There are six hundred thousand letters in the Torah, and in the Torah we find that there were six hundred thousand Israelites. Thus each person is a letter of the Torah; without him, the Torah will never be complete. Each person has his own indispensable role to play. If he sins, he has lost that precious moment and has rendered himself unable to be the letter which he is. All Israel suffers as a result, for the Torah is incomplete.
And thus when one man repents, all Israel, and God, are joyous, because in turning from sin to good, he has written his letter again in the Torah and in the now, the moment which has its own sacredness and significance, the Torah is complete, and God and Israel are at peace.(Arthur Hertzberg)
A single missing letter renders Torah illegible. A single missing person renders this world--and God--incomplete. How are you completing the word? What is your letter?
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