Next week, we are going to read a very long poem; this week, we only read about it.

In preparing the Yisra’eili to receive next week’s verses, G-d tells Mosheh to tell the people that the poem תִּֽהְיֶה־לִ֜י . . . לְעֵ֖ד בִּבְנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל | tíhyeh li . . . lə’eid bivnei Yisra’eil | “will be . . . a witness for Me against the children of Yisra’eil” (Dəvarim 31:19). In fact, over the course of this rather short parashah, three times we’re told that a scroll of Holy words is being written to serve as a witness against subsequent generations who fall short of the mark — a witness testifying that they knew the laws they were breaking in advance; no one will be able to plead ignorance when the day of judgement comes.

These three repetitions call to mind, of course, the three Shabatot of Admonition leading up to Tisha bə’Av, but they also have a subtle message in their cumulative effect. In gematria, lə’eid has a value of 104. Multiply that by three, and you get 312, which is the value of חָדָשׁ | ḥadash | “new”. These three admonitory witnesses, then, combine to create the possibility of a clean start, the possibility of becoming new all over again.

If we are accosted and challenged by our holy texts, then, if we are forced to reckon with the ways we have fallen short, it is not to obliterate us but to unlock us, to grant us the possibility to return and begin once more from scratch. Heaven and earth will be there to see us thru.

[This has been an installment of one-word Torah. You can read the full series here.]