW and QRW in the Responsa). Therefore, we add the appellation ()Y)$ for Rabbi II-16, Rabbi Yehudah Ayash.

10. We add the appellation HR"Y +R)NY to Rabbi II-19, The Maharit, along with the variations R"Y +RNY, HR"Y +RNY, and R"Y +R)NY. This puts the Maharit in a similar status with the Yaabez (see below).

    The convergence of +R)NY and his date of death, Y"D TMWZ, in War and Peace.

    
    The convergence of HRYB"R and his date of death, L BNYSN, in War and Peace.

11. The last name of Rabbi II-22, Rabbi Israel Yaakov Hagiz, can be spelled either XGYZ (as in [Heb] and as in the biographical section of [Re]) or X)GYZ (as in [Marg]). But WRR use only X)GYZ, contrary to their explicit convention that where ) is used as a "mater lectionis", they take both forms. Thus they fail to use the appellations MHR"Y XGYZ and R"Y XGYZ (both appear in Responsa). We allow ourselves to make the opposite mistake, taking the appellations MHR"Y XGYZ and R"Y XGYZ and omitting X)GYZ. We note that even though the WRR computations are restricted to appellations totaling 5-8 letters, we can tell which `short' appellations (such as XGYZ, (MDN, or MWLN) they consider as valid either by checking whether they have used longer appellations that contain the shorter ones as substrings or by reading their "blue preprint" [WRR1], in which the short forms are also listed.

12. In the case of Rabbi II-24, the Yaabez, we do not use appellations based on the spelling (MDN for two reasons. They appear less often, and we wish to follow the precedent set by WRR when they did not use the form MWLN with Rabbi II-23, the Maharil. (The appellations Y(QB MWLN, MHR"Y MWLN, etc., appear often in Responsa, more often than forms with (MDN, and were omitted in [WRR2]. See also [WRR1]).

    We note that there may be a case for removing the name (MDYN altogether, for it is just the name of a town were the Yaabez was briefly a Rabbi, and not his last name. The Yaabez himself wrote in [Ya],

    ...H+RWD Y(QB Y$R)L MKWNH Y(B"C S"+ L) NQR) M(WLM Y(QB (MDYN
    (K)$R ($H MK"T )DR(S ("G H)GRT KMW $HRGYL HTW(B $R"Y BPY
    HBRYWT) YDW( $)YNNY MBNY (MDYN L) NWLD BH WL) MCPH LR)WT' )K
    MBQ$ +WBT' WTW(LT' KM)Z WMQDM BHYWTY RWBC TXT M$)H, KKH (TH
    )NY $WQD (L TQNT'... In free translation to English, this reads:

    ... The busy Yaakov Israel known as Yaabez good omen was never called Yaakov Emdyn ((MDYN) (as has done the honourable in the address on this letter as is the deplorable habit in the tongues of the people). It is known I am not from the people of Emdyn, was not born there, do not expect to see it, but am looking after its welfare and benefit as in the former times when I was under it's load, [and] so also am I now diligent for it's remedy. ...

    Little did his plea help, and the Yaabez has several common appellations which are variants of the word (MDYN. We keep them in our list. However, we can learn from this example that WRR didn't mind using names that were not used (or were even rejected) by their bearers. This lesson will become relevant in the case of Rabbi Shlomo Chelma below.

13. WRR are inconsistent about the use of the definite article, H. For example, they use HR"Y (MDN and HR"Y (MDYN for Rabbi II-24, but omit R"Y (MDN and R"Y (MDYN. (The latter two forms appear in Responsa more often than the former two!) We fix this mistake in our list.

14. The last name of Rabbi II-25, Rabbi Yitshak HaLevi Horowitz, is spelled HWRWBYC at the title of his entries in [Marg], [Heb], and in [Halp]. We thus replace HWRWWYC by HWRWBYC.

