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Q&A: Who Is Dikarnusa?

This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.

Who Is Dikarnusa?

Question

Hello Rabbi Michi,
Who is Dikarnusa?
Best regards, Haim

Answer

It is someone whose name begins with dalet and ends with aleph. ๐Ÿ™‚
It is commonly assumed that this is one of the names of the Holy One, blessed be He. In some places, one can get the impression that it is some kind of angel.

Discussion on Answer

Tirgitz (2022-05-23)

(I have a special interest in this name, because in my childhood I was asked to explain how Dikarnusa is derived from the verse โ€œand I will pour out for you blessing until there is no more need,โ€ and from the verse โ€œlift up upon us the light of Your face, Lord,โ€ as is written in prayer books, at least the Sephardic ones. And unless we say that the kabbalists simply gathered letters for themselves from โ€œwithout enoughโ€ (โ€œdaiโ€) + โ€œand I will pour outโ€ (โ€œkarโ€) + โ€œlift up upon usโ€ (โ€œnasaโ€) = Dikarnusa, it is not clear how the verse yields the name. And I found that the full verse of โ€œand I will pour out for youโ€ etc. has 29 words, and the initials have the numerical value 398, totaling 427, and together with the whole verse 428, which is the numerical value of Hatakh; and Hatakh with three letters is 431, which is the numerical value of Dikarnusa. And I do not think I have seen anyone explain it this way. As for the second verse, โ€œlift up upon usโ€ etc., I was not able to explain it in this way. In any case, since then I have wondered to myself what the kabbalists found in this name, and I kept an eye out for it, and at some point I saw a solution, and as far as I remember it was from someone who came to mock Kabbalah, and I will present it.)

In the Babylonian Talmud, Pesachim 111b, it says: โ€œThe coin of sustenanceโ€”Nakid is its name. The coin of povertyโ€”Naval is its name.โ€ And Rashi explained: โ€œThe coin of sustenanceโ€โ€”the angel appointed over livelihood. From here it is easy for the discerning person to conclude that Dikarnusa is an anagram of โ€œasur nakid,โ€ and that is where the kabbalists invented it from.

And similarly, one can see in the segulah of Rabbi Shimshon of Ostropoli, which is read (at least by Sephardim) on Passover eve, how he goes along inventing names of angels for himself and making riddles out of them and then solving themโ€”marvel of marvelsโ€”and who would believe him that he did not invent them for the sake of the solution (it is highly recommended to read this devious little โ€œsegulah.โ€ I was a child and was enormously impressed by this segulah, wonders upon wonders. Until I grew up and the penny dropped, etc., and it was not pleasant. And see Abarbanel on Daniel chapter 11, and that is enough for the discerning.)

Tirgitz (2022-05-23)

Now an idea has occurred to me, as a mere speculation. The above Talmud says โ€œthe coin of sustenance,โ€ and Rashi explains: the angel appointed over sustenance. Since when is โ€œisarโ€ a term of rulership? Perhaps โ€œappointedโ€ means a tool in the hand of the Holy One, blessed be He (like โ€œJoseph harnessed his chariotโ€). But perhaps there is another possibility:
There are kings of Assyria in the Hebrew Bible: Shalmaneser and Tiglath-Pileser (they conquered Israel and part of Judah). And in royal names it is very common to incorporate the name of the local god. For example, Babylonian kings: Nebuchadnezzar begins with the divine name โ€œNebo,โ€ and Belshazzar begins with the divine name โ€œBelโ€ (as it says, โ€œBel crouches, Nebo stoopsโ€; and Nebuchadnezzar called Daniel โ€œBelteshazzar,โ€ โ€œaccording to the name of my godโ€). Ethbaal king of Sidon, and โ€œBaalโ€ was their god. And so too with most of the kings of Judah. It would seem, at least apparently, that โ€œAsarโ€ was in Assyrian a designation for a king or an idol, like โ€œElโ€ among some peoples.

Tirgitz (2022-05-23)

Sorry for the flood, but something that had been sitting in the back of my mind for years suddenly stirred up thoughts in me about it.

I wrote above that I did not understand what is written in the prayer books, that the name โ€œDikarnusaโ€ comes from the verse โ€œand I will pour out for you blessing until there is no more needโ€ and from the verse โ€œlift up upon us the light of Your face, Lord.โ€ And I proposed gematria upon gematria for how Dikarnusa comes out of the verse โ€œand I will pour out for you blessing until there is no more need.โ€ But the second verse, โ€œlift up upon us the light of Your face, Lord,โ€ could not be explained that way.

And now I see that if you take the words โ€œlift up upon us the light of Your face,โ€ their initials are nun-ayin-alef-peh, and their final letters are heh-vav-resh-khaf, together giving a numerical value of 432, while Dikarnusa has a numerical value of 431, and with the kolel it is 432. It seems to me that the truth proves itself: this is what the kabbalists meant, that this name comes from those verses by way of these gematria methods, which are like a compass in the hand of the draftsman. And they chose these verses because for them Dikarnusa is appointed over livelihood, like the name Hatakh (which is also equal in numerical value as above, as written in the prayer books), and these verses deal with livelihood and with a special shining of the divine countenance, and also because one can gather from them the letters of Dikarnusa, as I wrote above.

Haha (2022-05-24)


An explanation regarding Dikarnusa.
In general, quite an interesting channel.

ื”ืฉืืจ ืชื’ื•ื‘ื”

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