Rabbi Mark Glickman: The Year of “Speak Up”

By Rabbi Mark S. Glickman

(Calgary) – The New Year is coming for us Jews, and, like all years, this one is bound to be like none other: twelve full months of events that have never happened before. For each of us as individuals, for the Jewish people, and for humanity as a whole, the 5785 will be utterly unprecedented.

One factor that will make this year unique will be its very name – 5785. That name (if years can be said to have names) might not sound very unique – it’s a number just like any other. But for us Jews it has special meaning. That’s because, for us Jews, 5785 isn’t just a number, it’s also a word.

Classical Hebrew, you see, has no numerals. As a result, people wanting to express numbers in classical Hebrew need to resort to using letters: Alef is 1, bet is 2, gimmel is 3, etc. The tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is yod, after which the numbers increase by tens: Kaf is 20, lamed is 30, mem is 40, etc. Move a few letters ahead, and we ratchet it up by another power of ten: Kuf, 100; resh, 200; shin, 300; tav, 400.

When expressing the numerical names of years, the 5000-part is so large as to make it difficult to express in letters, so that first digit is kind of taken as a given. What’s left, is to come up with the alphabetical expression of the final three digits. There’s no letter for 700, so we use two letters for that – tav/shin (400+300). Eighty in Hebrew is the letter peh and five is heh.

 As a result, 5785 is Hebrew is tav, shin, peh, heh – four letters that express the number of the year that’s about to begin. What’s notable is that these four letters also spell out a Hebrew word – tishpeh – which means “speak up.”

For Jews, the upcoming year, 5785, is the Year of Speak Up. (That’s much better than this past year – t’shaped ­– which was the Year of Skewer, but that’s a subject for another column.)

What does it mean to live during the Year of Speak Up? The answer is obvious – do what the year calls upon us to do. When you see a point that needs making, make it. When you see an argument that needs arguing, argue it. When you see words that need uttering, utter them. Be sure what you’re saying is true and constructive of course, for words poorly spoken can be very dangerous. But don’t hesitate to speak when the situation calls for it. God put you here – with all your individuality and uniqueness – for a reason. Not to share what you know is therefore to hide a magnificent divine creation.

Our greatest teacher of all, Moses, struggled with this throughout his life. When God told him at the burning bush to lead his people out of Egypt, Moses didn’t want the job, and used every argument he could to get out of it. “Lo ish d’varim anochi,” he pleaded, “I’m not a man of words.” And indeed, whenever Moses got into trouble, it’s because he didn’t do what this year calls upon us to do – he didn’t speak up, he didn’t use his words. When he saw an Egyptian taskmaster beating an Israelite slave, Moses didn’t tell the taskmaster to stop, he just hauled off and smote him, and as a result Moses had to flee to Midian. When God told Moses to speak to a rock to get water from it, Moses hit the rock, instead. He got the water, all right, but God was so incensed that God punished Moses by having him die before reaching the promised land.

And yet, Moses learned. His final gift to our people was the Book of Deuteronomy – Sefer D’varim, in Hebrew…the Book of Words. Over time, evidently, Moses learned how to speak up.

So speak up during this Year of Speak Up. You’ve got things to say, and there will be moments when it would be a downright shame for you to stay silent. Next year will be tishpu in Hebrew. That’s the same word as tishpeh, but it’s plural. Next year will be the Year of Y’all Speak Up. Speaking up on our own can be difficult in itself; doing so with one another will be a new challenge altogether.

Let’s start practicing now, for now begins the Year of Speak Up. It will be a year like none other, and if we speak up as we should, it will be utterly magnificent.

Shanah Tovah.

Rabbi Mark Glickman is the spiritual leader at Temple B’nai Tikvah in Calgary.