Parashat Ha'azinu #3 - Diminished Letter Yud (י)

בס''ד


In Devarim/Deuteronomy 32:18 there is a letter Yud which is written very small compared to all the rest of the letters. It's the last letter in the word תֶּשִׁי teshi, meaning neglected or unmindful.

צוּר יְלָדְךָ, תֶּשִׁי; וַתִּשְׁכַּח, אֵל מְחֹלְלֶךָ.
The Rock that birthed you, you neglected; and forgot G@d, who bore you.

Yad, hand, indicates a means of action. Agency. The universe is set in motion by the movement of the Yad Chazaqah - the strong hand of G@D - being the symbol of creative and directive energy.

The Zohar Va-yiqra 147 explains that the letter Yud consists of three parts: a point rising upwards to The Holy One above, a point directed downwards to Earth, and the middle part uniting both. The shape of the Yud is symbolic of a person in prayer. Our eyes are lowered in humility as we stand before The Holy One, while our hearts are turned upward, toward heaven (Talmud Bavli Yevamot 105b). This is how Yud shows us the power of self-nullification.

All three parts of the Yud are of equal importance halakhically, according to Jewish Law. The Talmud notes that it is "obvious - peshita" that a mezuzah q'laf or Torah scroll is invalid if it lacks even a qotzo shel Yud, the point or serif of the Yud (Talmud Bavli Menachot 29a; Rashi).

The letter Yud also represents G@d's thought and hand (yad), which is the seminal origin of all Creation, and the Jewish soul. We see this expressed in the Hebrew Alefbet, as the beginning and end of every letterform reveals G@d's Omnipresence. Each letter is made up of a series of Yuds: some stretched, some diagonal, but they're all Yud. The seed, the sperm, the primordial force initiating the flow of life. The catalyst. Master writing this letter, and you've mastered the Universe.

Yud may be the smallest of the otiyot, letters, but it's the only one capable of suspending itself in mid-air and of birthing All Else. This is why Yud is known as The Little Who Holds Much. And with it's gematrial number of ten, it holds the Aseret Ha-Dibrot, the Ten Commandments, and the Ten Sefirot or Spectrums of the Tree of Life. It powerfully channels G@d's infinite light into a finite, limited reality for us to experience.

This Much refers to how G@d can hide His Infinity within the Yud/iota/jot of Divine Revelation, yet still possess Infinite potential to expand to all finite time and space.

This diminished Yud is written so because of our own failings. G@d had been expansive with us, so therefore we should have returned to Him in expansiveness. Instead, however, we contracted from Him. Contracted our agency, our power, our yad, hand. G@d had opened His hand to us, but we closed our hand to Him. We did not nullify ourselves and cleave to Him. We made a fist.

This tiny Yud also alludes to the Ten Battles of Yehoshu'a/Joshua. If we had responded appropriately to G@d, relaxed and trusted Him, then we wouldn't have had to fight ten battles to gain the Eretz Ha-Qodesh, the Land of Israel. We could've waltzed in and set up house, but instead we had to fight long and hard, relying on G@d's miracles to help us win. All that violence and those miracles wouldn't have been needed had we just...had faith. And not forgotten G@d.

This tiny Yud was listed in Midrash Rabbah Aqim as one of the letter oddities which must be written into a Sefer Torah for it to be considered kosher for ritual use.
R' Chayim David HaLevy, who is a Kabbalist rabbi I quote often, wrote that a letter written in miniscule indicates that a person or people in the narrative have somehow missed the mark; that they could have done better.

Among the many gifts that Ha-Shem has given us is the power of שִׁכְחָה shikh'chah — forgetfulness. Moshe Rabeynu said this to us right before he died. This is the last sheet of parchment in the Torah, people! Our problem is that va-tishkach Keil mecholelekha — we're using our power of forgetfulness to neglect Ha-Shem, Who gives us each breath straight from Divine compassion. Is that any way to act?

It's so hard to be human. & G@d knows just what a hard job we have. That's why we got Torah. But if we forget, then our agency, our yad, is diminished. So here we have a small Yud to remind us...not to forget :)

May we all be blessed with consciousness enough to become good humans this year, with humble hearts and open hands, like the letter Yud.


