CHASSIDIC PEARLS BY RABBI LAZER BRODY PARSHAS SHEMOS

"I Shall Be As I Shall Be" (Shemot 3:14). Our sages teach us that Hashem is truth and His Holy Name is truth. The Torah alludes to the eternal truth of Hashem's Name when Hashem reveals Himself to Moshe (Moses) for the first time on Mount Sinai. Moshe asks Hashem His name, and Hashem answers, "I Shall Be As I Shall Be". "I Shall Be" in Hebrew is אהיה – aleph, hey, yud, hey. In numerical equivalents, aleph = 1, hey = 5, yud = 10, hey = 5. 1 + 5 +10 +5 = 21. If we use the word "As" as a multiplication sign, then Hashem's Holy Name as revealed to Moses becomes a mathematical equation of 21 x 21 = 441. The Hebrew letter aleph = 1, mem = 40, and taph = 400; aleph, mem, and taph are the letters of the Hebrew word emet, truth! Truth is Hashem's fountain pen. Therefore, whenever and wherever we find anything less than 100% true, we know that it's not Hashem's signature, for Hashem's fountain pen writes nothing but truth. An age-old expression of Breslever Chassidim, attributed to Rebbe Nachman's great grandfather the Baal Shem Tov of saintly and blessed memory, says that 99% truth is 100% lie.