…individuals. Justly so. But society is not built on individuals alone. Hence the insistence throughout Bamidbar on the central role of the tribes as the organising principle of Jewish life. The Israelites were numbered tribe by tribe. The Torah sets out their precise encampment around the Mishkanand the order in which they were to journey. In Naso, the Torah repeats…
I confess to a thrill every time I read these words: Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: “May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn His face toward you and grant you peace.”’ Let them put My…
…a moment of Divine anger, during which 70,000 died. It seems hard to reconcile the idea of counting as an act of love with the fact that counting involves great risk. The second source of perplexity is the phrase the Torah uses to describe the act of counting: naso/se’u et rosh, literally, “lift the head.” There are many verbs available in…
The word Naso that gives its name to this week’s parsha is a verb of an extraordinary range of meanings, among them: to lift, to carry, and to forgive. Here though, and elsewhere in the wilderness years, it is used, in conjunction with the phrase et rosh (“the head”) to mean “to count.” This is an odd way of speaking,…
The Parsha in a Nutshell In Naso we continue last week’s description of the preparations the Israelites made for their journey from Sinai to the Holy Land. Naso discusses many different topics which at first seem unconnected. These include the roles of two of the families from the tribe of Levi – Gershon and Merari; the census (counting) of the…
…and holy. But from the perspective of Jewish faith as a whole, such a life is not an ideal. Judaism wants us to celebrate life, not retreat from it.” The Nazirite, Naso, Covenant & Conversation Further Ponderings Are you involved in any social justice activities? If not, what small activities could you add to your week to make a difference?…
Last year in these studies we noted the well-known difference of opinion among the Sages about the nazirite – the individual who undertook to observe special rules of holiness and abstinence: not to drink wine or other intoxicants (including anything made from grapes), not to have his hair cut and not to defile himself by contact with the dead. In…
Our sedra contains the laws relating to an unusual phenomenon in the religious life: the case of the nazirite, an individual who undertook – by oath and for a limited period – a special set of self-imposed restrictions. He vowed [1] to refrain from wine and other intoxicants, including anything made from grapes; [2] not to have his hair cut;…
…the day that Moses finished erecting the Tabernacle” – the source of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s statement that “Wherever it says ‘and it came to pass’ it refers to something that existed in the past, and was then interrupted, and then returned to its original situation.” Tanchumah [Buber], Naso, 24 The Tabernacle, small and fragile though it was, was an…
…an opportunity to be seized and a temptation to be resisted. NASO: You are as important as you make other people feel. BEHA’ALOTECHA: We tend to become what our friends are. So choose friends who are what you aspire to be. SHELACH LECHA: Never let negative emotions distort your perceptions. To see the world as it is, not as you…