In a story, a callback refers to a reference or connection made to an earlier event, detail, or line from the beginning of the story or discussion, often used to create cohesion, emphasize a theme, or otherwise revisiting something familiar to the audience. In literature, it can also be referred to as foreshadowing payoff or narrative bookending when it ties the beginning and end together structurally.
We’ll just call them “callbacks” – and the reason I find them so interesting is that the Torah is chock full of them.
Near the very end of the text, for example, there is a single poetical verse that is a narrative bookend to all the foundational events of the Jewish people. Here it is:
He said: G-d came (bah) from Sinai /And shone (zarach) upon them from Seir /[G-d] appeared from Mount Paran /And approached from Rivevos-kodesh / Lightning flashing at them from [God’s] right. (D. 33:2)
This entire verse is like a condensed cipher showing the origin of the Jews throughout the earlier parts of the text! I’ll try to limit this analysis to just the top-level highlights. Here goes:
| Word | First Uses in the Text | Meaning |
| בָּא֙ / bah (comes) | God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come (bah) before me, for the earth is filled with lawlessness because of them: I am about to destroy them with the earth. (G. 6:13) … Then G-d said to Noah, “Come (bah) into the ark, with all your household, for you alone have I found righteous before Me in this generation. (7:1) …That same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, came (bah) into the ark, with Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons. (7:13) | This is G-d’s restart of creation. Adam and Eve may have been the first, but their descendants failed to advance the world. We are all descended from a subset of the Flood generation – Noach’s family alone. Noach was the only person in his world who heard G-d’s voice – one of the reasons he was a Tzadik, a righteous person.
Bah is also used at Sinai, with G-d drawing close to the people. |
| סִּינַ֥י / Sinai | Setting out from Elim, the whole Israelite community came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt. (E. 16:1) … On the third new moon after the Israelites had gone forth from the land of Egypt, on that very day, they entered the wilderness of Sinai. Having journeyed from Rephidim, they entered the wilderness of Sinai and encamped in the wilderness. Israel encamped there in front of the mountain. (E. 19:1-2) | Sinai marks the completion of the Exodus, as well as the place of divine revelation for the people. Sinai was the place of the first national covenant between G-d and the Children of Israel – including receiving the Tablets and a great many commandments. It was also where the people sinned with the Golden Calf. Arguably, Sinai was the second winnowing of the world: the Flood winnowed all of humanity down to one family, while Sinai further winnowed humanity down to one people. |
| ְזָרַ֤ח / Zarach | [After Jacob wins his wrestling match] The sun rose (zarach) upon [Jacob] as he passed Penuel, limping on his hip.
(G. 32:31) |
It is at this point that the future of the Jewish people is clear: Jacob is coming back into the land, and Esau is separated from the covenant the forefathers have with G-d. This is where Jacob, the boy who wrestled with his brother from his youth, becomes the man who wrestled with both man and G-d – and prevailed. That wrestling match is a key milestone in the development of Judaism. |
| שֵּׂעִיר֙ / Se’ir | Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “But my brother Esau is a hairy (se’ir ) man and I am smooth-skinned. (G. 27:11) … Jacob sent messengers ahead to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom (G. 32:4) | Se’ir is the place Esau moves to – and it is identified as belonging to his descendants for time immemorial. Se’ir finalizes the split between Jacob and Esau. |
| לָֽמוֹ / Lamoh | And [Noach] said, “Blessed be G-d, The God of Shem; Let Canaan be a slave to them (lamoh). May God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be a slave to them (lamoh).” … Ah! The vine for [our enemies] is from Sodom, From the vineyards of Gomorrah; The grapes for them are poison, A bitter growth their (lamoh) clusters. … To be My vengeance and recompense, At the time that their foot falters. Yea, their day of disaster is near, And destiny rushes upon them (lamoh) (D. 32:32, 35) |
This seemingly-common word only appears six times in the Torah (two of them in this verse)! And every time it is about distinguishing between the Jews and our enemies.