15. The Krochmal Story: We suspected that the spelling QRWKML for the last name of Rabbi II-26, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Krochmal, author of the responsa book CMX CDQ and of the biblical commentary PY CDYQ, was not the original spelling. So we started searching. The word QRWKML does not appear in the Bar-Ilan Responsa database [Re]. The only variation of QRWKML that does appear there is QR)KM)L, which appears only twice. But in both appearances it is the Yiddish word for starch, and not a Jewish surname. In [Marg], QRWKML is in the header of Rabbi Menachem Mendel's entry, but no explanation for the origin of the name is given. In [Heb] Menachem Mendel doesn't even have an entry, though the index mentions him twice. Looking inside the text, we found the spelling QRWKML, but no further clues as for the original spelling. His books are signed MNXM M(NDL and MNXM M(NDYL, and no QRWKML is mentioned in them in any form. An eulogy for him [Shm] mentions only his first name(s), MNXM M(NDYL, and the titles of his books. So where did "QRWKML" come from? [Az] was of no help. In the 19th century bibliography [B-Y] one of Krochmal's books is listed under QR)KM(L. In a 19th century biography [Du] of David Oppenheim, Krochmal is mentioned in passing, and his name is given as QR)KM)L. We are almost certain we also saw QRWKM)L and QRWKM(L, but after a long day in the Israeli National Library in Giv'at-Ram, the stairs leading to the photocopy machines seem very steep and the pencil becomes really heavy, so we don't have references for these two forms. The 19th century Rabbi Nahman Krochmal spells his own name QR)XM)L, while in modern sources his name is spelled both as QRWKML and QRWKM)L. All of that taken together indicates clearly that Krochmal was not spelled "QRWKML" in the 19th century, but it doesn't help us find how Krochmal was spelled when Rabbi Menachem Mendel lived, in the first part of the 17th century.

    At this point we got the advice of two wise men. One suggested that we look at [Hei], a book on the Jewish laws in the state of Moravia, where Rabbi Menachem Mendel was the state's Rabbi. From the other wise man we learned to check the citations in the footnotes. One footnote, on page 111 of [Hei], he checked himself. It lead to an article [Marx], that contains a letter written by the son of a nephew of Rabbi Menachem Mendel in the late 17th century, only a few dozen years after Rabbi Menachem Mendel died in 1661. In that letter Rabbi Menachem Mendel's surname is given as QR)XM)L. The following day (and a continent away), we checked the footnote on page 102. It lead us to two articles, [Hor] and [Ka], devoted to our Rabbi and his descendents. Both articles use the spelling QR)KM)L extensively and not just in passing, and the latter one even explains where the name comes from! It relates the name QR)KM)L to a certain Dayan, Rabbi Jonah Krochmals in the city of Cracow, where Rabbi Menachem Mendel was born. A transcript of the tombstone of Rabbi Jonah Krochmals is given in [Zu, page 180] and Krochmals is spelled QR)KM)L$ there. Thus there is no doubt that the original spelling of the name Krochmal is QR)KM)L and thus it is fully justified to remove the appellation QRWKML from the list, an to put QR)KM)L instead.

    We also note that once it is clear that QR)KM)L is an acceptable spelling for Krochmal, the usage of this spelling is mandatory according to the WRR rules, which state explicitly that Yiddish names are spelled as in the original Yiddish. Recall that QR)KM)L is a the Yiddish word for starch, and from [Ka] we learn that the first people to be called by the family name Krochmal were called so because they traded in starch.

    However, in his "refutation" of a draft version of this article, Witztum argued against the use of the appellation QR)KM)L. We completely disagreed with his argument, but were amused to note that Witztum himself gives a reference for a source that uses the form QRWKM)L. If, as Witztum indicates, QRWKM)L is a valid form, then it must have been used along with QRWKML, by Witztum's own "mater-lectionis" rule. Thus we may feel free to use either QR)KM)L or QRWKM)L instead of QRWKML. This time we chose QRWKM)L.

16. The primary variant of the last name of Rabbi II-27, Rabbi Moshe Zacut, is ZKWT, and not ZKWT) or ZKWTW. See his own signatures in his book QWL HRM"Z, see the Hebrew title of his biography [Ap], and see [Marg, Heb, Az, Ei, Halp, St, Hala]. Hence we remove the appellations ZKWT), ZKWTW, M$H ZKWT), and M$H ZKWTW.

