|
|
||
HOME
|
|
Drash for Shabbat Naso By Wendy Weise - May 25, 2007 In the first part of Naso, Moses is told to conduct a census, how to divide the factions of Israel, and to assign each particular tribe duties in establishing the tabernacle. It also includes laws about contact with the ritually unclean, perspectives on vows of abstinence, and importantly, the Priestly Blessing. It ends by detailing the offerings made by each of the tribes in the dedication of the altar. All of these topics seem distinct and unrelated; however, each is about the preservation of community. The census reminds us to account for our people and ensure that each and every one may participate in religious service. The laws about disease, crime, and behaviors that threaten community, like adultery or jealousy, encourage us to build trusting relationships with each other and with God, and they teach that a community depends upon ethical conduct to prosper. Likewise, the section on oaths argues that if one makes a vow one should live up to that vow, the community is obligated to observe, and respect that undertaking and the priest must aid in its fruition as well. The Priestly Blessing petitions God to care for our community, too: to "bless" and "protect" us - to provide us with sustenance and shelter, ensuring our physical and material well-being; to nurture us spiritually by "deal[ing] kindly and graciously" with us, allowing us to experience his radiance that we might, in turn, radiate that experience to the community. This means that your personal relationship with God and the visible manifestation of it has a positive, public effect. And finally, God is asked to "bestow favor upon" us and "grant [us] peace" - to be pleased, that all might espouse a sense of wholeness in the individual and oneness between God and Israel. Finally, when the portion reveals that each of the twelve tribes makes the exact same offering at the tabernacle, we witness an act of communal devotion and also of kidushin, for the tribes eradicate worldly competition from the expression of their devotion and gifts of thanks, and this sign of respect reflects their gratitude for the community their actions foster. So this portion, which seems so discordant initially, conveys a singular message: Act as a community, seek communal wholeness, and express thankfulness for the blessings that enable us, together, to thrive. So it asks us to live, live actively and deliberately, holy and wholly. Shabbat Shalom.
|
