Archive for the ‘35. Naso’ Category

Social context

The book of Bamidbar is known as Sefer Pikudim, the Book of Numbers. It would seem odd that the book takes its name of numbers, given that the numbers of the census, the countings of the people, appear only in Parshas Bamidbar and Pinchas.

Sefer Vayikra, called Toras Kohanim, or Leviticus, deals with kohanim, their roles and duties throughout. Sefer Shemos, or Exodus, deals with the Exodus and what followed.

So what are the Pikudim after which the Sefer is named?

Bamidbar is not the Torah of numbers, of countings; rather, it is the Torah of logistics, or context. All the parshiyos discuss the formation and development of a society, the Machane, the encampment.

Parshas Naso begins with the Levi’im, Gershon, Kehas and Merari, and their respective roles. There are four interceding parshiyos until the logical continuation of forming the camp, wherein the nesi’im of each tribe bring the Korbanos for their tribe. The interceding mitzvos are about (1) how a tzarua and zav (certain types of zzzz) must leave the camp, (2) A convert who dies with no family, his possessions go to the kohanim, (3) Sotah and (4) Nazir.

What are these four mitzvos that they interrupt the establishment of society?

In truth, they aren’t. The laws of the tzarua and zav aren’t in Parshas Metzora, as in essence, the laws here aren’t regarding him, so much as they are ourselves, society. Our society, the Machane, is lacking while he is a part of it, and that is why he must leave.

Regarding the convert with no relatives, he poses a difficulty to a normal person. Jews have a serious community setup, on top of which, on a large enough family tree, everyone is interrelated. The convert has no one. His possessions are bequeathed to the kohen. But regarding our society, the setup would seem to be incomplete – he is foreign, how do we deal with him? – but he is still integrated, and this completes society.

The Sotah has deviated from soicety’s setup, for obvious reasons.

The Nazir, whilst admirable for his commitment, has deviated from what is normal too. Drinking wine and cutting hair are normal things to do. Not doing them is abnormal.

All these people are not normal. But the Torah tells us that they are all part of the setup, and the nesi’im were offering korbanos for them too, an imperfect but complete society.

Regarding the Korbanos, the question begs to be asked, why does the Torah repeat each nasi’s korban, given that they were all identical?

The of numbers in Sefer Bamidbar is that being part of a number generates a speciality.

Each set of korbanos ends with zeh. zeh has the numerical value of 12, the number of tribes. Elsewhere, a number is impersonal; but here, the underlying theme is that speciality lies in being a part of the number, so much so that deviating from it is bad. zeh is the klal. We are all part of the klal. The Torah tells us the total number of korbanos brought, but this seems unnecessary. Can’t we add up the figures ourselves? The answer is the same – the Torah  appreciates the community, wherein there total has greater speciality than the number of individuals.

There is a story told about a person taking an exam in a crowded classroom.The invigilator calls for time, and the exams end, and the invigilator collects a large stack of papers. The student refuses to hand his paper in, and remains behind and continues to write. After a while passes, the other students having long gone, the lone student left writing furiously, whilst the invigilator is at his desk working his way through a stack of papers, marking them. The student gets up nonchalantly, and strolls casually to the front to hand in his paper.

Looking up, noticing the student approaching, the invigilator exclaims, “You can’t hand that in now, the exam was over nearly an hour ago!”.

Leaning over the invigilators table, the student asks, with fervor, “Do you have any idea who I am?”

“No, and I could not care less!” replied the invigilator.

The student smiled, and says “Good!”, upon which, he thrusts his paper in the middle of the stack of unmarked papers. 

We see from this week’s parsha that the way to express individuality is from within the klal.

The same is true of Birchas Kohanim, also in this week’s parsha – the bracha is not originating from the kohen; it’s from Hashem. It is for the whole klal, but personalised.

The halacha is before the kohanim start they should clench their fists, and once they start they open. When the fists are clenched, they fist is flat – it is the same. But when the fingers protrude, they are all different, much as we all are.

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Torah Connotations

Targum Yonasan (7:79) states that the silver bowl (ka’aroh) had “Gidloh Smich“, which are thin walls.  The silver basin (mizrok) had “Gidloh Klush“, which are thick walls. How does he know this?

The Gra (Vilna Gaon) comments on Maseches Yumoh 62b. The word ‘shnei’ (two) always means the two are equal, like the two goats on Yom Kippur that had to be exactly the same.  Since ‘shnei’ is written three times, we know that they were the same in appearance, height, and value.

