Parashat HaShavua Naso
How do we find our place, our roles, as individuals and a people? This week’s reading of Naso, as Bnei Yisrael complete two years of wilderness living, harkens back through its name to when we started, in Ki Tisa. This week’s parasha name, Naso, is commonly translated as God’s command to “take a census.” Previously, in Ki Tisa, the meaning was “when you take a census.” That first census seemed to start well, if you recall, because it valued every person equally through the counting of a half shekel. By the end of that week's reading, however, things went tragically wrong; when Moshe delayed coming down from atop Sinai, Bnei Yisrael feared he was dead and turned to idolatry, the Golden Calf.
In that first census of Bnei Yisrael, while there was equal respect for every individual, one person towered above them all: Moshe. And when we went missing, or at least was unaccounted for longer than expected, Bnei Yisrael became unhinged. They could not manage without him.
Fast forward two years later. This week’s census does not begin with a message about equality. To the contrary: it is a counting of the Levites, a special segment of the population of Bnei Yisrael. As we read on, however, we see that they are not the only special ones. One can opt into elevated holiness as a Nazirite. (Nu. 6:2) And each tribe has a leader, each one bringing gifts as a representative, and “each leader gets their own day, each leader gets their day - נָשִׂ֨יא אֶחָ֜ד לַיּ֗וֹם נָשִׂ֤יא אֶחָד֙ לַיּ֔וֹם,” (Nu. 7:11) a point that bears repeating.
In other words, inclusive while also recognizing how each individual is different. It is also instructive that those who are designated as religious leaders, the kohanim, actually act as conduits between God and the people. As God says, the blessing that they are instructed to give - which we traditionally give to our children at the Shabbat dinner table - is in order to “bestow My Name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them - וְשָׂמ֥וּ אֶת־שְׁמִ֖י עַל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וַֽאֲנִ֖י אֲבָֽרֲכֵֽם.” (Nu. 6:27)
This is a balance we all face in life, as in school. We balance a deep appreciation for the value of community, our place among many, even as we also must recognize how special each of us is, and each other as well. Rabbi Heschel captures this tension when he writes: “It is through the awareness that I am not only an everybody, that I evolve as a somebody, as a person, as something that cannot be repeated, for which there is no duplicate, no substitute.” (I Asked for Wonder, p. 71)
Though Naso and Ki Tisa are commonly translated as being about census, it is worth noting that at a literal level of understanding, the root of this word means lift, marry, or carry. Picking each other up (not out); caring for one another. Counting and being counted.
At the end of this week’s reading, we see that even Moshe needs company when in the company of God. Two of the most unique beings ever to exist, alone with each other, and they too need more: When Moshe enters the holiest place to meet with God, the Ohel Moed, “he would hear the voice speaking to him from the two cherubim above the covering which was over the Ark of Testimony - וַיִּשְׁמַ֨ע אֶת־הַקּ֜וֹל מִדַּבֵּ֣ר אֵלָ֗יו מֵעַ֤ל הַכַּפֹּ֨רֶת֙ אֲשֶׁר֙ עַל־אֲרֹ֣ן הָֽעֵדֻ֔ת מִבֵּ֖ין שְׁנֵ֣י הַכְּרֻבִ֑ים.” (Nu. 7:89)
May we all feel elevated as individuals, while ever cherishing the time we spend with each, all the while lifting each other up as well.
Shabbat shalom!
Rabbi Jack Nahmod
Middle School Judaic Studies Head
Rabbinic Advisor