Parashat Shemini 5786

by Rabbi Margie Cella

Here’s a bit of trivia for all those who love numbers: this week’s parashah, Shemini  (“eighth”), is the only parashah whose name has a number in it. It tells the story of the eighth day of the ordination ceremony, officially installing Moses and his sons into the priesthood.

For those who like trivia, here is another interesting thing that occurs in this parashah: in Leviticus 10:16, we find the two middle words of the Torah, darosh darash (“he [Moses] surely sought”). Since there are two middle words we know that there must be an even number of words in the Torah. Since the Sefer Torah is written without vowels, these two words look identical in the Torah text. They are two forms of the same Hebrew verb ד–ר–ש, here meaning “to ask;” the combination of the two forms makes the verb emphatic.

The commentator Or HaChaim says that the phrase indicates that Moses “kept on asking” God for clarification about the halachah  concerning the sacrificial goats. Moses was persistent.  In that, he set an example for us all. We, too, must be persistent in asking questions when we don’t understand. The life of each Jew should be one of diligent pursuit of learning and understanding. God loves the quest for wisdom, as we have seen with many of the women we have studied on Makom B’Yachad this past year. And there is always more to learn, and more people to learn from.

Finally, here is one more piece of trivia from this parashah: in verse 11:42, we find the word gachon, גחון , written with an enlarged letter vav. This is the middle letter of the Torah.

Oseh Shalom, Maker of Peace, may we all find peace in pursuing a deeper understanding of the intricacies of Your Torah.