Copyright © A. Barclay
Based on "A Small Yud in Ha'azinu" originally posted Spetember 2006 at Netivat Sofrut:
http://soferet.blogspot.com/2006/09/small-yud-in-haazinu.html and cross-posted at Radical Torah

Parashat Ha'azinu #2 - Enlarged Letter Hey (ה)

בס''ד


The letter Hey of Ha-le-Ad@nai in parashat Ha'azinu, Devarim/Deuteronomy 32:6 is a standard letter written enlarged according to Midrash Rabbah Aqim. This parasha is almost always read on Shabbat Shuvah, during the Ten Days of Repentance, and it is taught that Hey represents repentance. Why?

הַ לְיְהוָה, תִּגְמְלוּ-זֹאת-- עַם נָבָל, וְלֹא חָכָם: הֲלוֹא-הוּא אָבִיךָ קָּנֶךָ, הוּא עָשְׂךָ וַיְכֹנְנֶךָ.
Is this how you repay Ad@nai, O foolish and unwise people? Isn't He your Father who has gotten you? Hasn't He made you and established you?

This Hey is also special in that it's not just the prefix of the definite article ("the"), as the letter Hey at the beginning of a word can be, but it's to be treated as a separate word and therefore should be spaced (Talmud Yerushalmi Megilah 1)

The Ba'al Ha-Turim teaches that this Hey is an indictment against Am Yisra'el, the Jewish People, being so ungrateful to G@d. He had generously gifted us with the original self-help book (Torah), not for His sake but for the sake of our own self-improvement and growth through service. Our Sages taught that the Torah was given to us only to purify the people. The enlarged Hey is referring to the five books of the Torah, as Hey has a gematria of 5.

This Hey also balances out the diminished Hey which can be found in parashat Be-reshit Be-reshit/Genesis 2:4. This pasuq/verse reads:

אֵלֶּה תוֹלְדוֹת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהָאָרֶץ, בְּהִבָּרְאָם: בְּיוֹם, עֲשׂוֹת יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים--אֶרֶץ וְשָׁמָיִם.
These are the generations of the Heaven and the Earth, when they were created in the day that Ad@nai, G@d, made Earth and Heaven.

The letter Hey of בְּהִבָּרְאָם be-hibaram, "when they were created", is written smaller than all the other letters. So we have a small Hey at the very beginning of the Torah, and a large Hey at the end. And when we read from the end and then cycle back to the beginning again on Simchat Torah, we meet both Heys on the same day.

The world was created with the letter Hey. How do we know this? Because we can read be-hibaram, "when they were created", as be-HEY-baram, "with Hey He created them". These are the generations of the Heaven and the Earth, with Hey they were created.

We also know this by Hey's shape: it reeks of teshuvah, repentance. There are two ways we see this: The Gemara in Menachot 29b tells us that this world is like the letter Hey - very easy to fall out the bottom (sin). But G@d has left a little space which we can climb up to, and squeeze through, to "get back to the Garden". That is teshuvah.

Menachot 29b also teaches that this letter Hey is G@d's sacred breath - as in Tehilim/Psalms 33:6:

בִּדְבַר יְהוָה, שָׁמַיִם נַעֲשׂוּ; וּבְרוּחַ פִּיו, כָּל-צְבָאָם.
By the utterance of Ad@nai the heavens were made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.

What is the sound of Hey? Exhale. That's it. Just like G@d blowing this holy breath of spirit into humankind, speaking all of Creation into existence, the letter Hey shows us G@d's creative power.


The other way is this: Hey is in fact made up of two other letters - Dalet and Yud. Dalet (דלת = door) is the doorway to G@d, to teshuvah, while Yud (יד = hand) is our own will to transform ourselves and getting closer to G@d by pushing open that door...


Both Rashi and the Lubavitcher Rebbe indicate that there is a question and a response (teshuvah) here. The little Hey in Genesis requires and anticipates the large Hey in Deuteronomy. Also, as we accepted, then transgressed the Torah (again Hey, as there are five books to the Torah and the number for Hey is five), we were given an extra gift from G@d to fix everything with. Teshuvah.


