Wow! Long time no write. So, since last I wrote, myself and three of the chevre (group) here spent 4 days biking the 200 miles down south to Eilat. It all went by so fast, it's all still one beautiful blur in my head. Between Bat Ayin and Eilat is nothing but desert, but it's desert like you've never seen before. Camels and ruins, planted forests and deep canyons. The highlight of these sights was easily the Ramon Crater, the biggest natural crater formed by erosion. Descending into the crater (at about 40 mph) I remembered last year's tiyul (trip) there with Rabbi Trugman. Part-way through our hike, he stopped the group for a silent meditation on the Hebrew word meedbar (desert). Oddly enough, this is the same word for speech. The desert is one of the most serene, quiet places on earth, yet something in its essence is akin to the way we communicate.
In this week's parsha, G-d speaks (daber) to Moshe commanding him to tell us to be holy. Talk about a vague statement. What does being holy mean? Well, G-d goes on to explain that we must be holy because G-d is holy. That's a tall order. G-d's told us from the beginning that we were created in G-d's image. The way we were created was through speech…"G-d said, 'Let there be…and there was.' " G-d employed the power of deebur (speech) when he created the world. And when he formed our bodies from the earth, it was G-d's breath that was blown into us to form our souls. Unbelievable! So how does all this contribute to us being images of G-d? G-d has no physical form, no perceivable scent, no discernible sound. Well, every time we use one of our physical or emotional abilities in a holy way, we are reconnecting to our G-dliness.
"You shall not curse a deaf person…" That's one of the many commandments found in this week's parsha aimed at returning us to this place of holiness. At first read, it seems that it could make no difference what we say about a deaf person, for they'll never hear us. As it turns out, it is from this line that Rashi learns that this prohibition applies to any living person. But why mention the cheresh (deaf)? Cheresh means silent or secret. Even a curse done in secret has an effect, even one that will never be heard by another. When we speak, our words emanate from within us. Words form as the breath of our G-dly soul passes over the physicality of our vocal chords, this interaction of physical and spiritual is what sets us apart from other living beings. It is the distinct feature of the human species. That is true holiness, uniqueness. The words we form in this way have a life unto their own -- they affect creation. In a similar way that's G-d's first words created our world, our words cause things to happen. Even though a deaf person may not hear our curse, the negative energies brought up by such words are real. We see this happen often: when we crack a joke at someone else's expense and then regret it, when we respond impulsively to an attack against us, when we answer hastily without regard to what we really meant to say. So often, it's not about who hears us, but about what our words do to us.
Speech is a real entity, it comes into the world and makes changes. It's not just a passing sound, it's a place -- a place that we create that is forever in existence. The place where words reach their potential is in the desert, in speech. On the one hand it is the quietest place in the world where sight is the featured sense: there is nothing to hear or smell or touch or taste, all is barren. Yet from this simplicity we were born. G-d first spoke to us as a nation in the desert, and the vast majority of the events in the Torah transpire there. The Torah is the ultimate book of words, all with multiple meanings and hidden levels of understanding.
In our journey to become unique, holy beings, we must be increasingly aware of our power to make sacred space with our words. Our conversations are arenas for connecting to loved ones, for recognizing how holy we all are. A desert may not look like much, but look at how much life has sprung forth from the tiny desert ¼ the size of New Jersey that we call Israel! May we all find that place where we can create new life, and spend time there adding our voices to its sweet sound.