Communication

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Communication.  It’s not just words.  It’s facial expression.  It’s our stance.  It’s our tone.

The Tora reading from last weekend gives us an inkling of this.  It was the third book of the Tora, what we call sefer Vayikra.  And, the weekly portion is also called Vayikra.  (It was the first chapters of the third book, sometimes called Leviticus.)

Vayikra means “And, He called…”.   Hashem desires to instruct Moshe (Moses) in the laws.  Sure, the 10 commandments have been provided, but throughout the travels over 40 years, Hashem will communicate some 603 additional strictures.

But, the writing of this word is unusual.  The final letter of the word, aleph, which is silent without the addition of a vowel, is much smaller than the rest of the word.  (By the way, the Hebrew aleph-bet is the format that became the Greek alphabet, which is why aleph, bet, gimel, dalet became alpha, beta, gamma, delta.  [Note- no C…])

Why is that?  Without the aleph, the word would be read as vayikar- which means ‘dear’, ‘precious’, or ‘endeared’…   And, Hashem is calling Moshe to the Tabernacle – and Moshe is dear and precious to Hashem.  It certainly will help with the communication of these laws.

How we talk to people affects how they listen and how they respond.  It’s a critical component of communication- one often lost in today’s world of texting and eMail… and the hustle-bustle ways of our lives.

Which brings to mind a very old (Jewish) joke.  One that can’t be explained via the written word.  Which is why I’ve added the YouTube video below.

Let’s try to communicate our real ideas.

 

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