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interpretation: "As a hammer striking an anvil
emits 70 sparks," says the Midrash, "so can one
find 70 different meanings to every sentence,
every word, even every letter within the Torah."
I get this; the untold number of different
commentaries on the Torah dissect every part of
every pasuk so as to mine golden messages &
hidden secrets. But in our Sedra, there is a
unique phenomenon that is puzzling in the
extreme: 2 p’sukim (10:35-36), containing the
words that we say when the Torah is taken out of
the Aron & when it’s put back (Vay’hi binsoa &
Uv’nucha Yomar) are surrounded by upside-down,
floating nuns. Huh? What is this all about?
Rashi suggests that this small section doesn’t
really belong here, but it serves to "break up"
the long list of complaints (the lack of water;
the shortage of meat; the taste of the Mahn, etc)
that appear in this sedra. The Rav posits that
the Torah could actually have ended here, & the
nation enter Israel immediately, if not for our
descent into bickering & belly-aching. And so
this section marks the break between what could have been, & what is.
But why davka these 2 p’sukim? And what’s with
the "flying nuns" (who remembers that show?!)? I
see in this bizarre item a striking connection to our present situation.
We were sailing along majestically in Israel; we
had everything: a marvelous, beautiful country
with a strong economy; a mighty army, kosher
hotels from coast to coast & expanding relations
with once-hostile neighbors. And then, on Oct. 7,
it all literally blew up in our faces. The twin
nuns of nifla’ot (wonders) & nisim (miracles)
suddenly turned upside down, as our world went
topsy-turvy. The cry to Hashem in this first
pasuk, "Hashem, scatter your enemies, make those
who hate You run away" became frighteningly, desperately real.
The intra-Jewish fighting, the caustic rhetoric
of opposing sides sweeping the country prior to
October 7 resulted in a tragic tear of our
national fabric, inviting the enemy to take
advantage of our weakness, to sweep in across our borders & brutally attack us.
And now we must regroup, we must repair the rift
that got us here, knowing that only when we are
united, on the same page, can we hope to prevail
upon Hashem to sustain the fragile existence we enjoy in this great land.
"Nun" equals 50 in Gematriya, so "nun-nun" is
"50-50." Our survival hinges on our ongoing
partnership with G-d; it is a "50-50 proposition"
wherein we work together to repair the nuns & so
effect the nisim & niflaot that power our
presence. If we do that, then surely we will
fulfill the second pasuk & Hashem will "rest
tranquilly among the myriads of Israel."
A Jewish Approach to Discipline in the Classroom
Rabbi David Samson | Iyar 5761
As Though You Yourself Came Out of Egypt
Rabbi Gideon Weitzman | 5765