    At the same time we note that WRR's use of variants like ZKWT) and ZKWTW sets a precedent which we are allowed to follow elsewhere. Hence for Rabbi II-28, Rabbi Moshe Margalith, we add the variant MRGLYWT of his last name. This variant appears in the titles of his entries in [Az, Vin, St, Ju, Fri], in the entry for his book in [B-Y] (p. 487) and also in the index of [Marg].

17. The story of "Hon-Ashir" and "Yosher-Levav": Often great rabbis are called after their books. In section C of the chapter "Professional Judgment" in Prof. Havlin's report [Hav], it is explained that when we can find that a rabbi is called "the author of (the book) X" in a context where another of his works is discussed then we can regard it as an appellation of him. But, if we can find "the author of (the book) X" only in a context where the book X is discussed then we can regard it as nothing more than a shorthand way of referring to the content of the book itself (that is "the author of Such-and-Such says.." or "HaRav Such-and-Such says..", rather than saying "it is written in the book Such-and-Such.."). Now, Y$R LBB is a name of one of several books published by Rabbi II-30, Rabbi Immanuel Hai Ricchi, and not the most important of them. To check whether it deserves to be regarded as this rabbi's appellation, we searched both the [Re] and [DBS] CD-ROMs. The second CD-ROM contains a collection of books on Cabala and Chassidic literature, the fields in which this rabbi is most likely to be cited. Yet, we found no appearance of "the author of (the book) Y$R LBB" (or "the author of (the book) YW$R LBB") that is not in the context of discussing this book. On the other hand, we did find the following sentence: "the holy genius author of Mishnat Hasidim o.b.m. wanted to understand the secret of Tsimtsum. (see his book YW$R LBB)...". Within [DBS], see "Mavo Lechochmat HaKabala" part 1, gate 3, chapter 1. We see here that even when the book Y$R LBB is being discussed this rabbi is called after his most important book Mishnat Hasidim. Therefore, according to the rule we mentioned above (from Havlin's report) we conclude that Y$R LBB is not an appellation of this rabbi and we remove it. On the other hand we did find in the Responsa the following sentence (concerning the same rabbi): "the Rav Hon-Ashir in the book Aderet-Elyahu has said..". (See responsa "Peulat-Tsadik" part 3 section 184). Here we see that this rabbi is called after the book "Hon-Ashir", even when another of his books is being discussed. So we conclude (using the same rules in Havlin's report) that the name of the book HWN ($YR should be considered as an appellation of this rabbi, and we add it.

18. The story of the appellation )"X H("R of Rabbi II-30, Rabbi Immanuel Hai Ricchi, is particularly telling. First, we couldn't find it anywhere, and nobody we asked could tell us what it meant. When we inquired with Doron Witztum, he said Rabbi Ricchi used it as his signature in some of his books, and that it expands to ")NY XY, HC(YR (MNW)L RYQY". After some more investigations we have found that in fact (as far as we could determine) it appears only once as a signature in a printed addendum, that survived only in 1 or 2 copies (that we know of), of Rabbi Ricchi's book "M($H XW$B". This signature is also mentioned in the bibliographical article [Shi] that describes one of these copies (the one in Zurich), and this article is also where the explanation ")NY XY, HC(YR (MNW)L RYQY" comes from. We think the inclusion of this acronym is extremely wrong. First, it is a very rare signature; not an appellation. Indeed, it seems that nobody refers to Rabbi Ricchi by this name, for we could find no such references and we could hardly find anyone who even knows what it means! Second, it is in fact only a part of a signature. Anyone looking at the article [Shi] can see that the signature that actually appears there is )XH(R RPH! Third, it is not "pronounced" (NHGH), while WRR claim to use only pronounced appellations. Here we have to say that Wiztum's speculation that it should be pronounced "Ach-HaEr" is highly original, but not convincing at all. First, he gives no source for this suggestion. Second, as we said, the signature actually appears as )XH(R RPH. That is, the first part of it )XH(R appears as one word, and not as 2 words - )"X H("R - the way Wiztum writes it, and the way one would expect if it was intended to be pronounced "Ach-HaEr".

