Thursday, March 27, 2008

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Shemini

The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Frand in his parsha shiur this evening. I have attempted to reproduce this vort to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistencies are the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

In this week's parsha, the Torah discusses the kosher laws and more specifically, delineates which animals, fish, birds and insects are permitted to be eaten. Within the context of this discussion, the Torah states at Vayikra 11:42 that a creature that crawls on its belly is not Kosher. The word that the Torah uses for belly is "Gachon." In writing the actual word, the Torah makes the letter Vuv in Gachon longer than the rest of the letters. This is done so as to demarcate that this is the midway point of the letters in the Torah.

Rashi on the word Gachon comments that the creature that the Torah is indicating is a snake that creeps and falls on its stomach. Rashi's choice of word is interesting as well. While belly would be normally translated as Beten, Rashi uses the word Meyav or intestines.

R' Frand quoted the Vilna Gaon as having explained why Rashi uses the word Meyav instead of Beten. He explains that since this is half the Torah in letters, by its very nature it is also the midway point of Rashi's commentary on the Torah. The first Rashi (in Bereshis) begins with the word "Amar" that begins with Alef. The last Rashi on the Torah ends with the word Sheshibarta that ends with a Tuf. By using the Meyav word for stomach, Rashi is showing that the Torah is Emet (true) as the commentary begins with an Alef, has a Mem in the middle and a Tuf at the end.

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