Parashat Vayikra: Words Count

 A few weeks ago, Stephnie and I went to the theatre.  Ordinarily, this would not constitute a mention in one of my Drashot had it not been for the trip we experienced and what transpired once we had reached our destination.  We had the misfortune of having booked our tickets on a day when yet another Underground strike was taking place.  A journey that could have taken less than an half-an-hour on the Tube lasted nearly two as Stephnie encountered heavy rush-hour traffic driving from Edgware to Covent Garden in pouring rain, which compounded the misery that we both felt.

We arrived at the theatre nearly half-an-hour late.  We thought we might be able to request that, due to extenuating circumstances, our seats could be transferred to another performance.  The staff who were accommodating and welcoming did not accede to our pleas and suggested that we walk up the stairs to the first floor where we would be able to watch the first act which was being live streamed on a television set.  We would then be permitted to enter into the auditorium at the start of the interval.  The thought of having to spend the next couple of hours trying to return home under the same circumstances convinced us that we didn’t really have much choice and so we begrudgingly made our way up the staircase.

The site that greeted us as we reached the first floor was astonishing.  There were dozens of people either standing or seated watching the proceedings on a rather small TV.  We asked one of the usherettes to fill us in on the synopsis.  She reassuringly informed us that we hadn’t missed too much as it was a long play and the first act set the scene (quite literally) but was not in fact a critical component of the main body of the work.  We found some ‘seats’ on the staircase and settled down to watch the play from afar.

Eventually, the audience applauded, the curtain fell and we tried to make our way into the auditorium which was not easy granted that virtually everyone inside felt the need to come out for either a drink or to use the facilities.  I feared that it might take us another two hours to get in!  It reminded me of the joke where Moishe is travelling up the M1 and calls his wife who tells him that she’s just heard on the radio that there’s a meshuggene (mad man) driving the wrong way up the motorway.  He responds, “A meshuggene?  There are hundreds of them!”

The poor layout of the seating meant that it was difficult to reach your place if it was not located at either end of the row.  We were in Row A of the upper circle which meant that leg room was extremely narrow.  We excused ourselves as we passed in front of the lady who would become my neighbour, on the left-hand side.  I sat down and Stephnie, having seen that she was not best pleased to have us ‘bothering her’ tried to break the ice by apologising for being late.  She then asked if we had missed a part of the play that we needed to be aware of, to understand the next act.  We obviously knew the answer but hoped that this would pacify her somewhat.

The lady proceeded to describe how ‘fantastic’ the first act was, deliberately trying to make us feel ashamed for having missed it.  Once the second act was over (I did state it was long play), during the interval, she voluntarily repeated how much better the first act had been.  If she hadn’t made her point vividly enough, at the end of the evening, once we were preparing to leave, she repeated her comments and added, just for good measure, that we really should ‘see the play again to witness the fantastic first act’.

As tickets to the play were not exactly cheap, I chose to experience the ‘fantastic first act’ by purchasing the script on Amazon.  Once I have read it, I’d be happy to let you how ‘fantastic’ it is, compared with the rest of the play.

Words count.

Gary Lineker is not my favourite person at present.  His Twitter quote comparing the language of the Government ‘that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s’ did not rest well with many people.  We are all aware of what transpired as a result because...words count.

We know how important words are, whether they are spoken or written.

Once a thought leaves a person’s head and becomes vocalised, written or recorded, it gains legitimacy.  It becomes ‘real’.  It does this because...words count.

The first instance of this can be found at the very start of Bereishit (Genesis) in Verse 3, when Gd said, “Let there be light.  And there was light.”

Every day, we start the Pesukei DeZimra, the Songs of Praise section of Shacharit with the verse, “Baruch She’amar vehaya ha’olam.” – Blessed is He who spoke and the world came into being, blessed is He. 

 

In explaining this, Chazal, our Sages learned that Gd created the world through the use of words.  One can therefore never underestimate the power of words and the examples I have provided are a testament to this.

Why?  Because...words count.

Daf Hashavua even informs us how many words are written in each Parasha (which I often look at when wondering the number I will have to remember when learning my leining!)  You may also be interested to know that there are 1,560 words in this Drasha.

This week’s Parasha and the book that it gives its name to, is Vayikra, which means ‘and He called’, with the first verse telling us that Gd ‘called out to Moshe’ to speak with him.  You might wonder why the verse shouldn’t have used the more familiar ‘Vayomer – and he said’ or ‘Vayedaber and he spoke’, as per the usual way Gd communicated with Moshe.

‘Vayikra’ seems like an unusual manner for Gd to summon Moses.

Rashi tells us thqt ‘Vayikra’s shoresh or root is ‘kara’.  We know this from the Bible (Isaiah 6.3) and our daily Kedushah prayer when we read ‘vekara, ze el ze ve’amar, Kadosh Kadosh Kadosh Hashem Tzevakot  - ‘And they (the angels) call to one another saying ‘ Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts.  It is a term of endearment between them.

In the same way, Gd employed this word when speaking to Moshe Rabbeinu to demonstrate his love for Moshe – and for him alone.  Although His call was ‘loud and thundering’ (according to the translation in the Artscroll Stone Chumash), only Moshe heard it.  Gd conversed with our greatest prophet in the same way that ‘a man speaks with his friend’ (see Shemot 33.11).

The delicacy by which the Torah differentiates the manner in which Gd chose to speak to Moshe stands in stark contrast to the indelicate fashion that my ‘neighbour’ employed to speak to the two of us.  Similarly, people now feel that they can say or write whatever they wish, irrespective of who will be hurt by their pronouncements.

It is not a coincidence that, on Yom Kippur, the majority of our Al Cheit prayers focus on asking Gd to forgive us for the instances in which we transgressed the laws of shemirat halashon – which means literally, ‘guarding of the tongue’.  When we should have spoken words of praise, we criticised.  When we should have stayed silent regarding the actions of others, we spoke.  When we should have spoken in defence of others, we stayed silent.

We should realise that words do count.  They matter and because they matter, they count.

They make us and they break us.  They build us and they destroy us.

I’d like to think that the lady who gloated at how wonderful the first act happened to be, hadn’t realised how hurtful her comments were.  She probably left, satisfied that she’d ‘shown us’ what happens when we ‘dare to come late to a theatre play’.  If she had taken a moment to ask herself why we were tardy and how this would have led to our feeling embarrassed, she might have acted differently.

Gary Lineker felt justified by what he wrote (which  was in no small measure magnified by the support he received) and seemed completely oblivious to how hurtful his words were to those people who lived under Nazi rule in 1930s Germany.  The very same individuals who either fled the country or whose close family was subsequently murdered by laws enacted through its government over the next decade and beyond.

Perhaps if both had taken a leaf out of the Torah and understood how important it is to consider what they said or wrote, they may have avoided upsetting a great number of people.  They are but two examples of the many people who fall into the same trap.

We are all guilty of this at one time or another, are we not?

There are many lessons that the Torah can teach us but if the first is to be mindful of our language, it is one that will surely bring some more peace to our troubled world because, at the end of the day...words count.

Shavuah Tov.