    More than that, one expert we consulted said that there is a possibility that even this single appearance is no more than a typo in the original addendum. The reason for this suggestion is that a different permutation of these letters, )H(X"R RPH, appears with its expansion, )NY HC(YR (MNW)L XY RYQY (me the young, Immanuel Hai Ricchi), and an explanation of the RPH part, several times in several of this rabbi's books. We note that in Hebrew the latter expansion makes much more sense than the former, since the former taken literally means "I'm alive, the young Immanuel Ricchi". Indeed, the acronym )H(X"R is listed in the dictionary of acronyms [AY], while )"X H("R is not. (By the way, since )H(X"R RPH is also a non-pronounced signature it may be considered wrong to include it as well, if one wishes to take WRR's commitment to pronounced appellations more seriously than they did.) Be that as it may, the reasons brought before are more than enough to show clearly that including )"X H("R is extremely wrong. We remove it.

    On the other hand, we found two other signatures (or self-references) used by this rabbi, that unlike )H(X"R RPH and )XH("R RPH, are definitely pronounced, and therefore we add them. These are: H($Y"R - appears in [Ri1] page 4. It is a permuted acronym of HC(YR $$MY (MNW)L RYQY YC"W, and also serves as a word-play on the name of the book "Hon-Ashir". )WHB WR"( - appears in [Ri2] - part 2, page 53b. means "loving friend" and also is an acronym of "Ricchi Immanuel".

19. The entries of Rabbi II-31, Rabbi Shalom Sharabi, in [Heb] and [Marg] and in the sources [Az], and [Re] never refer to him as $R $LWM, and we found at least 7 other rabbis that carry the name $R $LWM (and that are referred to by this name extensively). One of these rabbis, Rabbi Sar-Shalom Gaon, is a "Rishon". We note that in similar situations WRR have removed this kind of "shared" appellations; see [Hav]. We follow suit in this case. We should also add that even if this appellation was not a shared one there was another case for removing it. The appellation $R $LWM is not R. Shalom Shar'abi's given name, nor is it his last name. It is only a poetic epithet (meaning "Prince of Peace") which was conferred upon him by other scholars throughout the generations. We can see that WRR didn't always use this kind of epithets. For example they didn't use PR$N DT) for Rashi, HRB HM$BYR for R. Yosef Caro, and (H)R"M BMZ"L and HRB HMWRH for Rambam. Thus we are allowed to follow suit and omit $R $LWM.

20. The appellation MZRXY for Rabbi II-31 is related to him just like the name )$KNZY relates to Rabbi I-6, Rabbi Gershon Ashkenazi and to Rabbi II-6, Rabbi Eliezer Ashkenazi. In both those cases WRR did not use the appellation )$KNZY. Thus, it is inconsistent to use MZRXY, and we remove it.

21. The appellations MHR$"$ and HMHR$"$ for Rabbi II-31 are only variants of the more well-known appellation HR$"$. In the Responsa and DBS CD-ROMs the variant HR$"$ appears more often than MHR$"$ and HMHR$"$. In Responsa the ratio for this rabbi is about 256:6. In the famous book "Ben-Ish-Hay" which was much influenced by Rabbi II-31 (and which appears in the DBS CD-ROM) he is mentioned 72 times as HR$"$ but never as MHR$"$ or HMHR$"$. See also the titles of this rabbi's entries in [Heb] and [Marg]. In Havlin's report section F, Havlin says that when there are two close variants of an appellation like MHR$"L vs. HR$"L, he used only the one more frequently used. For comparison the ratio between MHR$"L and HR$"L in the Responsa is only about 3:1. Therefore we can clearly see that by this rule it was wrong to include MHR$"$ and HMHR$"$ and accordingly we remove them. (It would have been right to include the appellation HR$"$, only that it is shorter than 5 letters, and hence automatically excluded by the rules of [WRR2]).

22. The last name of Rabbi II-32, Rabbi Shelomo Chelma, can be spelled either as XLM) or as X(LM). This name appear at the header to his entry in [Heb], in his biography [Br], in the titles and prefaces of Chelma's books $W"T LB $LMH (Mossad HaRav Kook, 1972), MRKBT HM$NH (L HTWRH (Mossad HaRav Kook, 1975) and $WLXN (RWK ((L $W"( )H"() (Machon Yerushalayim, 1988). This name also appears a few times in the Responsa database and in the 19th century bibliographical work [B-Y] (p. 373 entry 2295).

