Weekly Reading Insights: Naso 5767

Overview of the Weekly Reading, Naso

To be read on the Shabbat of 9 Sivan 5767 /May 26

Torah: Numbers 4:21-7:89
Haftorah: Judges 13:2-25 (the birth of Shimshon, connecting to the section about nazir)

Pirkei Avot: Chapter One

Naso, 2nd out of 11 in Numbers, 35th overall, 1st out of 54 in overalll length.

Naso opens with tallying the three Levite families and defining their specific services in the dismantling, carrying, and assembly of the Tabernacle throughout the Jews' desert journeys. Next, Jews with various types of impurities are forbidden to enter different sections of the camp. Then, G-d commands the Jews about the restitution for sinning against a fellow Jew. Also discussed is the command to bring 'trumah'-crop-gifts to the priests. Next, the Torah speaks about the suspected adulteress, the test of her fidelity, and the consequences of her guilt or innocence. The parsha continues to discuss the vows, laws and scarifices of Nazirites. The following verses are the priestly blessing to the Jews (which are recited daily). The parsha concludes by listing the donations and sacrifices that each tribal prince brought to the Tabernacle.


FROM THE MASTERS OF KABBALA (K:3567/Naso)

From the holy Zohar, teachings of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (Z:3567/Naso)

Now Jethro was originally a priest of idolatry. He was worshipping exactly that evil side. It was from there that he drew down an evil spirit on himself, and it was because of this that he was called a "Kenite".

For the full article, click to the "Weekly Holidays" section on our KabbalaOnline site.

* * * * *

From the holy Ari, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria of Safed
(
A:3567/Naso)

The color white indicates mercy, as opposed to red or black, which indicate judgment. As a person ages and his hair turns white, his youthful insistence on having his way generally calms and he becomes more able to appreciate the other side of issues.

For the full article, click to the "Weekly Holidays" section on our KabbalaOnline site.

* * * * *

From Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman (S:3567/Naso)

Similarly at the Giving of the Torah [special prominence was given to] seventy elders of Israel, and it is fitting that the Glory of the Divine Presence should rest upon [a group of] this perfect number, since it is [comparable to] the camp On High, for Israel are the hosts of the Eternal on earth, just as the ark and its cover and the Tabernacle were all made in the likeness of those that minister [before Him] On High.


For the full article, click to the "Weekly Torah" section on our KabbalaOnline site.


FROM THE CHASSIDIC REBBES (V:3567/Naso)

Shavuot

[The holiday of Shavuot has four names, one of which is "Chag HaShavuot" - commonly translated as "The Festival of Weeks," for the word for "week" is shavua. But] Shavuot comes from the word shevua - oath. On the day that the Torah was given, both G-d and the Jewish people made a mutual vow to each other. We swore to
G-d that we would never exchange Him for another god and He swore to us that He will never exchange us for another nation.

Or Hachaim Hakodesh


Naso

"G-d should make His face shine on you." (6:25)
"Face" always symbolizes good will, closeness and love. The blessing that G-d's "face" should shine on us indicates that G-d should give His gifts to us with a full desire. Even though everything is ultimately sustained by G-d, there is a difference as to whether the life forces are given with enthusiasm or just the minimum absolutely necessary.

Kuntres U'Maayan


A MYSTICAL CHASSIDIC DISCOURSE

from the Chabad Master series, produced by Rabbi Yosef Marcus for

www.ascentofsafed.com and www.kabbalaonline.org


MOSHIACH THIS WEEK (M:3567/Naso)

Shavuot

At Mount Sinai, we consecrated ourselves to G-d as His bride, the first stage of our marriage. Our bond with Him will be complete only in the era of Mashiach, at which time G-d and Israel will unite completely. For 33 centuries, we have been creating the "space" of our marriage with G-d and zealously defending its borders. We have remained faithful to Him in the face of all the cultures and "isms" that have sought to seduce us. We have established our identity as His people, consecrated to Him alone. Now we are ready for the real thing - for an actual experience of the divine as the most intimate truth of our lives.

