The cultural code of "Numbers" in the Jewish pictorial Semiosis of the Crimea

Abstract

The subject of the study is the cultural code of "Numbers", covering numerical symbols and their embodiment in the pictorial semiosis of the Jews of the Crimea. The object of the study is the traditional compositions and images associated with the symbolism of numbers in the pictorial practice of the Jews of the Crimea. The research uses methods of semiotic and semantic analysis in deciphering the meanings of numeric symbols and their embodiment in the Jewish pictorial semiosis of the Crimea, the method of analyzing previous research on the topic, the synthesis method in generalizing the meanings of numeric symbols. In the article, the authors consider such aspects of the topic as: the codes of the pictorial semiosis of the Jews of the Crimea are defined, their system, etymology, key meanings and the main code are indicated. The code of the Number and its features are considered in detail. The main conclusions of the study are: 1.The result of the consideration of the traditional culture of the Jews of the Crimea was the definition of five codes of the Jewish pictorial semiosis, including groups of images: phytomorphic, zoomorphic, skewomorphic, numerical. The Sefer code (Book) is a generalizing one. The interrelationships of the codes are structured, as a result of which the key meanings are revealed – Creation, Paradise, Torah persons, Messianic aspirations. The semantic center of the codes is defined – Aron Hakodesh - the repository of the Torah, which is the source of all Jewish doctrine. 2.The considered Number code includes images, the number of which has a symbolic meaning, the basis of which lies in the Torah. The main numbers mentioned in the Torah, their meanings and their embodiment in traditional pictorial practice are considered. In addition to the direct mention of numbers in the Torah, the meanings of numeric symbols follow from Kabbalah, which translates alphabetic values into numeric ones (due to the same spelling of numeric and alphabetic symbols in Hebrew). Scientific novelty of the study: for the first time, the interrelationships of cultural codes in the pictorial semiosis of the Jews of the Crimea were determined. The author's concept of the sacred geometric code of numbers in Judaism is presented on the basis of the study of the Torah, as well as the classical philosophy of the Pythagoreans and Platonists.