A Life Lesson from the Parsha
This week’s parsha has the unusual symbol in Sefer Torah. Namely, an inverted letter Nunn (i.e., it faces the opposite direction). It appears twice in the middle of the parsha (in chapter 10, after verses 35 and 37).
The first inverted Nunn appears one verse after the verse “וַיִּסְעוּ מֵהַר ה...‘” - “And they traveled from the mountain of HaShem”. Chazal expound this verse and teach us that, unfortunately, we left Har Sinai like school children running out of school at the end of the day (Yerushalmi, Ta’anis ch.4 halacha 5). The verse that follows that inverted Nunn is, “...וַיְהִּי בִּנְסֹעַ הָאָרֹן ” - “And when the ark traveled...” Hence, that inverted Nunn is facing away from the words “And when the ark traveled...”. The ark represents the Torah.
Kli Yakar teaches that the inverted Nunn symbolizes a fish (“Nunnya” in Aramaic means “fish”) that is swimming in the wrong direction - away from water. Thus, the Torah is hinting to us here, that just like a fish turning away from its source of life—i.e., the water, we turned away from our source of life - the Torah - i.e., if we would have integrated deep inside our hearts the truth that Torah is our source of life, instead of leaving Har Sinai like school children running out of school, we would anticipate the next time we can embrace the Torah - the source of life for our Jewish souls.
