We are a wordy people. Our main day of fasting and contemplation, Yom Kippur, is full of words, not silence. Rabbi Lionel Blue used to joke that when he took some rabbinic students on a silent retreat, they spent the whole weekend talking about silence rather than practising it.

This week’s portion is our shortest at just thirty verses but what it lacks in quantity, it makes up for in quality. We hear Moses give one of his final speeches to the Israelites, publicly appointing Joshua as his successor.  

We hear that Moses wrote down the teachings, passing them to the Levites, who were responsible for teaching others. We even hear God demand that Moses write down a poem to warn the Israelites about disobedience. The text is ensuring that our words are immortalised, taught to all and gifted to our children.

As Amos Oz and Fania Oz-Salzberger wrote in their book Jews and Words, “Ours is not a bloodline, but a textline”.  Being a wordy people means that we understand their power, used for either good or bad.  

As the scholar Carleen Mandolfo wrote,”‘Biblical words possess the power to muster armies”. We have a great responsibility.  As guardians of words, our duties are to be obsessively interested in critically examining what is behind our speech — who is speaking, to whom, for what purpose and in what context.

For instance, in the context of Moses’s extensive speeches to the Israelites, we may ask ourselves whose voices are missing from our text? Which experiences are edited out? Who holds the power? And which stories do we tell as a result of this dominant narrative?

Our portion makes it clear that the Torah has been gifted to everyone, to learn and hold. Our responsibility is to read our text responsibly and pass on our teachings, holding on to everyone’s experiences.  

As the portion concludes, the teachings will remain for us as a witness, checking on how we use these powerful words and reminding us to speak critically, inclusively and responsibly at all times.