The Esoteric Meaning of Numbers - Numerology 104

Who knows FOUR?
I know FOUR.
Four are the (fore)mothers/the matriarchs.
The Imahos Hakedoshos.

It's interesting that we had three avos, but four imahos. We established what the essence of the three is and therefore how and why it made perfect sense to have three avos. Obviously, understanding the imahos will define for us the number four.
What is the role of a father and what is the role of a mother? Starting from the conception of a child's life we see that the role of the man/father is to plant the seed and the role of the woman/mother is to take the seed and develop and nurture it so that it can grow.
This explains to us why, in tefilla, we always refer to Hashem as a male. Hashem is neither male nor female, but we refer to Hashem as a male because Hashem gives us the koach, He plants the seed within us and it's up to us to develop it. That's why it's brought down that Bnei Yisrael are like a kalla to Hashem as a chosson. Those are our roles.
If you look at animal life, an animal is born and a few days later, it's out on its own walking, stalking, hunting, doing whatever it needs to. Humans take many years to grow and mature until we are finally able to take care of ourselves. Why? Because that is our nature. To nurture the G-d given potential. An animal is a BeHaiMaH, those same letters spell BaHMaH, it is what it is. From birth it is what it will be. We are called Adam, from the Adama, the earth, which is again, where a seed is planted and then can nurture and grow.
I think this also explains one of the most famous questions about milah. Why weren't we born circumcised? The answer is that Hashem plants the seed within us, but again, it is our job to take it to the next level, to develop it, so we have to take that last step on our own. To finalize our own creation.
In Braishis, before Adam is created, Hashem says, Naaseh Adam, let US make man. This begs the obvious question, who is the us?? The most common explanation is that Hashem was consulting with the Malachim (see Rashi there) but the Shalah Hakadosh gives a beautiful answer. Who is the us? US, humans. We, together with Hashem, need to "make man". Hashem gives us the raw tools, but it is our job to nurture and develop them.
This is the definition of the number four. The power to take the potential that was planted and nurture it in this world.
The Gemara says that the Gimel-Dalet combination is for Gomeil Dalim. The Gimel/Gomeil connection is clear to see, but with this explanation, we understand the Dalet/Dalim as well. Obviously, it's not just that the words sound similar. When someone gives tzedaka, he has money that he is looking to give. He has the seed to plant, but it takes the Dal, the poor person, to receive the money and therefore develop and nurture the act into an act of tzedaka.
Understanding now what the four means, we can easily understand why the four letter name of Hashem was used to create this world. There are four components to our DNA, the building blocks of who we are and the nurturing and developing of our potential.
The pasuk tells us DaM hu hanefesh, we are our blood. What is the gematria of DaM/blood? Dalet is 4 and Mem is 40, the four in both the units and the tens.
Taking it a step further, what are we? We are the balance, as we said last week, between the physical and the spiritual. Aleph we said is Hashem/spirituality, DaM we just showed is the physicality. It also means taking the seed that Hashem gave us and nuturing it in this world to make it something more. That's what makes us Adam.