This
week’s Parashat Nasso is the longest Parasha that we have, with 176 pesukim.
The reason for this is that it’s after Shavuot, when we accepted the Torah and
we get a surge of holiness from that. That’s
why it’s extremely long.
There’s
a lesson here, that I’ve heard from Rav Wolbe many times. He used to say that
it was the lesson of the entire sefer Bamidbar. Bamidbar starts off counting
the Jewish people. Each person received importance when they were counted. They
met up with Moshe Rabbenu and Aharon HaKohen. The counting is called Nasso- to
lift up, because the people became uplifted during the count. So Bamidbar
starts off by counting and giving respect to every individual. Then we continue
the theme and discuss Birkat Kohanim, where the Kohanim bless the Jewish
people. The word is Yebarechecha- G-d blesses you.
Every
single individual is being blessed individually by G-d. And as we’ve said in the past, the year and
the curses end before Shavuot, and Bezrat Hashem, the new Torah year starts off
with blessings on Shavuot, and we start off with Birkat Kohanim, which is the
beracha of the Torah. Every morning, we say Birkat HaTorah and
three blessings about our privilege
and ability to learn Torah. Then the first words of Torah that we say are
Birkat Kohanim. That’s the blessing of the Torah.
So,
we start off with an individual blessing, for every individual, at the
beginning of this new Torah year.
Then
we talk about the Nazir and the Sotah, which are juxtaposed, as
we know. If someone sees this Sotah
in her degradation, it’s a lesson for them. This woman was possibly unfaithful
to her husband, put herself in a precarious situation and was close to sin
(whether she sinned or not is not the point). This is a lesson to all, to stay
away from possible pitfalls. Therefore, one should refrain from drinking wine
after seeing such an event. That’s why the topic of the Nazir, who
doesn’t drink wine, is placed next to the topic of the Sotah.
The
lesson from Rav Wolbe is to look at the power, both positive and negative, of
the individual. G-d is concerned with
every individual person being clean from sin, and He is willing to erase His name in order to prove the innocence of
the Sotah. The whole purpose of the Sotah ritual was actually to prove
her innocence, and show her husband that she didn’t sin, and so we have a truth
serum. Hashem is concerned with every individual marriage, and every individual’s
shalom bayit. He’ll perform an open miracle in order to restore the harmony in
a marriage, after the suspicion.
The Nazir,
an individual man who stays away from wine, is considered as holy as a Kohen
Gadol. He can’t contaminate himself from any relatives, just like the Kohen
Gadol can’t. This individual reached a tremendous level of holiness. So we see
the power of an individual to go down and the power of an individual to go up.
And
we can see, from our own current events, the degree of the individual’s power.
One individual person came into this country with Coronavirus, and brought down
the whole country. Another individual is
being “honored” with riots which have reopened the country, so to say. One
individual can make a difference.
That
is the flow of the parasha, and it ends with the powerful message of the Nessi’im.
The
reason the Parasha is so long is that beginning on Rosh Hodesh Nissan, the day
of the dedication of the Mishkan, each tribe brought a korban. This lasted for twelve days. The description
of each korban is about 6-7 pesukim, and this occurred twelve times. We repeat
the same pesukim twelve times. The
Rambam is bothered. Why did G-d do this?
Why not just bring down the first one, and then say they all did the same
thing? Why repeat it twelve times?
Because
Hashem wanted to give respect to each one individually.
ה׳ חולי כבוד ליראיו
G-d
gives respect to those that fear Him.
Therefore,
He didn’t want to skimp on respect for any of them. Each one was important. So, it’s repeated twelve times, exactly the
same way, to give each person his own respect, because each was an individual.
That’s
the message and the theme of Parashat Nasso: To realize how much Hashem
appreciates our work and our effort.
The power
of the individual also shows up in the Gemarah in Masechet Yoma, where it says
that even one person’s Teshuva can make a difference. We have to know, and understand,
and believe that in times of stress, our deeds as individuals make a
difference. When we strengthen ourselves, Hashem looks down and appreciates
every activity that we do. That’s a
fundamental in our belief: Hashem appreciates and gives importance to each
person’s deeds.
That’s
the theme of Parashat Nasso.
Let us
walk away from this Parasha with a renewed understanding of the power of the
individual, to either bring up or bring down.
Be’Ezrat
Hashem we will bring up.
