“And He called to Moses, and Hashem spoke to him…” (Leviticus 1:1).
Rashi explains that there were pauses between each time God spoke to Moses to give him new instructions in order to allow Moses to pause, reflect on, and digest the content of God’s communication.
Sivan Rahav-Meir shares a wonderful story from Rabbi Yehoshua Hartman in her book #Parasha illustrating this idea:
“Many years ago, I went to a lecture by Rabbi Moshe Shapira and brought along the latest technological invention, a voice-activated tape recorder. When the recorder detected a voice, it would spring into action; otherwise, it would not record and thus save space on the tape. I was very excited to use this newest piece of equipment and proudly placed it on the table in front of the rabbi in order to record the lecture. Rabbi Shapira noticed the machine and asked what was so special about it. When I told him about this invention that would only record his words and not his pauses, he looked at me and said, “If that is the case, then you will be missing out on the main part of my lecture!”
By Rabbi Michael Skobac
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