This is a new thing in the Universe, the Fifth Element, if you will. Since G@d made Creation to have four elements, four directions, et cetera, Teshuvah is the "fifth dimension". It is with this tool that we repair our lives and the World around us. And it comes straight from G@d.

This enlarged Hey being five also shows us G@d's open hand (five fingers) open to receive our repentance and generously forgive.

We only have Ten Days between Rosh Ha-Shanah and Yom Kipur. Please, let's use it.


Copyright © A. Barclay

Parshat Be-Ha'alotekha Parte Deux: Nuns Sealed Shut

BS"D


Psych!
Did you really believe yesterday's post, that I would refuse to comment on the two backward Nuns (those would be Hebrew letters (נ), not ladies dressed modestly and wearing crucifixes)?
How could I resist? I mean REALLY?

Peshat
Before and after Sefer Be-midbar/Numbers 10:35-36, there is a backwards letter Nun surrounded by space:

וַיְהִי בִּנְסֹעַ הָאָרֹן, וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה: קוּמָה יְהוָה, וְיָפֻצוּ אֹיְבֶיךָ, וְיָנֻסוּ מְשַׂנְאֶיךָ, מִפָּנֶיךָ.
לו וּבְנֻחֹה, יֹאמַר: שׁוּבָה יְהוָה, רִבְבוֹת אַלְפֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל.

Now it was, when the coffer was to march on, that Moshe would say: 'Arise (to attack), O Y-H-V-H, so that Your enemies may scatter; and that those who hate You may flee before You!'. And when it rested, he said: 'Return, O Y-H-V-H, You of the ten thousands myriad/families/clans of the divisions of Israel!

These verses preserve the invocation prayers in connection with the going forward and the resting of the Ark on our jouney through the desert to the Land of Israel. They are chanted to this day at the opening and closing of the ark and/or parokhet, whenever the Torah is read in the synagogue.

These two verses are enclosed with a long space, a letter Nun hafukh or mezuneret (isolated), then another long space on either end. I've seen thousands of Torah scrolls in my sofrut career, and I've noticed that these two Nunim can be written not only backward, but upside down, or even facing front, looking back over their shoulders. הָפוּךְ hafukh can mean reversed, inverted, inverse, in disarray, or even in slang "cafe au lait"!). There are many scribal rules about these spaces and letters, but no universal agreement.

Why are they here? Were they originally written into the text by hand by Moshe Rabbeynu atop Mount Sinai as dictated by The Holy One? If not, then do these addition graphic signs present a Halakhic or historical problem, since we are forbidden by Torah to add anything to the Torah?
Sefer Devarim/Deuteronomy 13:1 states:

אֵת כָּל-הַדָּבָר, אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוֶּה אֶתְכֶם--אֹתוֹ תִשְׁמְרוּ, לַעֲשׂוֹת: לֹא-תֹסֵף עָלָיו, וְלֹא תִגְרַע מִמֶּנּוּ.
All this word which I command you, that you will observe to do; do not add to it, nor diminish from it.

The RaMBaM, Maimonides, writes:

The intent of this prohibition is that we not add to the words of the Torah nor subtract from them, thereby permanently establishing the addition or subtraction as part of Scripture. This applies to both the Written Law and the Oral Tradition (transmitted to Moses on Mount Sinai).

So when the Rabbis institute a new law, they have to be clear that they aren't adding to the Torah at all, only building a fence around the Torah, to help the rest of us avoid breaking the Torah's laws.

When we trace these two Nunim and their wide spaces back through to our oldest surviving Torah scrolls and manuscripts - Rashi commented on this so we know this scribal feature of Torah scrolls is at least 1,000 years old - we find that there has in fact been a change, that there was some kind of metamorphosis. Here are the verses in a 700-year-old Torah scroll. Does this look like any of the Sifrei Torah you have in your synagogue? NO!
Forgive me for sounding apikorsodox when I ask: did our great Sages enact this change in text, or did the Scribes? Or both? Are these signs, added later, a fence around the journey of our Holy Ark?

