Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Jeremias 31:22

ביום כלות משה, on the day Moses completed, etc. Rabbi Levi in Midrash Hagadol on our verse claims that the word כלות is written without the letter ו. In our editions of the Torah it is spelled with the letter ו. How is it possible that scribes could take liberties with the spelling of the Torah? Such a situation would lead to apostasy and a denigration of the respect in which the scholars are held! You should know that the text of our sacred Torah, including every vowel has been carefully counted. Every letter or even crown is sacred enabling us to derive meanings from it. Let me give you a small example of how important an even minute departure from the accepted spelling would be. There are letters which are noticed only by the way they are pronounced, letters which do not even appear in the written text. An example of such a letter is the letter ו before the final ע in the word יהושע. When pronounced properly, we hear that there is a vowel shuruk which does not appear in the written text. On the other hand, such a vowel does appear in the written text in the same word between the letter ה and ש although it cannot be heard when we read the word aloud. This little example ought to alert the intelligent student to the fact that there can never be a question of altering the spelling in the written Torah such as adding a letter ו in the word כלות in our verse, even if only to ensure that the word would be pronounced correctly. If the Torah decided to write a letter ו in a place where we would not have expected it it serves to alert us to hidden meanings in the text. It may have been the intention of the Torah to include three letters of the holy name of G'd in the name of the righteous יהושע. If the Torah had written the letter ו before the letter ע and had omitted the letter ו after the letter ה, we would not have noticed that the Torah had intended to include the first three letters of the tetragram in the name of Joshua. When our sages speak about the word כלות being written without the letter ו, they mean that the letter ו which does appear in the text is to be viewed there as if it were only "on loan." The intelligent student will appreciate that this was the mystical dimension of Moses on whom was fulfilled the verse in Jeremiah 31,21 that נקבה תסובב גבר, that "the female will enclose the male." Moses' exclusive preoccupation with putting together the Tabernacle is alluded to in the word כלות a reference to the "groom-bride" relationship between him and the Tabernacle. When the Midrash says that the word כלות is spelled כלת, the author merely wishes to draw our attention to this relationship of bride and groom. The physical presence of the letter ו in the written text is an allusion to Moses, the גבר, i.e. the male. Inserting the ו into the word כלת is a clear indication of the male-female relationship between the two. No human being has the right to make up such an explanation out of his own mind. Such interpretations are traditional and reflect inspiration by the Holy Spirit.

In order to resolve the redundancy of “this song,” for it should have said “Then Moses and the children of Israel sang to the Lord,” I say that there is a hint here to what our Sages said (Mechilta Beshalach 3) that a maidservant saw at the sea what Ezekiel did not see. And regarding this wonder it says this song, meaning the song of this [which is] feminine, because even the females said This is my God and I will glorify Him, and this was a wonder in their eyes that a female would circle around a male, similar to what will be in the future. And perhaps this is why our Sages said (Sanhedrin 91b) “it does not say ‘sang’ but will sing” from here we learn the resurrection of the dead from the Torah. And what is the connection between this song and the resurrection of the dead? It is because just as in the World to Come everyone will be detached from materiality and then males and females will be equal, so too at the sea even the maidservant saw the radiance of His glory, blessed be He, similar to what will be in the future, as it is said A woman will circle around a man (Jeremiah 31:22). Therefore it says in this song will sing which implies the future, because just as they all said This is my God and I will glorify Him, so too in the future they will all say Behold, this is our God, as our Sages said (Shemot Rabbah 23:15) that the righteous will point to Him with their finger, etc. And regarding this wonder it says this song. And therefore it says And Miriam answered them, etc. as if speaking to males, as will be explained shortly.

זה אלי ואנוהו, “this is my G’d and I want to exalt Him.” According to the plain meaning of the text the meaning of ואנוהו is “I wish to build a residence for Him.” This is why Moses continues in verse 13 speaking about נוה קדשך, “Your holy abode.” The Holy Temple has also been called נוה in Jeremiah 31,22.

But my beloved had vanished and gone. He was hidden and concealed from me, as in, “the roundness of your flanks,”¹⁷Below 7:2. i.e., the hidden places חַמּוּקֵי of your thighs, because the thigh is hidden. [And as in,] “Until when will you hide תִּתְחַמָּקִין,”¹⁸Yirmiyahu 31:21. [i.e.,] will you hide and cover yourself because of the shame that you betrayed Me?