I am going to teach you all a fabulous word: Leitwort. Leading word.

Every single word of the Torah is considered to be imbued with meaning. How much the more so when words show up multiple times, especially when those words are located close together in a particular passage.

What students of the Bible think these Leitworts do is highlight the hidden meaning of the text. There are the words on the page and the narrative that they tell, but Leitworts unearth the deeper meaning.

I did you the favor of individually counting up repeating words in Genesis 44, the first chapter of the traditional Torah reading today, to demonstrate the power of words in the Torah. The Leitworts, the leading words, in that chapter highlight the karmic justice not only of the Joseph story, but of what is to come.

In the 34 verses of Chapter 44:

Father, brother: 23 occurrences

Master, servant: 33 occurrences 

Word/deed: 12 occurrences

Even just hearing those words gives you a vision of the scene being set in chapter 44. The brothers have returned from visiting their father Jacob in Canaan with their youngest brother, Benjamin, because the 2^nd in command to pharaoh, aka Joseph in disguise, has asked them to do so. 

They dine together, they schmooze, Joseph gets a servant to slip his silver goblet into Benjamin’s bag. Joseph subsequently arrests Benjamin for stealing the goblet and threatens to throw him in jail.

Father/Brother, Master/Servant, Word/Deed

The brothers return from their father, Joseph and Benjamin become master and servant, all of this was orchestrated by the word of Joseph. Just a few verses before the traditional reading starts, chapter 44 verses 10, it says:

And he said: ‘Now also let it be according unto your words: he with whom it is found shall be my bondman; and you shall be blameless.’

Let’s interpret this verse. In the context of the story—this is the charge of Joseph to his brothers telling them that only the person who is found with the goblet shall be imprisoned and the rest may go free.

The commentators don’t let them off the hook so quickly. They focus on the beginning of the verse “let it be according to your words.”

Rashi says that means: 

Let it be according to your words that you should all be slaves since you are all culpable in creating a toxic environment.

Rashbam similarly says it means: 

Let it be according to your words because you are all partners in all that you do.

They see the words and deeds of the brothers and Joseph as a foreshadowing to the future enslavement in Egypt. They point out that verse says “and he said, now let it be according to your words.” It didn’t say “and Joseph said.” So, perhaps this verse could have been uttered by God.

A lot of actions happened by speech. No one actually stole the goblet. Joseph used speech to make that deed happen. Joseph is also guilty of haughty speech towards his brothers. And the plan of brothers to kill him as a result is by words.

Even in this moment just before the most incredible reconciliation, we see that the plans of enslavement have all ready been put into place by the words and deeds of these brothers, and likely the relationships before them.

A messge of the Leitworts, these guiding words, is that these fathers and brothers who are now masters will become servants by their own words and deeds. By that same token, these guiding words could tell the story of redemption: these fathers and brothers who will become slaves will yet again be masters through word and deed—something we see during the Exodus from Egypt.

Father, brother, master, servant, word/deed.

Every single word of the Torah has meaning. And the words themselves weave together their own story. The ancient rabbis were very good at figuring out word patterns and trying to determine greater meaning from it, but this is a tool that is in all of our hands.

Think of the Tanakh, the Bible, as your own personal playground. Next time you are following along during the Torah service, just glance over the page. Do any words jump out at you? Are some words used in what seems to be an unnecessary amount of times to get across the point?

Follow it.

Be curious.

And unlock the secrets of our tradition.