Parshat Naso
OK, I’ve got a little problem. For us in Israel, Naso was read this past Shabbat, while Jews in Chutz LaAretz were celebrating the second day of Shavuot. The Torah reading of this coming Shabbat here is B’ha-alo-t’cha. But assuming that the majority of Jewish Press readers are living outside Israel, I’m going to talk this week about Parshat Naso.
Before we get into Naso, let’s review the out-of-sync situation. This one is simple: In years when Shavuot is Friday and Shabbat outside of Israel, Chukat and Balak are combined. In these year-types, Shavuot is Friday in Israel, and we go ahead of the rest of the world on the day after by reading Parshat Naso. And so, in several weeks from now, we in Israel will split Chukat and Balak and move back into sync with the rest of the world, Parshat HaShavua-wise.
The other situation of getting out of sync happens when Pesach runs Shabbat-to-Friday in Israel and through Shabbat in Chutz LaAretz. Then, it depends on the length of the year. In 12-month (one-Adar) years, we split B’har and B’chukotai. In 13-month (two-Adar) years, we split Matot and Mas’ei.
Back to this year. We are also out of sync in Pirkei Avot. For the first cycle, on the six Shabbatot of the Omer, we were in sync. But this past Shabbat, we in Israel began the second round of Pirkei Avot and will remain ahead of Chutz LaAretz until the last two Shabbatot before Rosh Hashanah.
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Many people think that Naso always follows Shavuot. Not so. Naso mostly follows Shavuot, but 10.53% of the time, Naso is before Shavuot in Chutz LaAretz, and another 10% of the time in Israel, Naso precedes Shavuot.
What we can say is that Naso is always paired with Shavuot, right after it or, once in a while, before it. As such, sources point out the significance of reading the largest portion of the Torah nearest Shavuot. They remark that with Matan Torah, we take the largest portion of the Torah to show our appreciation of G-d’s great gift to us.
Naso has 176 p’sukim, which is a symbolic number as well as a regular number. The number of p’sukim in T’hilim 119 (the largest perek in Tanach) is 176. The longest volume of Gemara – Bava Batra – has 176 double-sided pages. The number 176 is 22 times 8. Twenty-two is the number of letters in the Alef-Bet; therefore, it represents a “whole.” Eight is the number associated with going one step beyond nature – into the spiritual realm. Simply put, 176 is a full number.
Naso is written on a record-setting 7.4 columns in a Sefer Torah. That’s 311 lines (in a 42-line Sefer). It has 2,264 words; only four other sedras have more than 2,000 words. The runner-up to Naso is Vayeira, with 2,085.
Naso has 8,632 letters, the only sedra with more than 8,000. Whichever way you slice it, Naso is number one. Interesting that Naso is well below average in length of p’sukim, but not enough to affect its first-place ranking.
As long as we are looking at the Torah stats, let’s do one more – parshiyot. Remember that in a Sefer Torah, there is no indication of p’sukim or p’rakim – only blank spaces between parshiyot. Parshiyot come in two flavors: p’tuchot and s’tumot, open and closed. A parsha p’tucha begins on its own line, with a blank space on the line above from the end of the previous parsha to the end of the line. A parsha s’tuma begins after a blank space on the same line on which the previous parsha ended.
To understand the difference between a p’tucha and a s’tuma, think of (l’havdil) a novel that you have read. There are chapters – that’s like parsha p’tucha – and within a chapter, you sometimes find a blank line before the same chapter continues – that’s like a s’tuma.
Naso consists of 26 parshiyot – 18 open and 8 closed. Only four sedras have more parshiyot. This indicates that Naso has a good many different topics. Contrast this with Vayeitzei and Mikeitz, each of which is made up of only one long parsha.
