Our Gemara on Amud Aleph discusses the number of letters in the Torah and reports that the letter vav in the word גחון (Vayikra 11:42) is the midpoint of the Torah in terms of letters, and דרש דרש is the midpoint in terms of words (Vayikra 10:16). Since the word גחון has an even number of letters, the Gemara naturally inquires whether the letter vav belongs to the first half or the second half. Unable to resolve the question, the Gemara considers simply bringing a Sefer Torah and counting the letters. To this, the Gemara responds that since we no longer have a precise tradition regarding which words in the script of the Torah are spelled with vowels and which are not, there is no way to know the precise midpoint.

Some have commented on the significance of these words as midpoints, with the former implying bending down or crawling and the latter implying careful searching. The message might be that as you reach the halfway mark in your study of Torah, don't become arrogant. Instead, bend down (גחון) and keep searching (דרש דרש). Extending the metaphor, I will add that even in the process of study, one must be careful to read between the lines. One might think it's obvious and written in black and white, yet because we do not have a precise tradition about the spelling of the word, we cannot be sure. We may not simply rely exclusively on what is technically written, but we must be aware that there are subtleties and nuances within the text that cannot be fully understood without the proper tradition.

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

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