Torah Commentary - Nasso
*Commentary courtesy of Menahem Me-Zahav
Our Sidrah continues with the subject of the census; its name is taken from the second Passuk: “Nasso – Count the heads of the Gershon family” (4:22). In today’s Sidrah, there is a census taken of the three families that make up the tribe of Levi – Gershon, Kehat, and Merrary – and tells of the duties of each Levite family in regard to the maintenance of the Sanctuary. The census of the Israelites had more of a military connotation which included all men 20 years and over; their total count amounted to over 600,000. We find that the Levites’ number is a mere 8,500. However, the Levites who serve in the Sanctuary must be between the ages of 30 and 50; therefore, their number is relatively smaller than the number of any other tribe.
Service in the military by the tribes was highly important. When counting the Levites, the Torah says, “Count…all the ones who fit into the Tzavah – The Military Force of the Sanctuary” (4:23). The word Tzavah in the description suggests to commentators that there is special recognition given to the Levites’ work in the Sanctuary; the Torah merits the work of the Levites and the Kohanim in the Sanctuary as much as it values the service of their Israeli counterparts in the military.
The Torah now dictates the famous blessing by the Kohanim: Birkat - Benediction of the Kohanim (6:24-26; please refer to the MVP). This still-meaningful blessing of a mere fifteen words has been recited by our people for over 3,000 years, since it was first pronounced by Aaron and his sons at the Tabernacle in the desert of Sinai. It is made up of three short lines: The first line of three words blesses us with life and health; the second line of five words blesses us with knowledge and good character; the third line of seven words blesses us with God’s greatest gift of all, Shalom – Peace.
The Sidrah mentions a few more commands, the most notable are instructions pertaining to a Nazirite (Nazir: a person who vows to refrain from many life activities).
Chanuka - Inauguration of the Sanctuary and Dedication of the Altar
At the end of the Sidrah, we are given a detailed account of the daily offerings that each of the twelve Heads of Tribes brought for the inauguration – one Head per day, for twelve days of festivities. The Torah repeats twelve times a full and precisely identical description of the offerings brought by each of the Heads. Since the Torah never permits even one redundant word, why then does the Torah repeat itself here? A Midrash tells us, “The repetition reflects the stateliness and the solemnity that marked the recurrence of the same ceremony day after day. None among the Heads of Tribes wished to outrival the others. There was such a harmony among them and such a unity of spirit and mind, that God valued each one, as if he brought his own together with his eleven associates’ offerings, as well.”
Haftarah: Judges 13:2-25, Page 813
The promised land of Israel was successfully settled under the leadership of Joshua, who retired to his tribal land of Ephraim and died a few years later (circa 1180 BCE). For the next 150 years, the land had no permanent governing body, which invaders took advantage of by taking Israeli land. The vacuum in leadership was then usually filled by a Judge who would assemble a volunteer army and defeat the invading enemy, then rule the country until his/her death. The seventh book of the Bible was dedicated to these Judges who played a most vital role in our history. The Philistines were always present in the land, especially near the coast of the Mediterranean; their numbers were relatively small but grew in the 11th century BCE, pushing their way inland and occupying more and more Jewish land. The situation was so bad that a new Judge had to rise up and save the Israelites from their Philistine oppressors.
Our Haftarah tells about Mano’ach, from the tribe of Dan, and his wife, who are told by an Angel of God that a son will soon be born to them who is destined to save the Jewish people from the Philistines. He will have to follow all the rules of the Nazirites – no wine, no cutting of his hair, etc. It is similar to the Nazirite discipline in our Sidrah, hence the linkage to our Sidrah. Samson (Shimshon) is born and raised, according to God’s orders, as a Nazirite, in the land of the tribe of Dan in close vicinity to the settlements of Tzor’ah and Eshta’ol (13:25). Samson possesses extreme physical strength that sets him apart from his Israelite brethren. The legendary story of Samson, the heroic Judge of Israel and, by far, the most famous of all the Judges, is now about to begin.
Places in Israel carrying Biblical names. Kibbutz Tzor’ah and Moshav Eshta’ol are both located not far from today’s city of Beth Shemesh. Both are named after their Biblical ancestors (13:25).