So how is this a fence?
The backward Nuns could be written here like this to indicate either that they are not in their original place: Both Rav Ashi and R' Shim'on ben Gamli'el explain that when the Messiah comes in the future this section will be removed from here and written in its proper place.

Another traditional idea is that they are taken from another source (possibly from "The Book of the Wars of the Lord", Numbers/Be-midbar 21:14 [parshat Chuqat]) and form a distinct section, scroll, or even "book" of the Torah. Some of the Rabbis thought of the Book of Numbers/Sefer Be-midbar as consisting of three parts (Chapters 1 - 10:34; Chapter 10:35 - 36; Chapters 11 - 36), and, in consequence, counted seven books of the Torah.

Thus, according to Rabbi Yochanan, Mishley/Proverbs 9:1

חָכְמוֹת, בָּנְתָה בֵיתָהּ; חָצְבָה עַמּוּדֶיהָ שִׁבְעָה.
Wisdom hath hewn out her seven pillars.

referred to the Seven Books of the Torah. R' Shmu'el ben Nachman agrees.

There is a supporting baraita for this idea: Rabbi Yehudah Ha-Nasi said the strange layout of spacing and inverted Nunim isn't because these pasuqim/verses are in the wrong place, but because they are an important book standing on their own.

Why the letter Nun?
There are no less than ten words, or letters, or groups of words or letters appearing in the text of our Torahs which carry a dot above their heads. That discussion is too broad for this particular article, so I'll deal with them at another time. The point here is that the word "dot" in Hebrew is נקד, naqud, and the initial of that word, obviously, is the letter Nun.

Many opinions suggest that in this instance every single letter of these two verses was dotted, causing a very problematic result: difficult to lay out, to write, and to read. This would also mean that G@d's name would be dotted, which is impossible, since dotting traditionally indicates a erasing or effacement of the letters which are dotted (which I'll explain in a separate article). All Very Bad. Instead, a letter Nun was placed on either end, at the beginning and at the end of the journey of the Holy Ark, but written irregularly, to reflect the irregularity of the dots, the placement, or otherwise, and to ensure that they were never inadvertently entered into the text permanently, over time.

Kabbalah
The gematrial value of the letter Nun is 50.

There are fifty Gates of Understanding or Wisdom in our tradition. The same gates which we pass through as we count the omer between the second day of Pesach and Shavu’ot, invoking the presence of each S’firah as we walk the Tree of Life. Each Gate refers to the nature of each of the fifty references to our Exodus in the Sefer Torah, and to the fifty queries into the nature of Creation which G@d poses Job. These verses are gated off from the rest of the Torah.

Why Fifty?
One way of solving mysteries in Judaism is of course to turn to numbers. Words which share the same numerological value are considered to be connected in a very deep way, a way that is not so apparent on the surface. So what can I do with this number? A word which also has a value of 50 is spelled Alef-Tet-Mem Sofit (אָטַם): atam meaning "seal" or "shut" or even "water-tight". These two verses are sealed off from the rest of the Torah.

בַּסּוֹף
The word נֶאֱמָן ne'eman, "faithful", begins and ends with a Nun just as these verses do. This could be an indicator that we can rely on the information communicated in these verses. That as long as we keep ourselves under the protective wings of the Shekhinah, G@d's Holy Sheltering Presence, by keeping our commandments and staying true to our covenant, that we have nothing to fear. For G@d is One, there is nothing else, so all that denies this One Universal Truth will surely נָס, disappear.



Sources:
Talmud Bavli Masekhet Shabbat 115b; 116a
Talmud Bavli Masekhet Sofrim (the scribe's tractate) 6, 2
"The Burnt Book: Reading the Talmud", by Rabbi Marc-Alain Ouaknin
RaMBaM, "Mishneh Torah, Book Fourteen: Sefer Shofetim, Laws of Rebels" 2:9
Sofer.co.uk
Rashi's commentary on Rosh Hashannah 17b as related by Rabbi Solomon Luria in his Responsum #63
Nehama Leibowitz, "Studies in Bamidbar"

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Parshat Ba-midbar: Dotted Letters in the Desert

BS"D

"Three times was G-d exiled: in the Name, in the bursting open of the Name, and in the effacing of this bursting open."

