Samekh is the fifteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

The gematria of Samekh is 60.

In the Priestly Blessing recited every morn­ing there are fifteen words and sixty letters. When the kohen blesses the people, he must put his two hands together. According to the Mishnah there are thirty bones in each hand, sixty when the hands are joined.

What is unique about the Priestly Blessing? The results of such blessings are swift and without interruption, similar to the strength of a current of mighty water that no dam can stop. The Priestly Blessings embody the concept of the samech: infinite light and power.

A halachah regarding kashrus is an example of samech’s strength. Suppose someone is cooking a big cholent full of meat and needs to prepare a bottle of milk for his or her baby. A drop of milk accidentally falls into the pot. Is the cholent now unkosher? The law states that if there is sixty times the amount of cholent to the one drop of milk, then the error is completely nullified. The ratio of this nullification is one to sixty, and is the origin of the term batel beshishim (“nullified by sixty”).

It is interesting to note that the word ayin, which means “nothing,” reiterates this concept when the value of its letters are added: alef = 1, yud = 10, and nun = 50, equaling 61. One to sixty is like nothing.

Other significant connections to sixty: King Solomon had sixty of his finest men surrounding his bed every night for protection. The Mishnah has sixty tractates. Sleep is one-sixtieth of death; a dream is one-sixtieth of prophecy; fire is one-sixtieth of hell; and honey constitutes one-sixtieth of the manna.