Faith is like charity. The Torah says of Abraham: “And he had faith in God, and He counted it as charity” (Genesis 15:6). Through faith, one is worthy of children. The Hebrew word for faith is EMUNaH. Turn the letters into numbers, and the gematria is BaNIM (children).46EMUNaH is spelled Aleph (1), Mem (40), Vav (6), Nun (50), Hei (5), which has the numerical value of 102. BaNIM is spelled Bet (2), Nun (50), Yod (10), Mem (40), which also has the numerical value of 102. This was said before the Rebbe’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land. R' Dov of Tcherin, one of Rebbe Nachman’s earliest followers, asked the Rebbe to pray that he should have children. The Rebbe told R' Dov to donate a sum to charity. When R' Dov replied that he had no money, the Rebbe told him to have faith in its stead (Tzaddik #477). R' Dov’s daughter later became the second wife of Rebbe Nachman’s grandson, R' Avraham Dov (Kokhavey Or, p. 24, note 5).
אֱמוּנָה חָשׁוּב כִּצְדָקָה. כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב (בְּרֵאשִׁית ט"ו): "וְהֶאֱמִין בַּה' וַיַּחְשְׁבֶהָ לוֹ צְדָקָה" וְעַל־יְדֵי־זֶה זוֹכֶה לְבָנִים, אֱמוּנָה בְּגִימַטְרִיָּה בָּנִים.
Faith is like charity. The Torah says of Abraham: “And he had faith in God, and He counted it as charity” (Genesis 15:6). Through faith, one is worthy of children. The Hebrew word for faith is EMUNaH. Turn the letters into numbers, and the gematria is BaNIM (children).46EMUNaH is spelled Aleph (1), Mem (40), Vav (6), Nun (50), Hei (5), which has the numerical value of 102. BaNIM is spelled Bet (2), Nun (50), Yod (10), Mem (40), which also has the numerical value of 102. This was said before the Rebbe’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land. R' Dov of Tcherin, one of Rebbe Nachman’s earliest followers, asked the Rebbe to pray that he should have children. The Rebbe told R' Dov to donate a sum to charity. When R' Dov replied that he had no money, the Rebbe told him to have faith in its stead (Tzaddik #477). R' Dov’s daughter later became the second wife of Rebbe Nachman’s grandson, R' Avraham Dov (Kokhavey Or, p. 24, note 5).