Rabbi's Blog

The journey of life takes some on a long road consisting of twists and turns, peaks and valleys somehow resembling  challenging race tracks which bring us back to where we began. The other day I saw two pictures: one of my eight-month old granddaughter pushing a walker and the other of a great grandmother using a walker. One pictured captured a baby learning how to walk; the other captured an elderly woman concentrating on keeping her balance and avoiding falling. With people living longer, we see older people needing more assistance in their daily tasks and even more so as they age and decline both physically and mentally. Both babies and the frail need help with basic necessities of being fed, dressed, bathed, and assistance with personal care. The baby and the healthy young child will ultimately learn to do these tasks on their own. It is a sad part of today’s reality, however, to see advanced seniors revert back to the basic needs and abilities of a young child.

This issue was sparked in my mind through the image of a walker. A walker is designed to be an aid for anyone in different situations which allow the user to move around more easily and safely. In general an ‘aiding device,’ (made up word) like many things in life, could be both beneficial or detrimental, depending upon how it is used. If used when necessary, it’s value is without question, but when this device becomes a crutch, it is no longer aiding but abetting. For example, if a person breaks his leg and must use crutches to walk, the crutches should be used temporarily. The goal is to wean off the need for the using the crutches and rebuild strength in order to walk without them. Unfortunately, in today’s day and age while many shortcuts and gadgets save us time and energy, over time these useful devices may prove harmful rather than helpful.

One such recent feature is the back-up camera, now a standard component in most new cars.   This device has proven to be such an important safety feature that it is no longer considered an added-on luxury item when buying a car. There is no question that the back-up camera aids the driver when in backing up his vehicle, even though it does take some time to learn to trust it and get used to using it. We must be careful to remember, however, that it is only an aid;  it does NOT replace the human eye. Even though the camera is able to see and warn the driver of a small child under the rear bumper or in an area outside the rear-view range of human vision of the car, the driver must still look carefully before moving the car. Nevertheless, as we build  trust for the camera we may come to rely solely on it and its narrow viewfinder may not detect someone walking behind the car at the last moment. 

Aids and mnemonic devices have been with us from time immemorial. Case in point is a peculiar issue unique to this week’s Parshah Pekudei. It has to do with a little tidbit of information that is shared with us in how many pesukim/verses there are in every Torah portion. In almost every published Chumash you will find a word or two that will contain the numerical number of verses in that parsha, with the exception of Pekudei.   Pekudai happens to have ninety two pesukim. The number of pesukim and a word which adds up to that number is written at the end of every Parshah of the Torah. The word is supposed to serve as a siman (סימן) — a mnemonic for the number of pesukim. Why is this omitted at the end of Parshat Pekudei?

The Lubavitcher Rebbe in Likutei Sichos 6 page 408 says the reason may be due to the fact that in Parshat Pekudei there are ninety-two pesukim and the words “Bli Kal” “בלי כל” have the numerical value of ninety-two. Possibly, in an early print of the Chumash, a typesetter who was a mediocre scholar noticed that it was written at the end of the parshah "צ"ב, בלי כל סימן". Erroneously, he understood it to mean “ninety-two, without any siman,” and therefore he omitted it. The Malbim Rabbi Meir Leibush ben Yechiel Michel is the only printed Chumash that has a mnemonic -  the word Aytzay Aleph-Tzadi-Aleph which means ‘to go out’.

There are still questions despite these answers as to the mystery of the siman word equaling to the number of verses. Reb Yakov Chaim Sofer, in an article that appears in Kovetz Beis Aaron Ve’Yisroel #95, is not satisfied with the previously-mentioned answer of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. He challenges the reason because if one investigates the matter of verses and words that match numerically, one finds a pattern without exception. Every mnemonic word found after every parsha is either a name in the portion or theme that relates to something in that parsha. I would postulate that the reason was to encapsulate in one word a reminder of what the total parsha was about or at least something within it.  Therefore the words that mean “without any” sign equaling ninety-two does not fit the pattern, nor does the word Aytzay which isn’t a real Hebrew word.

I currently do not have the perfect reason, but I would like to take some literary license and suggest a thought of my own on this matter. In these articles I’ve mentioned that there is a connection between the beginning and end of every Parsha. So too here, we are missing the mnemonic word that tells us the count. Let us just look at the very name of the Parsha, the word Pekudei. The word Pekudei is explained with different definitions; an accounting, enumerator, remembered, a visit, count, number, review, and, finally, to recall! Even though the initial intent of the word used in the beginning of the parsha was about the vessels and utensils in the Mishkan, it can also be used later on to send a hidden but obvious message about numbers. The common denominator of all these definitions is a reminder of numbers. Perhaps it was the word of the Parsha that was used not to offer the number of verses by giving a word, but the word itself meaning count to the last words of the Parsha “B’Chol Mas’ayhem” in all of their travels. The gematria of B’Chol  - a beis, chaf and lamed  - equal fifty-two, and the first letter of Mas’ayhem is a mem, which equals forty, totaling ninety –two. Hashem, counting and remembering for the entire forty years traveling in the desert, is hinted from the last words of the Parsha. Having a word from the Parsha itself is consistent with all of the other Parshios of the Torah using a word or name from the portion. B’Chol Mem is the mnemonic of Pekudei.

All in all, aids and mnemonics are cute and fun. Sometimes they are helpful and other times they become a crutch. Sometimes they are obvious and sometimes we need to be creative. Sometimes we know outright what they represent and at other times they remain a mystery.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Ah Gut Shabbos

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky