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What 3 Words is an app that you can download to your phone that will tell you exactly where you are
using three words. It was developed by Chris Sheldrick, who used to work in the music industry. He kept
having problems with very poor addresses and getting lost trying to find events was becoming standard.
One of the worst days was in Italy, he explains, was “when a driver unloaded all the equipment an hour
north of Rome, instead of an hour south of Rome.” And, his company shares, “a slightly worse day, when a
keyboard player called him and said, ‘Chris, don’t panic, but we may have just sound-checked at the wrong
wedding.’(i)"

GPS coordinates can seem precise and can be very hard to share easily. Sheldrick worked with two school
friends who developed a plan to set a grid of 3-meter squares across the entire globe and assigning a
unique 3-word address for each of those squares. What 3 Words is used in 193 countries and works in
more than 50 languages. There are 1000s of businesses who are using these three-word addresses in
addition to street addresses to help deliver goods and services(ii).

To give you an idea of what that looks like, when I used the app this afternoon, standing in front of the ark
was “learn-energetic-snow”. Where the Cantor is standing is “poetic-moves-other” and where I am
standing is “catch-smile-before”.

The company says that each 3-word combination is just that, 3 random words that are not chosen for their
meanings in relation to the destination. But human beings are makers of meaning, so of course we are
looking for the meaning to be found in “learn-energetic-snow” and “poetic-moves-other”.

There are other combinations of three words to consider, that are so consequential that the world is said
to stand on them.

From Pirkei Avot 1:2 we read, that Shimon the Righteous would say,

עַל שְׁלשָׁה דְׁבָׁרִים הָׁעוֹלָׁם עוֹמֵד ,עַל הַתּוֹרָׁה וְׁעַל הָׁעֲבוֹדָׁה וְׁעַל גְׁמִילוּת חֲסָׁדִי ם

“On three things the world stands: on the Torah, on service and on acts of lovingkindness.”
We sustain the whole world through learning and teaching, through the work and service of worship, and
through acts of lovingkindness. In other words, what we do in each of these realms makes a difference in
whether our world stands. And each of these things are something that we do.

Rabbi Louis Finkelstein said, “When I pray, I speak to God. When I study, God speaks to me.” For the first
two items in our list, we are focused on our relationship with God. With the final item, we are focused on
our relationships with each other.

It is an interesting list, and it is not the only list of three things.

In the same part of the Mishnah, Pirkei Avot [1:18], in the same chapter, just a little bit further on, we
read:

,רַבָׁן שִמְׁעוֹן בֶּן גַמְׁלִיאֵל אוֹמֵר
עַל שְׁלשָׁ ה דְׁבָׁרִים הָׁעוֹלָׁם עוֹמֵד ,עַל הַדִין וְׁעַל הָׁאֱמֶּת וְׁעַ ל הַשָׁלוֹ ם

“Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says, "On three things the world stands: on judgment, on truth and on
peace.”

We have a completely different list, no longer the things we do, but values that we hold. No longer
considering how we will act with God or with each other, but the bedrock of how we behave.

We are starting the cycle of reading the Torah all over again tonight. It is a time of beginnings as we read
about the creation of the world and that the creation of the world is based on words.

We can create our own world with words tonight, by setting our three words, where we would hope that
people would find us this year. “learn-energetic-snow” seems to be ideal three word address for a place
where the Torah is kept in Omaha Nebraska. What are your three-words as you consider the choices? And
you do not have to share your three-words with anyone.

עַל שְׁלשָׁה דְׁבָׁרִים הָׁעוֹלָׁם עוֹמֵד

On three things our world stands. As I say each time we prepare for Shabbat, three is the number of
intention, so three words work well for us to set our intentions for the coming year. An intention for
learning. An intention for praying. An intention for kindness. An intention for judgment. An intention for
truth. An intention for peace.

Sources 
i  - https://what3words.com/our-story
ii  - https://what3words.com/about

Temple Talk is a recap of sermons given from the Bimah for those who missed a Sermon or who wanted to revisit the words spoken at a previous sermon.