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Which brings us to mitzvot. Naso has 18 of the Torah’s 613 (Taryag) mitzvot. Eighteen might not sound like that many, especially with recent sedras having many more – Acharei with 28, K’doshim with 51, Emor with 63, and even B’har with 24. But aside from those four sedras in Vayikra, there are only five other sedras that have more mitzvot than Naso. Those are Bo (20) and Mishpatim (53) in Sh’mot, and R’ei (55), Sho–f’tim (41), and Ki Teitzei (74) in D’varim. That’s all. On the list of 54 sedras and their mitzvah-counts, Naso is number ten. Naso has the most mitzvot in Bamidbar (not a monumental feat in a Book with only 52 mitzvot altogether).
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Parshat Naso begins with the continuation of the counting of the workforce of the Levite families and their tasks in the dismantling and reassembling of the Mishkan.
Finally, after Parshat Bamidbar and the first part of Naso – a total of 188 p’sukim – we finish with the several censuses and other topics related to the numbers of the Book of Numbers, and are ready to move on to several new topics. First comes the mitzvah to send people who are tamei (ritually defiled) out of the camp. The written text of this mitzvah is explained by the Oral Law to apply to three different categories of tamei people and three different camps from which they are to be excluded. The m’tzora is banned from the entire three-camp area of the people, and he must be isolated outside Machanei Yisrael. The zav may remain in Machanei Yisrael, but is banned from Machanei L’viya, the Levite camp. The t’mei meit (a person who became defiled by contact with a corpse or even just being under the same roof as a dead body) is only excluded from Machanei Sh’china, the camp of the Divine Presence – namely, the Mishkan and its courtyard. The prohibition of a t’mei meit entering the Mishkan area is counted as one of the 613 mitzvot.
This last-mentioned mitzvah applies even today. Since we are all considered t’mei meit, without the Para Adumah potion to remove that tum’a, we may not ascend the areas of Har HaBayit (the Temple Mount) where the Beit HaMikdash and its Azara might have stood. Many rabbanim forbid going onto Har HaBayit, period. And that might be the cautious and safest way of avoiding the serious transgression. However, there are many rabbanim who allow – and even encourage – visiting Har HaBayit, if one stays in the areas that are definitely not M’kom HaMikdash. Immersion in a high-level mikveh is required in order to go up to Har HaBayit, leather shoes may not be worn, and a serious demeanor is required. People who live in Israel, as well as visitors, should consult a rav with the specific knowledge of the ins and outs of visiting Har HaBayit.
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The next portion of Naso contains the important mitzvah (yes, all mitzvot are important) of Vidui, verbal confession. To paraphrase the Rambam in Hilchot T’shuva (the Laws of Repentance), if a person, man or woman, sins – intentionally or inadvertently, whether the sin is between a Jew and G-d or between fellow Jews – when he or she repents, the process of t’shuva must include verbal confession, Vidui being a positive commandment.
There are different ways to delineate the t’shuva process – this is one of them:
First comes awareness that what one has been doing (once or repeatedly) is wrong. Or that one has not been doing something that is required by Jewish Law.
Then, the person must stop doing the prohibited act or begin doing the required act, as the case may be.
Furthermore, t’shuva includes regret for the past and acceptance for the future concerning the sin in question.
The four steps just presented can be achieved without one uttering a word. But the t’shuva is not complete until the person verbally confesses to G-d his or her commitment to the elements of the t’shuva process. We have a formal way of saying Vidui – namely, the “Ashamnu, Bagadnu…” and “Al cheit shechatanu…” That form of Vidui is used for Slichot, during Aseret Y’mei T’shuva, and Yom Kippur, as well as part of the Tachanun prayer in some, but not all, versions of daily prayer. But in addition to the texts for Vidui, we are each encouraged to talk to G-d (especially at the end of the Amidah of our weekday prayers) and confess to Him the sins for which we are repenting. This, in any wording and in any language one chooses.
I have described Vidui as the culmination of the t’shuva process. But sometimes, saying the formula Vidui can trigger the t’shuva process. For example, one says “Gazalnu” (We have stolen), without giving it much thought because the person knows he has not stolen anything. But then he reads the small print in the Vidui booklet he is using. And he sees there that Theft includes stealing someone’s time, stealing someone’s sleep, or copying a computer program that should be paid for. That one word of many – Gazalnu – now may set the individual on the path to repentance for sins he was unaware of.
