Number Our Days

THE PROBLEM, it seems, is one of semantics.

The word is "destroy." In its Hebrew translation, it will adorn calendars and newspapers and magazines throughout Israel beginning next fall, every day for an entire year--unless one prominent Israeli official has his way.

In Hebrew, figures can be expressed by letters of the alphabet. The combinations of letters that represent larger numbers may, coincidentally, spell out words. A while ago, Israeli Cultural Affairs Minister Zevulun Hammer must have flipped a few months ahead in his calendar book. To his surprise, he found that the letters of the next year on the Jewish Calendar--5744, which starts next fall--spell out in clear-as-day Hebrew "destroy."

Public relations have always been a sensitive point for Israel. The government of this Middle East hotbed must constantly explain its every action not only to its own citizens, but to the rest of the world. In 1983, the last thing Israeli officials will need is 5744.

Imagine a visiting foreign diplomat looking over his morning Jerusalem Post and seeing, just below the flag--and at the top of every page--the word "destroy." Every office, every classroom in the country would have a calendar on the wall with a bold "destroy" at the top of each page. This is hardly the best image for the troubled Israelis to convey.

But last week, the forward-looking Hammer announced his proposal that the government shuffle the numbers a bit for the upcoming year. Instead of transcribing into letters the sequence "five-seven hundred-forty-four," the normal procedure, he suggested that the figure read: "five-three hundred-four-forty-four hundred." In sum, the jumble of letters would add up to the same total: 5744.

Those not inclined to mathematical pursuits may find the rear-ranged figure cumbersome to decipher. But the benefits of Hammer's innovative and foresighted solution would far outweigh the potential confusion. The new combination would prevent the wide-spread proliferation of documents unwittingly displaying a call to destruction all over Israel.

In fact, Hammer's proposed reform is propitious for a second reason. The new configuration for next year would spell out, conveniently enough, both "the bad spirit is dead" and "beautiful fields."

If Hammer has his way, students and workers and diplomats in the Jewish state can look forward to enjoying these soothing messages as they permeate their daily lives next year.

If only all public officials would use such foresight, and devise such creative solutions to complex problems, perhaps the world would be a better place for all of us by five-seven hundred-forty-five.