Paradigm Shifts in Retrospect
Our Sages are often called “Sofrim,” which literally means “counters.” Many of our rabbis dedicated their lives to carefully counting every word, letter, and cantillation note of the Tanakh, as well as studying grammatical rules, in order to ensure the text’s integrity for all time. The work Dikdukei HaTe’amim was written in the 10th century by Rav Aharon ben Moshe ben Asher, one of these sofrim who focused on dikduk and other rules of Biblical cantillation and language. He taught that there are only three places in all of Chumash where a pasuk has a paragraph break in the middle of the verse. This is quite unusual, just as it would be in any language, including English.
Three broken verses
Let’s look at the three occurrences and see if we can find a lesson from these anomalies:
(1) In Parshat Vayishlach, when dealing with the story of Reuven’s sin with his father’s wife Bilhah, the Torah states (Gen. 35:22):
וַיְהִי בִּשְׁכֹּן יִשְׂרָאֵל בָּאָרֶץ הַהִוא וַיֵּלֶךְ רְאוּבֵן וַיִּשְׁכַּב אֶת־בִּלְהָה פִּילֶגֶשׁ אָבִיו וַיִּשְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל פ וַיִּהְיוּ בְנֵי־יַעֲקֹב שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר
It happened that when Israel dwelled in the Land, that Revuen went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine; Israel heard, [paragraph break] and the sons of Yaakov were twelve.
(2) In Parshat Pinchas, in the aftermath of Pinchas’ act of zealotry which stayed the plague that came as a result of the Jews’ sin with Midianite women, the Torah states (Num. 26:1):
וַיְהִי אַחֲרֵי הַמַּגֵּפָה פ וַיֹּאמֶר יְקֹוָק אֶל־מֹשֶׁה וְאֶל אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן־אַהֲרֹן הַכֹּהֵן לֵאמֹר
It was that after the plague [paragraph break], Hashem spoke to Moshe, and to Elazar son of Aharon as follows.
This was the precursor to the commandment to take a census of the Jewish people.
(3) In Parshat Devarim (our parsha), in discussing the travels of the Jewish people that would eventually bring them to the Plains of Moav, the Torah states (2:8)
וַנַּעֲבֹר מֵאֵת אַחֵינוּ בְנֵי־עֵשָׂו הַיֹּשְׁבִים בְּשֵׂעִיר מִדֶּרֶךְ הָעֲרָבָה מֵאֵילַת וּמֵעֶצְיֹן גָּבֶר ס וַנֵּפֶן וַנַּעֲבֹר דֶּרֶךְ מִדְבַּר מוֹאָב:
We departed our brethren the sons of Esav, who were living in Se’ir, in the path of the plain, near Eilat and Etzyon Gaver [paragraph break], and we turned [northwards] and traveled toward the Moav desert.
Why are they broken?
Why do these specific verses have paragraph breaks in them? We suggest that they all share something in common: Each verse marks a significant paradigm shift and dramatic change in the narrative. (1) In Bereishit, the event of Reuven’s sin with Yaakov’s wife is the last event where our Patriarchs, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov were the main characters. Up until this point in Genesis, all the stories revolved around these three men, the progenitors of the Jewish nation. From this point forward, after the story of Reuven’s sin, the narrative of Genesis deals with Yaakov’s sons as the main characters. Yaakov himself is relegated to being a secondary character beginning with the very next narrative in the story, that of Yoseph and his brothers.
(2) In Parshat Pinchas, the plague marked the very last time that Jews would die in the desert. In fact, Chizkuni states that this was also the last time that Jews would die in the desert, period, including those who were destined to die because of the sin of the Spies. This indicates that the stories of the generation of the desert were coming to an end, and that the rest of the Bamidbar narrative is preparing for entry into Eretz Israel.