- Edmond Jabès (Cairo, 1912 – Paris, 1991) Jewish writer and poet

In Sifri there are ten instances where a word or group of words appears where one or all of the letters are dotted in the text. In this week's Torah portion, Ba-Midbar, we find a curious series of dots over the name of Aharon, the High Priest. Ba-midbar/Numbers 3:39 reads:

כָּל-פְּקוּדֵי הַלְוִיִּם אֲשֶׁר פָּקַד מֹשֶׁה וְאַהֲרֹן, עַל-פִּי יְהוָה--לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם: כָּל-זָכָר מִבֶּן-חֹדֶשׁ וָמַעְלָה, שְׁנַיִם וְעֶשְׂרִים אָלֶף.

All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moshe and Aharon counted at the utterance of the LORD, by their families, all males from a month old and upward, were twenty two thousand.

Ve-Aharon (ואהרן) has five dots, one over each letter. Talmud Bavli Masekhet Sof'rim states that "ten in the Torah are marked by dots", then lists them. The Netziv on Sifri teaches us that if every letter of a word is dotted (as in this case), then this word abandons its usual meaning. We are invited to look deeper into the text, to engage in discussion, thereby entering into relationship and taking ownership of Torah.

So what do we do here, with Aharon? The name of the כהן גדול Kohen Gadol, the High Priest, is not as it seems.

Rabbi Marc-Alain Ouaknin, in his masterpiece The Burnt Book: Reading the Torah, writes:

"Altogether the total count of Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered." The name Aaron is completey dotted. The Midrash explains that Aaron was not included in the counting of those numbered (he counted but was not himself counted). Because of the dotting, Aaron is excluded, effaced.

And why was Aharon not included in that census even though he was a Levite? Rashi writes that Aharon's name is dotted because although he was a Levi, he wasn't included in the Levite census. Why was he not counted?

Rashi goes on: "The tribe of Levi was counted separately from the other tribes of Israel, because it is fit for the legions of a King to be counted separately."
Therefore, Aharon wasn't counted with his own tribe of Levi - but Moshe *was*! Aharon, not only as Kohen Gadol, but also as a person, was so unique, so special that he couldn't be counted or even included in a general census. Aharon was beyond all definition.

And why is the letter Vav (ו) of ve-Aharon dotted? Why "and Aharon" and not just "Aharon"? Why FIVE dots and not four?

According to the Zohar, Aaron was an expert therapist who helped save many relationships. The five dots over "ve- Aharon", alludes to the five levels of חסד chesed (loving-kindness) which he held and shared. Aaron's special role is mentioned in Pirkei Avot: "Hillel said, 'Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace, pursuing peace, loving all of G@d's creations, and bringing them near to the Torah.'"

Aharon brought oneness to our kehilah with peacemaking and kiruv, outreach. His mission is also hinted at in his name: Alef, Hey, Reysh, stand for אהבה רבה, ahavah rabah, or "great love". His name's final letter, Nun Sofit (ן), shows his ability to "draw down" this great love from Shomayim into our kehilah below. Just as the body of the final Nun descends below the line, so Aaron could descend to those of us who had fallen, lift us up and bring us closer to the ahavah rabah of G@d.

The English word "dot" comes from the Greek word for the letter "iota", which in turn comes from the letter Yud. Yud's gematrial value is ten. Five dots multiplied by ten 5 x 10 = 50. The number fifty represents of Shavu'ot, the fiftieth day after Passover, after our long count of the Omer. So Aharon, as the embodiment of loving-kindness, represents the attitude we must adopt to receive Torah on the fiftieth day.

As we draw to a close of our counting of the Omer and prepare to approach our own personal Sinaitic revelations, may we be blessed with Aharon's capacity of deveykut, to truly open with love and kindness to cleave to G@d in the full and joyful way we are each meant to.


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Sources:
Rashi
Zohar
Midrash Rabbah
Masekhet Sofrim
Nehama Leibowitz's Studies in Bamidbar
Sifrei on Bamidbar
Rabbi Marc-Alain Ouaknin's The Burnt Book: Reading the Torah
Pirkei Avot
Tanya

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Copyright A. Barclay