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The Space Between the Letters: Where Return Begins

by Ram ben Ze'ev


The Space Between the Letters: Where Return Begins
The Space Between the Letters: Where Return Begins

Before the first word of the Torah is written, before even the first letter—there is silence. An empty parchment. A space. It is within this sacred silence that all creation begins. Not with time, but with space. Not with noise, but with stillness. And it is there—in that space—that תשובה (teshuvah, return) begins.


Teshuvah is not only our journey back to G-D; it is the Divine journey back to us. Through אמונה (emunah, faith), בטחון (bitachon, trust in G-D), and the sincere act of return, we do not simply seek G-D—we make space for Him to dwell again within us, as He once did in the Garden, and as He always desires to do.



The Wordless Whisper of Creation

The sages teach that the world was created through עשרה מאמרות (asarah maamarot, the Ten Utterances). G-D said, and it came to be. But the Holy Zohar and our mystics explain that these utterances are not just words; they are vessels of light. Even deeper still, the spaces between the words, the pauses, the breaths—carry their own secrets.


The parchment of a Torah scroll is not holy because it holds letters. It is holy because it was prepared to carry them. Likewise, it is not only what G-D says, but what He withholds, that reveals His presence. The gaps are not voids; they are invitations.


Every moment of teshuvah is a return not only to what we know, but to what we sense lies between the lines. It is a movement toward the wordless whisper of creation, where the soul hears G-D again—not with ears, but with yearning.


Sacred Space, Not Time

Bereshit בראשית is often misunderstood as “In the beginning”—but it is not the beginning of time, it is the sanctification of space. G-D carved out sacred space in the fabric of being to place creation, to place man, and to place Himself with man.



When we sin, we desecrate that space. When we return, we re-sanctify it. Teshuvah is the act of restoring the inner sacred space within ourselves, where the Shechinah can dwell again. In this light, creation is not a once-upon-a-time event—it is an ongoing act of return.


Mazel: The Divine Flow of Return

We say "מזל טוב" (mazal tov) not as a wish for good luck, but as a recognition that Divine flow is present. מזל (mazal) literally means "flow"—it is the channel through which G-D’s blessing descends into our world. But that flow is not accessed through merit alone. It flows best through בטחון—absolute, unquestioning trust.


When we return to G-D with emunah and bitachon, we realign ourselves with that flow. Teshuvah opens the channel. It clears the blockage caused by doubt, control, and ego. And when that channel opens, what comes through is not merely blessing—it is Divine Presence.


Mazel isn’t magic. It is the flow that happens when the soul trusts the Source more than it trusts itself.


The Architecture of Emunah and Bitachon

Faith is not a feeling—it is structure. A vessel. Like the parchment upon which the letters are written, emunah is the ground upon which G-D writes His will.


And bitachon? Bitachon is the act of letting go so He can write. It is the silence between two thoughts, the calm between two storms, the space between two letters. Without it, there is no room for the Word.



The sages teach that every Jew is a letter in the Torah. But just as important are the spaces between those letters—without them, the Torah becomes unreadable. In our lives, those spaces are created by emunah and bitachon. When we hold space within ourselves for G-D, He fills that space with Himself.


Teshuvah: The Homecoming of the Divine Word

Return is not only a human act—it is a Divine response. “שובו אלי ואשובה אליכם” (“Return to Me, and I will return to you”) is not a metaphor. It is a formula. When we return, the Shechinah returns. When we speak truth, the Word of G-D reawakens within us.


In the act of teshuvah, we align ourselves again with the Ten Utterances, the blueprint of creation. We step back into the sacred conversation we were born from. We stop shouting and start listening.


The Divine Word does not shout. It rests gently between syllables, in the folds of silence, in the stillness of trust. Teshuvah is not thunder. It is the quiet footfall of the soul coming home.



Final Reflection

Between every letter, there is a space. Between every breath, a moment. And in each of those moments lies a doorway. Not a void, but a passage.


Through emunah, we step forward. Through bitachon, we release our grip. And through teshuvah, we meet the Word again—not as strangers, but as co-authors of a sacred story that never truly stopped being written.


May we all find the courage to return—not only to G-D, but to the space where His voice still echoes.


And may we be blessed with true מזל טוב—the joy of being in flow with the Divine Will once more.


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