Often you see retweets or posts captioned with a single word that says: THIS. It’s an emphatic word that embodies specificity, focus, and clarity. It’s unambiguous, it isn’t confused, there’s no nuance, no wavering. THIS means that you are absolutely certain, with sturdy steadiness and solid conviction. THIS means – this tweet or meme or post says everything; you agree 110%, its says it all better than you can.
Personally, I’m more of a gray guy than black & white. Yes, I do wear the traditional Chassidic black and white garb, but my Talmudic training instilled within me an interest in all angles of an issue and to appreciate the nuances of the shades of gray. Chassidus teaching trained us to seek deeper layers within everything, and that not all is underneath the way it appears on the surface. Life is richer and more nuanced and complex this way.
But there’s time and place for clear, bold and decisive black and white, areas of life where ambiguous gray won’t cut it. Interestingly, the Hebrew word for THIS appears in both Torah portions about the Exodus – in Bo (regarding the new moon) and in Beshalach (in recognizing G-d at the Splitting of the Sea). If you want to experience Exodus in life, if you want to leave limitations behind, to move on to a new different place – then you will need the bold, decisive clarity of THIS.
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Here are two mentions of THIS in the Torah, both poignant and telling:
(1) THIS is also a small but big word in Parsha Bo, when G-d tells Moshe the laws of the Jewish calendar to set up for holidays and religious observances for centuries and millennia to come.
THIS new moon (Ha’chodesh Hazeh) shall be to you the head of months (Shmot, BO: 12:2).
Moses found difficulty with the renewal of the moon…G-d therefore showed him with His finger the moon in the sky and said to him, “You will see a moon like THIS and you will then sanctify [the month].” (Rashi, from Midrash Mechilta. Talmud Menachot 29a)
Note Rashi’s words: “This – and you will then Sanctify” clarity is crucial for holiness.
(2) One Parsha later, in Beshalach, there’s a verse we’ve discussed a lot (regarding Rabbi Yosel Weinberg’s Tanya Intro and in connection with two types of pickles) that was exclaimed at the Splitting of the Sea: “This is my G-d!” (celebrated American author Herman Wouk used this verse as the title of his primer on Judaism).
Rashi quotes the Midrah that this verse was uttered by the children. Kids aren’t as complicated as adults, their minds don’t have as many filters, they have a greater sense of wide-eyed wonder. (See Rebbe Rashab’s Achrei 5649 maamar for the in-depth child vs adult comparison).
Sometimes children see things that adults can’t see, they have an eye-opening unfiltered clarity. Less bias, fewer agendas, more honesty. Think of the kid in the story “The Emperor’s New Clothes”.
Sometimes (not always, of course) we would do a lot better with more of THIS.