One of the strangest features in the Torah appears in our Parsha. We read the verses made famous by the Siddur, recited when the Torah scrolls are removed and later returned to the Ark;

And it was when the Ark travelled Moshe would say Arise Hashem and may Your enemies be dispersed, and may those who despise You flee before You. And when it (the Ark) would rest he would say return Hashem, (to) the myriads and thousands of Israel .

These 2 verses are separated from the Torah's narrative, bracketed off by 2 letter nuns which are written back-to-front and upside-down. Every detail of the Torah holds deep importance and such a bizarre feature beckons us to discover and learn from its inner meaning.

Why are these verses so clearly demarked? One explanation suggests that the backward nuns indicate to us that this is not the place where this passage should have been written. Rather (as would make more sense) it belongs in the beginning of the book of Bamidbar as part of the description of how the Jewish camp would travel. The nuns pointing backwards indicate that these verse should have appeared 50 passages earlier (the letter nun has a numerical value of 50).

So if this is not where these verses belong, then what are they doing here? The Talmud explains that they appear as they do, to separate two incidents where the Jewish People acted inappropriately and aroused G-d's anger. The second incident is the more obvious of the 2; the Jewish people complained that they were travelling too quickly, without time to rest from their journey. G-d's intention was to bring them to the Holy Land as quickly as possible. They chose to see the negative and voiced their displeasure.

The first unfavourable incident is expressed in the words they departed from the Mountain of Hashem. Our sages explain that the sin was the manner in which they left Har Sinai; like children running away from school. Having spent just under a year at Mount Sinai learning about the Mitzvos of the Torah, they ran away with a spirit of relief that they would no longer receive further instruction.

So what is the inner connection with the mysterious inverted nuns?

In Kabbalah, every letter has mystical significance; from its name, to its sound, shape and numerical value. The letter nun represents 2 opposite characteristics. On one hand it represents a state of spiritual descent. On the other hand it represents one who has attained great spiritual heights;

Psalm 145 was composed as an acrostic following the order of the letters of the Alef-Beis. The only letter not to feature at the start of a verse is the letter nun. This, suggests the Talmud, is because the letter nun alludes to the downfall of the Jewish people (the Hebrew word for fallen is Nofeil). Yet, despite its omission, King David alludes to the letter nun in the next verse beginning with the letter samech; G-d supports ( Someich) all of those who fall (Noflim).

The nun represents someone who is in a state of falling - a spiritual decline. The soul coming from the spiritual worlds into the physical world finds itself 'falling' as it were. Its natural state of connection to G-d becomes obscured by the material desires of the body and the allures of physicality.

Elsewhere the nun represents the Ne'eman, the man of faith and spiritual ambition. The Ne'eman is alive with spiritual excitement and a passionate desire to connect to its source.

How can the soul in its spiritual freefall attain the rank of Ne'eman?

In the aleph-beis the nun comes after Mem. Mem, with a numerical value of 40 represents the Torah which was taught to Moshe over 40 days. The Mem has 2 forms, just as Torah has 2 dimensions. The regular Mem which is open at the bottom represents the revealed teachings of Torah. The final Mem, sealed on all sides, represents the hidden, esoteric teachings.

When the nun is connected to Mem it is followed by Samech. When we are connected to Torah, we receive the Divine support, direction and inspiration to transform ourselves. Studying (both dimensions of) Torah fortifies our soul, arousing it from a state of spiritual falling, to reveal our inner connection and profound faith.

In the desert, the Jewish People ( Nun) turned their backs on Torah (Mem). Their faith lost direction and in doing so they forfeited their Divine support (Samech ) allowing them to stumble with further sins and complaints. This culminated with the report of the spies in next week's Parsha which resulted in losing their right to enter into the Land of Israel. The beginning of their downfall and Divine retribution was turning their backs on the Torah this is why the brackets take the form of backward nuns.

Parshas Behaalosecha is always read after Shavuos when we re-experienced the Giving of the Torah. Shavuos celebrates G-d giving us the Torah. The backwards Nuns ask us to introspect on how we receive and accept the Torah into our lives. The Torah is G-d's hand reaching out to support us and guide us to a more spiritually uplifted existence. Will we run away from Shavuos, keeping our involvement with Torah to a minimum? Will we allow ourselves to fall back into a life devoted to pursuing our personal material pursuits? Or will we strengthen our connection to the Torah, increase our study and internalise its wisdom. Nofeil or Ne'eman that is the question.

 

~ Rabbi Yoni Johnson

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