From The Week in Review by Rabbi Yanki Tauber


An essay from Rabbi Shaul Yosef Leiter, director of Ascent

(for a free weekly email subscription, click here)
(
W:3567/Naso)

While all of the other major holidays that we are commanded to observe from the Torah are tied to a calendar date, this is not true of Shavuot. Shavuot is dependant on something else altogether - the counting of the Omer. When is the holiday? 50 days after the 2nd day of Pesach. Why the difference? We can understand this through the commandment of studying Torah about which the Torah requires us, (Joshua 1/8) "And you shall ponder on it day and night". The Maharal of Prague wrote (Nesivas Olam, Nesivas Torah 81) that since the Torah is ABOVE time, i.e. its study actually puts us into a dimension higher than time, it has no particular set time like the other commandments, rather you have to study it ALL of the time. From this we can understand the verse, "And you shall ponder on it day and night" - first day, then night. From the beginning of creation, night comes first and day follows ("and it was evening and it was morning, the first day"). Torah study is different. Torah study, the verse says, is day first and then night to teach us that it is not governed by time, rather it is above time.

….Similarly, this is the reason that Shavuot, the holiday of the giving of the Torah, is not on a set day of the month, that would signify a relationship to time, rather it is set to the number 50, the conclusion of the counting of the Omer. The number 50 itself (50th gate of understanding, a Kabbalistic level that even Moshe did not reach until he passed from the world) hints at a level above time. For the same reason, we can now understand why Shavuot is only one day, as opposed to the other holidays - Pesach and Sukkot - which are each seven days, a full week, just like the first week of creation, something set and ordered in time. Each year there is a Sunday of Sukkot, and a Monday of Sukkot, and similarly with Pesach, all seven days, set in time. Not so with Shavuot. Torah and its holiday are ABOVE time! Shavuot is only ONE day, each year on a different day, to teach us that unlike the other holidays, Shavuot is NOT governed by time, rather above time!

This is the true meaning of the requirement to have set times in our daily schedules for studying Torah, called in Hebrew k'vias eitim, meaning "to set a time aside". But this expression can also be understood as "setting time". When a person studies Torah, he or she is not only in a dimension above and beyond time, he or she is also able to "set" or "establish" time - to change his environment and reality, to improve his physical situation, even though he or she is not involved in it, but instead, studying Torah. This is what it means that Torah and Shavuot are above time. (From Bnei Yissachar, Sivan, Ch. 4).

Parshas Nasso: As is known, originally, the Jewish people were divided into 12 tribes and the tribe of Levi into two - the Levites and the Cohanim, or priests. One of the special privileges given to the members of the priestly class is the commandment to bless the Jewish people, found in this week's Torah Portion, Nasso, usually read after the holiday of Shavuot. On Shavuot the entire Jewish people are called "a Kingdom of Priests", so it goes without saying that each of us individually has a special connection to the Priestly blessing. The blessing begins with the words (6/24), "You should be blessed and you should be protected." Rashi, the Torah's main commentator, explains the words "You should be blessed", as a reference to your possessions, and is connected to the next word, "protected", that you (and your possessions) should not be descended upon by robbers.

The Rebbe Rayatz gleans something very special from these words, explaining how the Priestly blessings go much further than referring to just our physical possessions. The Midrash (Bereishis Rabbah, 14) tells us that the soul of man has 5 names: Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Chaya and Yechida, representing 5 different ascending levels. They are usually divided into two broad categories: Nefesh, Ruach and Neshama, that are enclothed within the body, are called "our possessions"; while Chaya and Yechida, which remain outside the body, are called "Heaven's possessions".

What is the inner dimension of the Priestly blessing according to Rashi's explanation? "Your possessions should be blessed", means that there should be blessing and success in the efforts we make with the part of the soul that is in the body.

"That you should not be descended upon by robbers", means that none of this effort should be lost, that the divine energy these efforts produce should not "leak" to the "other (negative) side". For example, we are supposed to pray with enthusiasm, but this heightened level of emotions should not turn afterwards into anger or some other negative trait. Similarly, the pleasure we feel when we are involved in serving G-d, should not turn into a desire for physical pleasures. (Sefer Ma'amarim 5705).

The holy Torah is teaching us that not only must we appreciate the blessings we will receive from celebrating the holiday of Shavuot, we also have to safeguard and protect these blessings, conserve the energy so that it is not dissipated and lost to the mundane.

Chag Sameach and Shabbat Shalom! Shaul and Chaya Brocha Leiter.

P.S. Please also read my weekly Shabbat Law, below.

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