(3) In Parshat Devarim, we read of the travels of the Jewish people through the desert. But we can divide those travels into two parts: (a) The first 39 years were years of travel, not headed toward Eretz Israel, but rather making various circuitous journeys throughout the desert. (b) In the last year, the Jews’ passage nearby Eilat and Etzyon Gaver next to Edom marked the very last stop that was not bringing them closer to entering the Land. After this stop, the Jews completely changed direction (as stated by Rashi). Instead of wandering aimlessly through the desert, they made a beeline toward the northeast so that they could enter Eretz Israel through the Moabite territory in the Transjordan.
Different kinds of change
If each narrative dramatically changed at the points of the paragraph breaks, why keep them in one pasuk (verse)? Why not break them into two verses, the first part ending the previous paragraph, and the second which starting the new paragraph and the new part of the story?
Here is where we get to the important lesson of each of these paragraph breaks: Sometimes in life, we can undergo a transformative and dramatic change, and not even be aware of it. That is, the one day when something truly monumental changes in our life might seem at the time to be no different from the day before or the day after. The events all seem like they’re part of the same verse and the same routine, when in reality something dramatic has changed.
Yaakov and his children had no way of knowing in real time when the baton had been passed from Yaakov as the main protagonist of the Biblical narrative over to his children. Bnei Israel had no way of knowing that the plague after the Midianite sin would be the end of death in the desert. Similarly, the Jews who traveled past Edom had no way of knowing that their new direction would take them directly into Eretz Israel. This is because sometimes in life, we can only realize the really important changes in retrospect, after seeing the entire panorama of our lives.
Certainly, there are times when we can see the dramatic shifts in life in real time: When we start a new job, get married, retire, move to a new city, when a baby is born, a child leaves home, etc., we see the changes as they occur. But then there are times when we don’t realize what’s happening until after the fact. Say, for example, you went to visit family in Israel at the end of 2019.
You had every intention of revisiting routinely three to six months later, but as it turned out, that trip would be your last for two years. Or, think about that first time when email became a thing, or when you got your first fax machine, PC, smartphone, etc. (depending upon how old you are, this will determine which technology you choose). You may have initially thought that it was just a fad, or that it had limited applications to your life, etc. It’s only in retrospect that we can look at something like the advent of a new technology or new social phenomenon as being a real game-changer in our lives, and pinpoint the moment of dramatic shifts in our life’s history.
Living life to the fullest
One lesson from all this is that we should live each day and each moment to the fullest. We do not always know when monumental moments in life are occurring. Instead of letting life pass us by, let us try and live every day as crucial and vital events to the rest of our life.
This is also an important and pertinent lesson as we enter into Tish’a B’Av. We’ve been commemorating this day for as long as we’ve been around. Ever since that fateful day on the night of the 9th of Av in the desert when we cried over the negative report about Eretz Israel by the Spies, this day has always been a day to remember our tragedies and our failures.
More specifically, it’s a day when we also think about the absence of a unified Jewish people, focused on the Temple in Jerusalem. But according to tradition, it’s also the day when the Redemption will begin. The seeds of our rebuilding have always been contained in the ashes of our destruction.
We have no way of knowing if this will be the last Tish’a B’av that we observe in Galut, sitting on the floor and lamenting the tragedies of Jewish history. It will only be in retrospect that we will look back and see all of the events that lined up in the world leading up to the Messianic Age. Certainly, we all have a role to play in trying to make this the last Tish’a B’av in mourning.
There are so many indicators in the world today, especially over the last few years, that the world is accelerating towards some kind of new world order. Social norms have dramatically shifted; Jews are making aliyah in unprecedented numbers; we are seeing some countries decline while others progress. No one has a crystal ball and it’s currently not possible to see where this is all headed.
But as we sit again on the floor this Tish’a B’Av, let us remember that “תשועת ד’ כהרף עין” – “the salvation of Hashem occurs in the blink of an eye.” It may very well be that this is the moment of our “paragraph break,” even in mid-sentence. We have every reason to be optimistic that our years in the Diaspora are numbered, and that all the Jewish people will return to their glorious Land to meet the Mashiach. May it happen speedily, bb”a.