    Thus we wish to add the appellations XLM), X(LM), $LMH XLM), and $LMH X(LM). In practice we only add X(LM) and $LMH XLM), for the other two appellations do not fit within 5-8 letters. We will add that it appears that this Rabbi didn't use these names himself, but was only called so by others, however as WRR's precedent with the name Emdin (that was mentioned above) shows, this needn't make any difference, and these names can be included.

    
    The convergence of X(LM) and his date of death, K") BTMWZ, in War and Peace.

2.2. Modifications to the list of personalities

• We add to our list a new Rabbi, Rabbi Meir Eisenstadt. His entry in [Marg] has exactly 1.5 columns (with the header included it is even longer than 1.5 columns), and by the criteria of [WRR2], he should have been included. His common appellations are RBY M)YR, )YZN$++, )YZN$+)+, and MHR"M )"$. His date of death is the 27th of Sivan, written in the forms K"Z SYWN, BK"Z SYWN, and K"Z BSYWN.

• We remove Rabbi II-20, Rabbi Yosef Teomim. His entry in [Marg] has less than 1.5 columns, contrary to the selection criteria of [WRR2]. When the header of his entry is counted too, the entry reaches precisely 1.5 columns. Even so, the exclusion of Rabbi Yosef Teomim by us is certainly more justified than the exclusion of Rabbi Meir Eisenstadt by WRR.

• We remove Rabbi II-4, Rabbi Avraham Saba and Rabbi II-8, Rabbi David Ha-Nagid. Both rabbis have no dates attached. Keeping them means adding random noise, and random noise is not what we are trying to measure.

2.3. Modifications to the list of dates

2.4. Our list of appellations

We have shown our list of appellations (as it appeared in a draft version of this paper) to Professor Menachem Cohen, of the Department of Bible at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. In reference to our list and to the original WRR-Havlin list he wrote in [Co2]:

... I see no essential difference between the two lists for the purpose of using them for skip experiments in any text.

Comparing the first and the last two rows, we see that our list does as well on War and Peace as the WRR list does on Genesis. Tolstoy would have enjoyed knowing that. Some of the numbers in the second row are "middle of the way" - smallish but not very small. They are "smallish" because our list is highly correlated with the original WRR list, on which it was based. The fact that they are not very small needs to be explained by WRR, not by us. Why is it that an equally valid list of appellations (our list) does so much worse than their list on Genesis?

Comments: The computations of the significance levels for our list was carried out using a program functionally equivalent to a program WRR gave us, els2.c. The significance levels for the WRR list were taken from [WRR2], except for a rescaling by a factor of 100 to account for the the fact that they used only 10⁶ permutations in their computations. Using our own program, which is equivalent to a program WRR produced when their lists were already present and hence it is more susceptible to bias, we get somewhat better results for the WRR list on Genesis, but these results are still weaker than our results on War and Peace. Unfortunately, we were not able to obtain from WRR the exact programs they used to compute the results in [WRR2].

The text we used was given to us by WRR. It consists of the first 78,064 letters (the length of Genesis) of a Hebrew translation of Tolstoy's War and Peace.

[Ap]

Abe Apelbaum )B) )PPLBWYM, biography of Rabbi Moshe Zacut titled M$H ZKWT, Snunit, Lvov 1925.

[AY]

Shmuel Ashkenazi, $MW)L )$KNZY, and Dov Yarden, DB YRDN, a dictionary of Hebrew acronyms titled )WCR R)$Y TBWT.

[Az]

Azulai, Rabbi Haim Yosef David, Shem haGdolim haShalem, $M HGDWLYM H$LM, Jerusalem 1979.

[B-Y]

Yitshak Isaac Ben-Yaakov, YCXQ )YYZYQ BN-Y(QB, a bibliography of Hebrew books titled )WCR HSPRYM, 1880.

[Be]

Meir Benayahu, M)YR BNYHW, "HXBRH HQDW$H" $L RBY YHWDH XSYD W(LYTH L)"Y, SPWNWT 3-4 Jerusalem 1962.

[Br]

Avraham Brik, )BRHM BRYQ, biography of Rabbi Shelomo Chelma titled R' $LMH X(LM), B(L "MRKBT HM$NH".