Similarly, the Gemara in Bereshis (1:16) explains that the sun and the moon were once the same size, but then the moon complained that it was impossible for there to be two kings (the sun and the moon) with one crown, and therefore, he was made smaller. The Gemara learns this from the fact that at  first, its written that the sun and moon were ‘gedolim’ (plural for big), but later on, its written that one was ’gadol‘ (big) and one was ‘katon‘ (small). Tosfos asks how we can assume that the moon became smaller; perhaps both the sun and the moon were big, but one was bigger than the other, in which case, the moon never became smaller.

Tosfos answers that the passuk says “shnei hamo’oros” (both of the luminaries). Based on the previous paragraph we know that ‘shnei’ connotes equality, so we know that they must have been the same size originally. Thus, the answer of the Gemara is validated.

Knowing these concepts, we can understand the Targum Yonason. ’Shneihem’, implys that they were the same size, but surely this can’t be true; the bowl weighed 130, whilst the basin weighed 70. Rather, the two utensils must have had the same capacity, as it says ‘shneihem melayim’ (the two of them were filled to their capacities). We also know that ‘shnei’ connotes equality, so we know that they must have been the same size. How could this be? The bowl had thick walls , whilst the basin had thin walls, so they both could hold the same capacity.

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Deeper meanings

A very short Dvar Torah for Parshas Naso:

וְלָקַח הַכֹּהֵן מַיִם קְדֹשִׁים בִּכְלִי חָרֶשׂ וּמִן הֶעָפָר אֲשֶׁר יִהְיֶה בְּקַרְקַע הַמִּשְׁכָּן יִקַּח הַכֹּהֵן וְנָתַן אֶל הַמָּיִם - The kohen shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and some earth from the Mishkan floor, the kohen shall take and put it into the water. (5:17)

וְכָתַב אֶת הָאָלֹת הָאֵלֶּה הַכֹּהֵן בַּסֵּפֶר וּמָחָה אֶל מֵי הַמָּרִים – Then the kohen shall write these curses (containing G-d’s name) on a scroll and erase it in the bitter water. (5:23)

The ingredients to the concoction the Sotah is made to drink are: 1. Water, 2. Earth, 3. G-d’s name (- Rashi points out that the paper with G-d’s name is inserted into the water so it dissolves in the water is so that since she may confess before needing to drink it, we should wait until the last moment to avoid erasing G-d’s name in vain). What is the meaning and significance of these three ingredients?

The Mishna in Avos (3:1) says: עקביה בן מהללאל אומר, הסתכל בשלושה דברים, ואין אתה בא לידי עבירה–דע מאיין באת, ולאיין אתה הולך, ולפני מי אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון:  מאיין באת, מליחה סרוחה.  ולאיין אתה הולך, למקום רימה ותולעה.  ולפני מי אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון, לפני מלך מלכי המלכים הקדוש ברוך הוא – Akavia the son of Mahalalel would say: Reflect upon three things and you will not come to the hands of transgression. Know from where you came, where you are going, and before whom you are destined to give a judgement and accounting. From where you came–from a putrid drop of liquid (correlates to water); where you are going–to a place of dust, maggots and worms (correlates to earth); and before whom you are destined to give a judgement and accounting–before the supreme King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He. (G-d’s name).

Timeless lesson – never forget the mishna!

Geshmack short Dvar Torah or what? :)

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Food for Peace

וְהִשִּׂיג לָכֶם דַּיִשׁ אֶת בָּצִיר וּבָצִיר יַשִּׂיג אֶת זָרַע וַאֲכַלְתֶּם לַחְמְכֶם לָשֹׂבַע וִישַׁבְתֶּם לָבֶטַח בְּאַרְצְכֶם- Your threshing will last until the vintage, and the vintage will last until the sowing; you will eat your food to satiety, and you will live in security in your land.

וְנָתַתִּי שָׁלוֹם בָּאָרֶץ וּשְׁכַבְתֶּם וְאֵין מַחֲרִיד וְהִשְׁבַּתִּי חַיָּה רָעָה מִן הָאָרֶץ וְחֶרֶב לֹא תַעֲבֹר בְּאַרְצְכֶם - And I will grant peace in the Land, and you will lie down with no one to frighten [you]; I will remove wild beasts from the Land, and no army will pass through your land. (26:5-6)

Rashi remarks:

ונתתי שלום: שמא תאמרו הרי מאכל והרי משתה, אם אין שלום אין כלום, תלמוד לומר אחר כל זאת ונתתי שלום בארץ – Because somebody might proclaim:There is food and drink, but if there is no peace then there is nothing. Therefore the passuk reassures us with a blessing of peace

This is hard to understand – why does Rashi relate the blessing of food to that of peace, does it not seem more likely that they are both written in reference to the condition of אִם בְּחֻקֹּתַי תֵּלֵכוּ - ”if you will go in my statutes..” – what does the blessing of peace have to do with food and drink?
(more…)

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