A man of Polish extraction calls his lawyer and says, “I think my wife is planning to kill me.” The lawyer replies, “What gave you that idea.” The man explains, “I caught a glimpse of her shopping list and one of the items was Polish Remover.”
The English language can be quite complicated because of all the homographs (Polish vs. polish), homonyms (rose vs. rose), and homophones (cell vs. sell). This due in large part to the fact that English evolved from multiple languages. Abbot and Costello had a field day with this.
Hebrew (more specifically – the Holy Tongue), on the other hand, has another issue, in which words can have multiple layers of meaning. This can be traced to the concept of root letters. Take for example the word Sefirah. There are many connotations to the word. It is a Kabbalistic concept – one of the Sefirahs (Sefirot) – Divine and human attributes, specifically related to character. It is a period on the Jewish calendar (Sefirat Haomer). It means a numeric count (related to the verb of counting numbers). When we drill down to the root letters (Samech, Fei, and Reish) we can find a relation to Sipur, to relate or recount a story. Finally, we can also draw a connection to Sapir, a luminous shining gem, Saphire.
According to Chassidus, when there are multiple applications of meaning to a word or concept in Torah, there must also be a connection between them. So, let’s explore this further.
We are now in the time of counting the omer (Sefirah). This 49-day period began on the second night of Passover and ends on the day before Shavuot. During these 49 days we count each day in anticipation of receiving the Torah on day 50. Each of these days is also associated with a particular Sefirah (attribute of character) that we are meant to refine in preparation for receiving the Torah. Human character is comprised of seven dimensions. Each of the seven has seven shades, by way of integration with the others, so, 7 x 7 equals 49. As we go through the process of refinement of our 49 shades of character (Sefirah), we count each day and make each day count (Sefirah); we thereby rewrite our own life’s story and recount it anew (Sipur), and our life and character become as shiny and luminous as a Saphire (Sapir).
May we all experience a successful journey of counting, recounting, and making each day count with shining luminescence.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Mendel Rivkin