Shabbat Forshpeis
A Taste of Torah in Honor of Shabbat
PARSHAT VEZOT HA-BERAKHA
THE TORAH: BLACK FIRE ON WHITE FIRE
SEPTEMBER 28-29, 2002/ 23 TISHREI 5763
The last portion of the Torah includes one of its more esoteric phrases -"eish da'at, the fiery law." (Deuteronomy 33:2) The Midrash concludes that this phrase is a description of the Torah. In its words: "eish shahor al gabei eish lavan." The Torah is written "black fire on white fire." (Midrash Tanhuma, Genesis 1) What exactly does this mean?
On the simplest level, black fire refers to the letters of Torah, the actual words, which are written in the scroll. The white refers to the spaces between the letters. Together the black letters and white spaces between them constitute the "whole" of the Torah.
On another level, the black fire represents the p'shat, the literal meaning of the text. The rabbis point to the importance of p'shat when stating "the text cannot be taken out of its literal meaning." The white fire, however, represents ideas that goes beyond the p'shat. It refers to ideas that we bring into the text when we interact with it. This is called d'rash-interpretations, applications, and teachings that flow from the Torah. The d'rash are the messages we read between the lines.
On yet another level, the black letters represent thoughts which are intellectual in nature, whether p'shat or d'rash. The white spaces, on the other hand, represent that which goes beyond the world of the intellect. The black letters are limited, limiting and fixed. The white spaces catapult us into the realm of the limitless and the ever-changing, ever-growing. They are the story, the song, the silence. Sometimes I wonder which speaks more powerfully, the black, rationalistic letters or the white, mystical spaces between them.
Most of the Torah is made up of prose, the narrative of the text. The large majority of our portion is not prose-it is rather poetry. The rabbis speak of Divine poetry as black letters resting on the frame of the white empty spaces. "Half bricks on whole bricks," the Talmud notes. (Rashi, Megillah 16b. sv. Ieveinah) It's the white fire that gives the black fire its foundation. In fact the spaces in the Torah take up twice the amount of place as the actual letters, perhaps indicating that at times it is of greater importance.
Interestingly, water is the first element mentioned in the Torah; (Genesis 1:2) while fire--eish da'at-- is the last. There is a marked difference between them. Of course, Torah is often compared to water, both are crucial to life and have endless depth.
Still, water flows toward the lowest level, while fire seeks a higher plateau. It reaches high, higher, and higher still, burning past our eyes and ears into our hearts and souls and memories. It soars heavenward, linking the finite human being with the infinite God.
Such is the power of eish da'at-the fiery law-the Torah.
Rabbi Avi Weiss
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