But seeing a Torah up close makes me realize how open to interpretation those first five books of the Bible are. This is a copy from a book called a tikkun (Numbers 12: 1-3). It offers a close approximation of what one sees in a typical Torah. This may not be obvious to you if you don't read Hebrew, but there are no vowels, no punctuation marks and barely even spaces between the words! As if that doesn't make it challenging enough, it is supposed to be chanted with various tunes that are not noted in the Torah itself.
So yes, a good deal of practice goes into my reciting these three lines at the upcoming service. Our teacher reminds us that we are chanting a prayer, not giving a performance, but who wants to mess up in front of their family and friends?But back to that vowel-less, punctuationless text. It seems crazy, but I had an epiphany when I was texting (yes, texting, not sexting) DH earlier. I didn't bother adding question marks to my note because it's a pain and I've been known to leave out vowels because, you know, I'm a very busy woman.
And it dawned on my that my message was not unlike the writing in the Torah. What do you think that means?
Gosh, I might have worked this into my dvar (lesson based on Torah portion) if it wasn't already complete. I'll post it after the big day; wish me luck!
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