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The next topic of the sedra is sotah, the married woman suspected by her husband of infidelity. It is a complex topic that includes three mitzvot of Taryag. We’ll leave it at that for now.
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The next topic is nazir, a person who voluntarily takes upon himself or herself a special Torah vow of abstinence and heightened holiness for a specified period of time. One remarkable feature of the nazir portion in the Torah is the number of mitzvot counted among the 613. Specifically, there are ten mitzvot related to the nazir, which is a lot, especially if you look at the list. Five of the prohibitions for the nazir are: (1) that a nazir is forbidden to drink wine or any strong wine drink, (2) that a nazir is prohibited from eating fresh grapes, (3) that a nazir is prohibited from eating dried grapes, (4) that a nazir is prohibited from eating grape seeds, and (5) that a nazir is forbidden to eat grape skins. This sounds quite over the top. Why not just count as one prohibition that a nazir cannot eat anything that comes from grapes?
To put this in perspective, the topic of Shabbat in the Torah includes a total of five mitzvot, with all 39 categories of melacha counted in the one prohibition of not doing any manner of melacha on Shabbat. Planting and sewing and building and kindling fire on Shabbat are all part of one prohibition. Yet fresh grapes, raisins, grape seeds, and grape skins are each counted individually. And the details of hair-cutting and becoming tamei are also on the nazir’s list of mitzvot.
To oversimplify the issue, the laws of Shabbat are extensive in their detail in the Mishna and Gemara, the Oral Law. That should be sufficient. But the nazir took his vows, often because of difficulty in living a proper moral life or with a thirst for a higher spiritual life, and having the proliferation of mitzvot might provide him with the focus needed to achieve his goal. (To reiterate, this is oversimplified.)
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The two long topics of sotah and nazir are followed by the mitzvah for the Kohen to bless the People of Israel – Birkat Kohanim. In Jerusalem and many other communities in Israel, Kohanim bless the people daily in Shacharit, on Shabbat in Musaf a second time, and at Ne’ila on Yom Kippur for a third time on that holy day. Outside Israel, among Ashkenazim, duchening (Birkat Kohanim) is done just on Yom Tov.
Two points about Birkat Kohanim that I would like to comment on. First is the unusual final word of the bracha that the Kohanim recite before giving the Priestly Blessing to the people. “V’tzivanu…” and You commanded us to bless Your people Israel with love – “b’ahava.” This unique added dimension to a bracha for a mitzvah teaches us that love of our fellow Jews is an important component of the transmission of G-d’s blessing via the Kohanim to all the people.
The other point is that the Kohanim get ready to bless the people, they ritually wash their hands, remove their shoes, say preliminary prayers… and then cannot begin their task until a Yisrael (non-Kohen) calls out “Kohanim.” It’s like getting permission to do what they are commanded to do – from the people who will be receiving their blessing!
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Finally, Parshat Naso concludes with the longest perek in the Torah, an 89-pasuk chapter (Bamidbar 7) that details the dedication of the Mishkan and the Mizbei’ach (Altar) with the gifts of the leaders of the twelve tribes over a twelve-day period.
Since we in Israel have “been there, done that” with Naso, I will add a bit of B’ha–alo–t’cha to this week’s column. And that works well anyway, because this last large perek of Naso and the beginning of B’ha–alo–t’cha also make up the Torah readings for the eight days of Chanuka. Also, the haftara of Shabbat Chanuka and Parshat B’ha–alo–t’cha are the same. The Torah follows the gifts of the Nesi’im with the command to Aharon and the Kohanim to tend and light the Menorah in the Mishkan and the Beit HaMikdash. The representatives of the tribes gave their one-shot gifts – albeit expensive and impressive – but the daily service of the Kohen in the Mikdash is greater.
Shabbat Shalom.