Each Torah portion shares lessons that are relevant to modern day. They provide insights that can help us to be moral and ethical both as individuals and in society as a whole. Below you will find a short synopsis of the Torah portion, followed by various lessons that can be extracted from it and applied to your own life. The portion can be found in its entirety here, Numbers 4:21 – 7:89.
Synopsis of Naso:
The Levites’ exact duties relating to the Tabernacle are detailed, and the Levites between the ages of thirty and fifty (the age appropriate for Tabernacle service) are counted. Various rules regarding illness, adultery, jealousy, and becoming a nazirite (consecrating oneself for G-d’s service) are recounted. The principle of financial restitution with interest is laid out. The Tabernacle is consecrated, and the head chieftains of each of the twelve Israelite tribes (with the exception of the Levites) bring gifts for the ceremony.
Parshah Thoughts:
Treat every person as an individual, not like any other.
The last section of this portion details the gifts of the Israelite chieftains. Each chieftain proffers the exact same gifts of wealth. However, each and every gift is laid out on the Torah pages; it does not say, “This chieftain gave the same as the one before him.” The words are an exact repetition, written twelve times. It might sound monotonous to read; likewise, it might have seemed monotonous for the High Priests to receive the exact same gift twelve times from twelve different processionals.
However, to each of those chieftains, he is excited to present his gifts and desires special attention paid to his offering. It’s an extremely special moment for him. Each chief’s contribution should therefore be honored equally, as if his gift is the very first one presented, with no inkling of others’. If less joy and praise is exhibited upon receiving the twelfth chief’s present than the first chief’s, the twelfth chief may think his gift is less extraordinary or less meaningful. His own joy will be diminished. He may even go so far as to think, “Why should I even bother?”
It’s similar to when multiple children interact with their parent: each child wants to be seen as an extraordinary individual in the eyes of the parent. Each child is special and deserves to be treated as such. This principle can be applied to any adult as well, really any individual. We all want to be seen as individuals, extraordinary in our own way.
Each person’s contributions should be honored equally, as if there is nothing else to compare it to…each of us wants to be seen as extraordinary.
Teamwork
The Levites were split into three groups; each group had a different role with regards to Tabernacle service. The Kohathites were in charge of the sacred objects and altar used for Temple service. The Gershonites handled the cloths and screens which were to surround the Tabernacle. The Merarites handled the posts, planks, sockets, and other fundamental components to the physical Tabernacle space. Each of these groups was responsible to guard and protect a different aspect of the worship space, and they had to work together as a team to care for everything properly. It just goes to show this concept really is timeless, always in play and always important.
Restitution
The concept of financial restitution is recounted in this parshah. If you wrong someone else, you are to pay them back with financial compensation. Not only this, but you are to add 20% to further make up for your error or intentional misdeed. This is similar to the fines and penalties that we have today as part of breaking the law or contracts. Imagine if you had to pay a 20% penalty as punishment for a guilty deed: you’d be much less likely to commit it, wouldn’t you?
This is the concept behind the famous verse, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” based on Leviticus 24:19 – 20. This did not mean physical retribution, but rather financial compensation for loss. Our current system of paying someone damages for harm caused to them may have been borne from this biblical concept.
Ancient tenets of morality and societal welfare are woven into many aspects of our modern lives. Maybe they’re not so ancient after all!
For related reading, check these out:
Sources studied:
JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh: The Traditional Hebrew Text and The New JPS Translation, Second Edition. The Jewish Publication Society. 1999.
chabad.org: a wealth of information regarding all things Jewish, with an Orthodox/modern Orthodox point of view.
Torah.org: an array of relevant study material for all parshahs.
Cover image photo credit: IStockPhoto.com/ollega
