As we have seen throughout this book, analyzing words according to their letters yields deep and profound meanings. This in fact is intrinsic to the PaRDeS system of learning. The Hebrew word for vow (neder) when split into its two syllables reads “ne-der” – “[the letter] nun dwells.” When the two letters spelling the word “dwells” are exchanged, the phrase reads “ne-red” – “[the letter] nun descends.” The letter nun is one of five letters that has two written forms, a common form for when it is at the beginning or the middle of a word and a final form for when it ends a word. When spelling the word “nun” in Hebrew, one begins with the common nun and ends with the final form. Due to its bent over shape and the fact that the word “faithful” begins and ends with a nun, the Talmud (Shabbat 104a) characterizes the common form of the nun as “bent over and faithful” and the long, straight line of the final form as “straight and unboundedly faithful.” Supporting this characterization, the letter nun also appears as the middle letter in the Hebrew words for “poor” (ani) and “humble” (anav).
Usually people take vows only when they have reached a lowly and humble state of mind. Figuratively bent over from the weight of life’s challenges, they must, as it were, bend down and search deep within themselves to find the strength and inspiration to carry on. Oftentimes making a vow enables people to discover the strength to get back on their feet and figuratively rise up and straighten out like the final nun (which interestingly is one of the few letters to extend below the line; “ne-red” – [the letter] nun descends). The two forms of the nun allude to a humble and faithful servant who is transformed by the merit of his or her own efforts, straightening out and again standing tall, armed with renewed determination and vigor.
A beautiful example of the relationship between these two forms of the nun is illustrated by Joshua who the Torah often refers to as “the son of Nun.” On a peshat level this simply means that his father’s name was “Nun”; however, on a deeper level this gives rise to a whole host of meanings. Indeed, Joshua is the paradigm of the faithful servant, who the Torah testifies “never left Moses’ tent” (Exodus 33:11). After a lifetime of humbly serving Moses, and more importantly, receiving the written and oral traditions directly from him – just as Moses had received them from God – Joshua stands tall and himself becomes the leader. Since the word “nun” can mean fish, this also alludes to the deep connection between Moses and Joshua. Firstly, Moses received his name from the daughter of Pharaoh after she rescued him from the water: “She called his name Moses, as she said: ‘For from the water I drew him'” (Exodus 2:10). Secondly, Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh explains that Joshua was immersed in the sea of Torah wisdom he learned from Moses like a fish swimming in the sea. Drawing this analogy to one of its logical conclusions, Rabbi Ginsburgh notes that Moses, Joshua’s teacher and spiritual father, was himself drawn from the water like a fish (The Hebrew Letters, pp. 217).
God Himself describes Moses as His “faithful servant” (Numbers 12:7) and the Torah additionally testifies that Moses was “the humblest man on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3). This reveals a profound connection between humility and leadership. Humbleness does not mean allowing everyone to walk all over you, so that you are a weak and ineffectual leader. It means achieving a sincere existential sense of humbleness in relation to God. This state of mind is actually the prerequisite of true Jewish leadership as has been demonstrated by Moses and countless other leaders throughout Jewish history.
Significantly, the word “nun” also means kingship. One of Mashiach’s names, according to the Sages, is Yinun, as David writes in Psalms 72:17: “May his name endure forever, as long as the duration of the sun his name shall rule.” The Sages interpret the phrase translated as “his name shall rule” as “his [Mashiach’s] name is Yinun” (Sanhedrin 98b). Mashiach, like Moses before him, will combine humility and leadership to become the ultimate leader, alluded to by the letter nun.
