In the Jewish Tradition, the Words We Choose Matter

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. While some critical readers of the Torah define extra letters, words and redundancy as scribal errors, there is a deep spiritual practice in combing through phrases, repetitions and words. We find meaning to justify each phrase; each phrase justifies its meaning.