Word Prompt – KLAL – Cheryl Kupfer

I found it quite telling that when the letter “A” is added to the word klal, which means the community (as in Klal Yisrael), you get the word klala – which means curse. I know that in Hebrew the two words are spelled differently; klal starts with chaf and the klala with a kuf, but The Jewish Press is an English language newspaper, so I am taking poetic license!

So, what weight does the letter A have to make “community” morph into “curse?” “A” is the first letter in the English alphabet and as such can be viewed as being “above” or “superior” or “premier” to the rest of the letters. When ego or a sense of being worthier or more expert and thus the belief that “my way is the only way” infiltrates members of the community, it can lead to friction, discord, antipathy, antagonism, hostility and baseless hatred. Thus, the klal becomes cursed.