Ilustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Hey, remember when we talked about certain letters in the Torah that are small? Well, there are some big ones too! Check out this one from this week’s parashah:
וְהִ֨תְגַּלָּ֔ח
And he shall shave
That’s right, the gimmel is bigger than the other letters! In most of our Torah scrolls there are 11 letters like this in the Torah. It is a very old tradition and there is no agreement on the reason for this. But each place where it happens leads people to wonder why.
In our parashah, we talk about the different ways you figure out if you have צָרַעַת (tzara’at). One of the things you might get is a spot of discolored hair on your head or your beard. Sometimes, to figure out if the discolored hair is actually tzara’at, the Torah says you have to use a razor to shave off all the hair on your head and beard, except for the part with the disease.
But the author of the Meshekh Hokhmah points out that the Torah tells us elsewhere that this is often forbidden! If you are a נָזִיר (nazir) or נְזִירָה (nezirah), someone who has promised to be extra holy, you aren’t allowed to cut your hair at all (see Bemidbar 6). If you are a man with a beard, you aren’t supposed to shave it with a razor (see Vayikra 19). And if you are a כֹּהֵן (kohen, priest), you are extra warned never to shave your beard with a razor (see Vayikra 21)!
The Meshekh Hokhmah says that the big gimmel here is meant to make clear: we don’t care if you are a man with a beard, a nezirah, or a kohen. Figuring out whether this is tzara’at is more important than any of those other things, so get out your razor and scissors and cut that hair off!
Why do you think answering the tzara’at uncertainty is more important than those other rules?
Did you ever see someone write a message in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS TO MAKE SURE YOU GOT THE POINT? Seems like the Torah does that too!
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