This week’s parsha is parshas Shemini. We will focus on the fascinating fact that HKB”H arranged that the middle of the Torah’s words and the middle of the Torah’s letters are both in this parsha. In the passuk (Vayikra 10, 16): "ואת שעיר משה והנה שרף"—the first "דָָּרשׁ" is the last word of the first half of the Torah, while the second "דָָּרשׁ" is the first word of the second half of the Torah. In the passage discussing the characteristics of creeping creatures that we are prohibited to eat, it says (ibid. 11, 42): "כל הולך על גחון"—the letter “vav” of the word "גחון" is the midpoint of the letters of the Torah. For this reason, tradition dictates that this “vav” be written as an enlarged letter.
The source for this phenomenon is found in the Gemara (Kiddushin 30a): "לפיכך נקראו ראשונים סופרים, שהיו סופרים כל האותיות שבתורה, שהיו אומרים וא"ו דגחון חציין של אותיות של ספר תורה, דרש דרש חציין של תיבות". Therefore, the early scholars were known as “sofrim,” since they would count all the letters of the Torah. They would say that the “vav” of "גחון" is the midpoint of the letters of a sefer Torah, and "דָָּרַשׁ דָָּרשׁ" is the midpoint of the words. This same distinction is pointed out in Maseches Sofrim (9, 2): "וי"ו דגחון צריך להיות זקוף שהיא חצי אותיות של תורה, דרש דרש חצי תיבות של תורה, דרש בסוף שיטה, דרש בראש שיטה." Here it states that the “vav” of "גחון" should be enlarged; and the word "דָָּרשׁ" should be written at the end of a line in a sefer Torah, whereas the word "דָָּרַשׁ" should appear as the first word of the next line—indicating that it is the beginning of the second half of the sefer.
Now, the mere fact that Chazal refer to these early scholars as “sofrim”—literally, “counters”—because they painstakingly counted the letters and words of the Torah to identify the precise midpoints of the Torah, indicates that this knowledge is extremely significant. With this in mind, let us endeavor to explain the profound significance of HKB”H’s choice to have these two midpoints—"דָָּרַשׁ דָָּרשׁ", the midpoint of its words, and the “vav” of "גחון", the midpoint of its letters—to both be in parshas Shemini.
