Every medieval synagogue had its special room for respecting the sanctity of its outworn holy books. Such a genizah is a tribute to Jewish regard for the written holy word. When young children attended school for the first time, they would be treated to sweets in the shape of the letters of the alphabet, to express the hope that they would come to love learning. The ultimate source for this worship of the written word, I think, is to be found in the biblical account of creation. God creates the world through words.
Existence springs to life at the sound of divine speech.
No battles, no miracles, no myths or scientific theories, just a few crisp verbal commands. On a modest scale, Adam did likewise. Endowed with the power of speech, he bestowed names on the animals that shared his garden. To name an object is to give it character and concreteness, to bring it into human consciousness, to draw it into a relationship and to render it accessible for human use. The mystery of Jewish survival begins to be revealed when we understand that ever since the Bible, Jews have been creating worlds through words.