Sacred Words Can Never Disappear
For September 14, 2022
Deuteronomy 27:8
וְכָתַבְתָּ֣ עַל־הָאֲבָנִ֗ים אֶֽת־כׇּל־דִּבְרֵ֛י הַתּוֹרָ֥ה הַזֹּ֖את בַּאֵ֥ר הֵיטֵֽב׃
"You (Israel) shall write upon the stones all the words of this Torah, very clearly."
These were 12 large white plasterd stones that the people placed in the river Jordan when they entered the land of Israel
On these stones they were to write the entire Torah in clear words. The Ramban teaches that the entire Torah was written on these huge stones from beginning to end.
It says that it should be written on them clearly. Clear means that other peoples who would pass by could read and understand the text. It is because of this that it is written in Tractate Sotah 35 that the text on the stones was written in 70 different languages. Since the nations of the world do not need to know the entire Torah, it is then plausible that only general principles were written on it. For example the proclamation of G-ds Unity, or maybey the 7 Noahide Laws.
So were there on these stones general principles or the whole Torah. A possibility to reconcile both opinions is that the general principles were written on the stones, but on each stone there was a kind of mezuzah containing the whole written Torah.
One explanation why the Torah (verse 2) mentions that these are plasterd stones is that the people of the nations came to the stones and scratched off the plaster with the Words and took them to their lands. But instead of studying these Words, they threw them away.
Sacred Words, however, can never be lost. It is the Noahides of today who, by accepting the 7 Noahidean Laws, bring these Words back to their purpose. To be a source of knowledge for the world to recognise and acknowledge G-ds Unity and Kingship.
Brought By Angelique Sijbolts
Angelique Sijbolts is one of the main writers for the Noahide Academy. She has been an observant Noahide for many years. She studies Torah with Rabbi Perets every week. Angelique invests much of her time in editing video-lectures for the Rabbis of the Academy and contributes in administrating the Academy's website in English and Dutch. She lives in the north of the Netherlands. Married and mother of two sons. She works as a teacher in a school with students with special needs. And is a Hebrew Teacher for the levels beginners and intermediate. She likes to walk, to read and play the piano.
Sources
Chabadapp: chumash with Rashi
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