According to some traditions, there are 600,000 letters in the Torah, corresponding to the number mentioned in the book of Exodus of male Israelites of fighting age who left Egypt in the time of Moses.
Rabbi Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl (1730-1797) known as the Me’or Eynaim, teaches us a powerful lesson about inclusivity and Jewish unity based on this numerical connection.
Each letter of the Torah corresponds to one of those Israelites and, by extension, to each Jew in the world today. As the Me’or Eynaim writes:
“Therefore, each Jew is connected to one letter in the Torah. The Torah and the blessed Holy One are a complete unity, and each letter then represents the divine element in each person. It is actually the very letter which is the root of his soul. It is this letter that pours forth divine blessings and holy vital force.”
Inside of each of us is an element of the divine. Part of the wisdom and wonder of Torah is embedded in our very souls.
This elevates every Jew. Torah is in us and we are in Torah.
But more than that, each of us is essential in order for the Torah to be meaningful, valid, and whole. As Menachem Nachum teaches:
“A Torah scroll that is missing one letter is unfit for use, not even considered a Torah, since each letter, combined with the others, is required to make a complete unity.”
He goes on to reason that if one Jew is missing, if one Jew is removed from the community, Am Yisrael is not whole. He then instructs us on how to ensure that the Torah scroll, which is the Jewish People, remains intact.
Each morning, before we pray, we are to set the proper intention for our worship by saying, “I hereby take on myself the positive commandment of ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Lev.19:18).
This is a powerful insight. To ensure that every letter is present, that every Jew is part of the community, we must actively cultivate the attribute of loving each other as we would want to be loved ourselves. We have to find the good in one another and learn to appreciate our differences. As the Me’or Eynaim teaches: “Even if we see something wicked in our fellow, we should only hate that wickedness in him; but the holy element in him we must love like ourselves.”
It’s easy to find fault in others, but are we putting the effort in to find the good as well? Are we giving each other the benefit of the doubt? Are we appreciating the holiness in one another?
In a time of deep divisions in our nation and throughout the world, in a time of rising antisemitism and anti-Israel rhetoric, we must focus all the more on Jewish unity and ahavat Yisrael—love for one another.
Imagine how much more cohesive and unified our broader Jewish community could feel if we could see the spark of the Divine in each Jew, even those with whom we might vehemently disagree.
One missing letter renders a Torah scroll unfit for use. That scroll must be lovingly repaired before it can be read publicly.
Likewise, failing to make room for each other diminishes our community and, more broadly, Am Yisrael. Our task, perhaps now more than ever in our lifetimes, is to commit ourselves to radical inclusion, to finding the good in one another, and to seeing each and every member of our community as necessary to the well-being of the whole.
Today and always may we embrace with all of our hearts and all of our souls the mitzvah of loving and including one another as we would like to be loved and included ourselves.
Shabbat shalom.
— Rabbi Yoshi