Our enemies are compared to Sodom and Gomorrah, occupants of the Land of Canaan whose actions are against holiness. The punishment of Canaan for a son exposing the nakedness of his father is why the Jewish people end up receiving the Land of Israel: another key milestone in Jewish selection and history. Both stories contain more than a whiff of sexual evil, antithetical to Torah behavior. |
| פָּארָ֔ן / Paran | Paran is mentioned in the War of the Four and Five Kings. It is also where Ishmael grows up: G-d was with the boy [Ishmael] and he grew up; he dwelt in the wilderness and became skilled with a bow. He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt. (G. 21:21) | The separation of Ishmael from the Covenantal Family was another key part of the winnowing process that ended with Jacob and his sons. |
| רִבְבֹ֣ת / rivevos | And [her brother and mother] blessed Rivka and said to her, “O sister! May you grow into thousands of myriads (rivevos); (G. 24:60) | This is winnowing the family on the matriarchal side of Terach’s descendants. The kindness and thoughtfulness of Rivka become essential elements of a holy people. |
| קֹ֑דֶשׁ / kodesh | And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy (kodesh)—having ceased on it from all the work of creation that God had done. (G. 2:3) … On their way back [the kings] came to En-mishpat, which is Kadesh, and subdued all the territory of the Amalekites, (G. 14:7) … Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it is between Kadesh and Bered.— (G. 16:14) …
Abraham journeyed from there to the region of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was sojourning in Gerar, Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” So King Abimelech of Gerar had Sarah brought to him. (G. 20) … He inquired of the council of that locale, “Where is the prostitute (kadesh), the one at Enaim, by the road?” But they said, “There has been no prostitute (kadesh) here.” (G. 38:21) |
All these elements in one callback! Creating a holy day, the first separation from Amalek, the ostracism of Ishmael, the necessity of respecting the holiness of Jewish women, and then the heroic act of Tamar, willing to do whatever it took in order to have a holy and purposeful future – which in turn leads to Judah acting against human nature. Judah shows true leadership by taking responsibility for his acts, and acknowledging Tamar’s righteousness. |
| מִימִינ֕וֹ / mimin | Joseph took the two of them, Ephraim with his right hand—to Israel’s left—and Manasseh with his left hand—to Israel’s right (mimin)—and brought them close to him. | Ephraim and Menasseh are the first brothers raised in a strange land while being true to their roots. They are also the first brothers to show no jealousy of the other, even when one is treated with favoritism. Another foundational event in our history! |
| אַשְׁדֹּ֥ת / eishdas | [We also seized] the Arabah, from the foot of the slopes (eishdas) of Pisgah on the east, to the edge of the Jordan, and from Chinnereth down to the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea. (D. 3:17) … also the whole Arabah on the east side of the Jordan, as far as the Sea of the Arabah, at the foot of the slopes (eishdas) of Pisgah. (D. 4:49) | Physical boundaries of the Land of Israel. This is the physical dimension of the word – the next row discusses the spiritual meaning.. |
| Eishdas is two words: eish and Das… Eish: | When the sun set and it was very dark, there appeared a smoking oven, and a flaming (eish) torch which passed between those pieces. (G. 15:17) … G-d rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah sulfurous fire (eish) from G-d out of heaven (G. 19:24) … Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. He himself took the fire (eish) and the knife; and the two walked off together. (G. 22:6) … A messenger of G-d appeared to him in a blazing fire (eish) out of a bush. He gazed, and there was a bush all in fire (eish), yet the bush was not consumed. (E. 3:2) | The Covenant Between the Parts, Sodom and Gomorrah, the Binding of Isaac, and the Burning Bush. All proper nouns, because all were core foundational events in the creation of the Jewish people – all tied together with the same word. |
The above only scratches the surface of how the text of the Torah, near its conclusion, ties together all of the milestone elements earlier in the Torah into a single verse!