Why didn’t Hebrew keep its traditional numbering system?

Question

Using the western numbering characters with Hebrew text makes things really jarring and clunky to read I’ve noticed, especially date ranges. Why didn’t the founders keep the traditional numbering system using the abjad numerals? Seems like it would be much easier to read and would have kept a uniquely jewish/Hebrew tradition of numbering.

Answer 1

Gematria isn't exactly a decimal sytem. There are 26 letters, so there's not only 1-9 but then 10-100 and 200, 300, 400. So they could have only used the first nine letters, fine. But then they would have to make up a zero numeral. And then they would have to decide if it goes left-right or right-left. [in Arabic everything goes right-left except numbers, and they traditionally use a different numeral system] In general, while I do appreciate the fact that we have a modern Hebrew language, as someone who uses numbers all the time and corresponds with people from various countries, I appreciate the fact that numbers are standardized across almost every country. By the way you will find Israelis using Gematria-type numbers for various things, but never for science or mathematical calculations.