[Co1]

Menachem Cohen, A letter to Dror Bar-Natan dated September 2, 1997. Available at http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/dilugim/Cohen.html.

[Co2]

Menachem Cohen, A letter to Dror Bar-Natan dated October 27, 1997. Available at http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/dilugim/WNP/CohenLetter2.html.

[DBS]

The Torah CD-ROM Library, version 7, D.B.S., Jerusalem.

[Du]

Yaakov Kapel Duschinski, Y(QB Q)PL DW$YNSQY), Biography of Rabbi David Oppenheim titled TWLDWT HG)WN R' DWD )WPNHYYM(R ZC"L.

[Fri]

Nathan Zvi Friedman, NTN CBY PRYDMN, )WCR HRBNYM, A Treasury of Rabbis, Bnei Brak 1975.

[Ei]

Yehudah Eisenstein, YHWDH )YYZN$+YYN, )NCYQLWPDYH )WCR Y$R)L, London 1924.

[FR]

Aryeh Leib Frumkin )RYH LYYB PRWMQYN and Eliezer Rivlin )LY(ZR RYBLYN, TWLDWT XKMY YRW$LYM, Biographies of Jerusalem Sages, Jerusalem 1928.

[Hala]

David Halachmi, DWD HLXMY, XKMY Y$R)L, The Sages of Israel, Tel Aviv 1980.

[Halp]

Rephael Halperin, RP)L HLPRYN, )+LS (C HXYYM, An Atlas of Genealogy (10 vols.), Tel Aviv.

[Hav]

Shlomo Z. Havlin, a brief dated October 30, 1996. English translation (by WRR) available at http://www.torahcodes.co.il/havlin.htm and at http://www.torahcodes.co.il/torasages.pdf.

[Heb]

Hebraica Encyclopedia, H)NCYQLWPDYH H(BRYT.

[Hei]

Israel Heilperin, Y$R)L HYYLPRYN, Regulations of the state of Moravia, TQNWT MDYNT M(HRYN.

[Hor]

Shmuel Abba Horodezsky, $MW)L )B) H)R)D(CQY, Biography of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Krochmal titled RBY MNXM MNDL QR)KM)L, Hagoren, HGRN, 2 (1900) 32.

[Ju]

Encyclopedia Judaica.

[Ka]

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[Marg]

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[Marx]

Alexander Marx, A seventeenth-century autobiography, Jewish Quarterly Review 8 (1917-8) 269.

[MBBK]

Brendan D. McKay, Dror Bar-Natan, Maya Bar-Hillel, and Gil Kalai, The Bible Code: The Genesis of Equidistant Letter Sequences, Statistical Science, to appear.

[Re]

The Bar-Ilan Responsa CD-ROM, version 6, Bar-Ilan University, Israel.

[Ri1]

Immanuel Hai Ricchi, Hon Ashir, Warsaw 1881.

[Ri2]

Immanuel Hai Ricchi, Aderet Eliyahu, Livorno, 1742.

[Shi]

Rabbi A. Shisha HaLevi, Rabbi Immanuel Hai Ricchi and his book DQDWQY (NYWT-HWN ($YR, HaDarom, Jerusalem, 1972.

[Shm]

Shmarya Shmaril, $MRYH $M(RYL, an eulogy for Rabbi Menachem Mendel Krochmal titled QWN+RS ZKR (WLM, 1885.

[St]

Avraham Stern, )BRHM $+RN, MLYCY )$, Jerusalem.

[Vil]

E. Vilenski, Biography of Rabbi Immanuel Chai Ricchi (Hebrew), Kiriat-Sefer 25 (1949) 311.

[Vin]

Y. Vinograd, Y$(YHW WYNWGRD, )WCR HSPR H(BRY, A Treasury of Hebrew Literature, Jerusalem 1995.

[WRR1]

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[WRR2]

D. Witztum, E. Rips and Y. Rosenberg, Equidistant Letter Sequences in the Book of Genesis, Statistical Science 9-3 (1994) 429-438.

[Ya]

The Yaabez, The Yaabez Responsa, $W"T $)YLT Y(B"C, part B sub 24.

[Zu]

Yekhiel Matityahu Zunz, YXY)L MTTYHW CWNC, History of the rabbis of Cracow titled (YR HCDQ.