Written by Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt (Year ’99-’00) – Rabbi Holtzblatt is a co-senior rabbi at Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, D.C.
The Torah begins with the world being created by words. “Let there be” is the recurring refrain. God names each item — Light. Day. Night. Darkness. Earth. Sea. Heaven. From this emerges the concept that words can build or destroy.
Words matter. Every letter in the Torah is believed to have significance, and every word is essential. There are no errors. The idea of precision is so important in the Jewish origin story that we have pages of commentaries, stories, explanations and laws when an extra letter is added onto a phrase.