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Writer's pictureGil Nellis

Voice

Updated: Apr 20

Leviticus 6

Here is the parishat portion

Yedaber Yhwh to Moshe

As opposed to at the beginning of last Perishat

Vayecra Yhwh Moshe. Yedaber vs Yecra.

Both can be “speak” but why "Yecra" - to shout

Vs

"Yedaber" - to speak


Instantly I think of Eliahu in the midbar when he came to Har Yhwh - Sinai “Still small voice” as the kjv would say

1 Kings 19:12 (NKJV) and after the earthquake a fire, [but] the LORD [was] not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.


Which is neither qol demama dekah

Qol = audible sound, call, or speech , noise

Demama = quiet

Dekah = minuscule, light, gentle

There is a contrast

And Eliahu heard the weird different strange sound

And the sound was audible

Saying “why did you come here Eliahu”


This is a hearkening back to the first question in Torah Genesis 3.

Genesis 3:9 (NKJV) Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where [are] you?”

What is the word here but: "Yecra"

So the author of 1 Kings is saying when Eliahu was in the mountain it was not "Yecra" that he heard. It was not Lev 1 or Gen 3. This is different.


Lev 6 is a third distinction Yedaber which is the root to devarim which are the commandments. So Leviticus 6 is not a shout and is not a whisper.


It is as if it was written devar indicates a writing possibly

Sage Bartunera says:

וְיִדֹּם. לְשׁוֹן קוֹל דְּמָמָה דַּקָּה, כְּדֶרֶךְ הַשּׁוֹנֶה יְחִידִי שֶׁהוּא שׁוֹנֶה בְּלַחַשׁ:

“'and is silent (vayidom'": It is a term [related to the usage], kol demamah dakah (a still-small voice). As the way of one who learns alone is to learn while whispering.

This is where the concept of davening must have come from although is that alone always? Alone in a group or not.


Very similar to the concept that Yeshua puts forth

Don’t pray without going into your closet and what was the “closet” - many say it was that when the prayer is happening the person takes the talit and puts it over his head so it covers his face and creates a visual closet

This is the accepted notion of what the closet means when Yeshua refers to it.


When you pray go into your make shift talit closet and don’t let anyone hear you so speak softly because when we are alone with Abba we should be as silent as possible so we can hear his teaching through the Kol demamah dakah.

It seems that Yeshua had to get completely away from all because the noise around him was so loud and so the gospels say in places he went up into the mountain.


Curious that he was never ever bothered when he went up into the mountain. They always waited for him to come down before bothering him again.


So what is the conclusion here?

Yhwh speaks in different ways but when he has you or me alone maybe we hope for the Kol demamah dakah but it is very soft. Very hard to hear and it should be in silence and alone.


Adam was not alone. Yhwh had to shout at him.

Same with Lev 1:1


Lev 6:1 is even another way.



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