The Holy Tongue
The Hebrew language has the unique distinction of being branded as loshon hakodesh-the holy tongue. The reason for this special status emerges from the beginning of this week’s Parsha, Ki Sisa.
Sacred Coins
The Mosaic code delineates the methodology by which the Jewish people should be tallied. Each individual would supply half a shekel hakodesh-a holy shekel, a type of coinage. Then, as Rashi (Shemos 30:12) explains, the shekolim would be counted to arrive at the final number.
Of course, curiosity surfaces into our consciousness. Why are these coins called kodesh-holy?
The Ramban explains that by the authority of Moshe’s sovereign charge, these coins were minted as legal tender for the utilization of the Jewish society. Many of the directives of the Torah necessitate monetary capacity, such as evaluations, redemptions of the first born, contributions for the tabernacle and the like. Theses acts are mitzvos. Since the shekel is the vehicle for the performance of these mitzvos, it is called holy.
The Hebrew language has the unique distinction of being branded as loshon hakodesh-the holy tongue. The reason for this special status emerges from the beginning of this week’s Parsha, Ki Sisa.
Sacred Coins
The Mosaic code delineates the methodology by which the Jewish people should be tallied. Each individual would supply half a shekel hakodesh-a holy shekel, a type of coinage. Then, as Rashi (Shemos 30:12) explains, the shekolim would be counted to arrive at the final number.
Of course, curiosity surfaces into our consciousness. Why are these coins called kodesh-holy?
The Ramban explains that by the authority of Moshe’s sovereign charge, these coins were minted as legal tender for the utilization of the Jewish society. Many of the directives of the Torah necessitate monetary capacity, such as evaluations, redemptions of the first born, contributions for the tabernacle and the like. Theses acts are mitzvos. Since the shekel is the vehicle for the performance of these mitzvos, it is called holy.
The Holy TongueThe Ramban opines that identical logic can be employed to explain why Hebrew is called the holy tongue. The words of the Torah, the prophecies, God’s communication with the Jewish people, the names of God and the angels, and the forefathers are all in Hebrew. Since Hebrew is the intermediary through which all that is holy is achieved, it is called the holy tongue.
The Ramban’s interpretation is the tip of the iceberg that we all can observe and understand. However, when we dive below the surface, we discover deeper meaning.
In Genesis (2:20) we read that Adam named all the animals. Rashi (ad locum) explains that the names which Adam gave to the animals revealed their fundamental nature.
My teacher, Rabbi Moshe Brown explained to us as follows:
The Secret to Creation
We know that the building blocks of the physical universe are the elements listed in the periodic table. Any physical entity is a composition of those elements. The same reality is present in the spiritual sector of the universe. Every physical reality subsists because of a spiritual life force within it, as Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato explains in his, The Way of God. These life forces are the spiritual elements of the Universe.
Rashi (ibid 2:23) comments that the Universe was created with the Hebrew alphabet. The meaning of this is that each letter represents a spiritual force that provided the energy for a corresponding element that exists.
The letters aleph, reish, yud, and heih spell Aryeh, which means lion in Hebrew.
Adam didn’t fashion an arbitrary name for a lion; rather, he saw that the spiritual elements that comprise a lion are those Hebrew letters. This is why Hebrew is called the Holy tongue.
This is the language that all the people of the world spoke in the beginning of creation (Rashi, Genesis 11:1) and even during the generation of the dispersion (Rashi, Genesis [11:1] See Torah Temima, ad locum who explains that Hebrew was forgotten at that time).
A Life of Holiness
Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler (Michtav M’Eliyahu, volume 1, pages 5-7) explains that everything in this world is meant to be utilized as intermediaries in the service of God.
When we use these intermediaries for that purpose, they become holy, just like the shekel and the Hebrew language.
People often wonder who they are. Am I a good person? This question can be expressed more clearly by asking whether we use the gifts God gave us to improve our relationship with Him. What defines holiness is not our personal qualities or the items we possess, but what do we do with them.
We know that the building blocks of the physical universe are the elements listed in the periodic table. Any physical entity is a composition of those elements. The same reality is present in the spiritual sector of the universe. Every physical reality subsists because of a spiritual life force within it, as Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato explains in his, The Way of God. These life forces are the spiritual elements of the Universe.
Rashi (ibid 2:23) comments that the Universe was created with the Hebrew alphabet. The meaning of this is that each letter represents a spiritual force that provided the energy for a corresponding element that exists.
The letters aleph, reish, yud, and heih spell Aryeh, which means lion in Hebrew.
Adam didn’t fashion an arbitrary name for a lion; rather, he saw that the spiritual elements that comprise a lion are those Hebrew letters. This is why Hebrew is called the Holy tongue.
This is the language that all the people of the world spoke in the beginning of creation (Rashi, Genesis 11:1) and even during the generation of the dispersion (Rashi, Genesis [11:1] See Torah Temima, ad locum who explains that Hebrew was forgotten at that time).
A Life of Holiness
Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler (Michtav M’Eliyahu, volume 1, pages 5-7) explains that everything in this world is meant to be utilized as intermediaries in the service of God.
When we use these intermediaries for that purpose, they become holy, just like the shekel and the Hebrew language.
People often wonder who they are. Am I a good person? This question can be expressed more clearly by asking whether we use the gifts God gave us to improve our relationship with Him. What defines holiness is not our personal qualities or the items we possess, but what do we do with them.
