Rejoicing in Torah

Jews have often been called am ha-sefer, the people of the book. The central text in Judaism is the Torah. As the cycle of our Fall holidays comes to a close, we will celebrate the holiday of Simchat Torah, literally rejoicing in the Torah. We read the last verses of the book of Devarim, or Deuteronomy, from one scroll, and then begin the reading of the Torah all over again with the first verses from Bereisheet, or Genesis, from a second scroll. This year again we will sing and dance with special music, and unroll one of our Torah scrolls to see the entire Torah from beginning to end.

As she was scribing our new Torah scroll, written to mark the 50th anniversary of Solel, Rabbi Yonah Lavery-Yisraeli, met with us several times to demonstrate for us the process of writing a Torah scroll. Our soferet began by showing us the klaf, or parchment on which the Torah is written, and the ink and the quill for writing and how they are prepared. Then she demonstrated how she writes each letter, carefully and painstakingly copying each verse from a Tikkun, a book that has each verse of Torah written, and how with each letter she inscribes, she does with great intention, kavanah. When you look at an empty klaf, it is all white space. When the soferet dips the quill in the ink, and begins the holy task of writing the words of the Torah, what you see is the Hebrew letters, the black ink on the parchment. Each letter must not only be written with great kavanah – intention. Before she begins writing she declares out loud “I am writing this with intent for the holiness of Torah”. Each letter is written carefully, so that each letter in the Torah scroll is surrounded by parchment. The requirement of mukaf g’vil, meaning “surrounded by parchment”, (Talmud Bavli Menachot 29a) reminds us that the white parchment surrounding the letters is an essential part of the Torah.

Between each book of the Torah there are also large blank spaces, and within certain other sections there are special separations in the text. The rabbis taught that these pauses were placed there to give Moses the time and space to contemplate what God had just taught to him.

Rabbi Zalman Schacter Shalomi shares a teaching from Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev about the white letters of the Torah. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak asked:

“Why is it that no letter in the Torah may touch another letter in the Torah?” and, “Why is it that those white spaces are there?” “Why is it that in Az Yashir, the song of the sea, is written like bricks – with spaces in between?” He answered, saying: “It is now before the coming of the Mashiach, before that time of full realization and enlightenment for all of us.  And so it is now a time in which all we can read are the black letters of the Torah. “But when the Mashiach comes, we will also be able to read the white letters of the Torah.   Then, the whole truth will be clear for us.” The rabbis taught that the Torah is black fire written on white fire.

It is in the white spaces in between that we find the hidden meanings of Torah and of life. At Mt Sinai what was given to us was not only Torah, but also the blank space in between, the teachings of Torah that were not written down, the hidden mysteries that we pursue throughout our lives.

Jewish life teaches us the value of transformation in the empty spaces. It is in that time in between, the unstructured time, the empty space that we grow, transform, and become renewed.

As we begin this New Year 5786, let us make the most of the liminal spaces in our lives to look back on where we have been, imagine the changes we desire, and create something new.

Come sing, dance and rejoice with us as we celebrate Simchat Torah on Monday evening October 13, and Tuesday morning October 14th at Solel.

L’shalom,
Rabbi Audrey S. Pollack

Filed under: Rabbi's Message

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