Parsha Naso: How to Keep God Within Us

Welcome to the Torah parsha (portion) of the week. I hope you all had a nice Shavuot and Shabbat. This week’s parsha had lots of things in it and I am not sure which I will actually share. So, hang in there and let’s find out!

Once again I have been enjoying the names of the tribal leaders, so let me give them to you:

  • for the tribe of Judah (thanksgiving): divination son of my-people-volunteer
  • for the tribe of Yisachar ( there is reward): giving power (or power gives) son of a shepherd boy. This is interesting considering that Moses and King David were both shepherds
  • for the tribe of Zebulun (an abode): my power is father son of a window (transparency in power?)
  • for the tribe of Reuvan (see my son): my power forms son of enough light (you have enough light, you have the power to form things)
  • for the tribe of Shimone (hearing): my unity of power son of formings of enough (when you can hear, you know when the form is finished)
  • for the tribe of Gad: power of gathering son of they-know-power
  • for the tribe of Ephraim: my power is hearing son of my people are grateful
  • for the tribe of Manasheh: bounty of power son of a redemption stone
  • for the tribe of Benyamin: my father judges son of the poor/afflicted speak
  • for the tribe of Dan (judgement): my brother helps son of my nation that nurtures (I am making a stretch here for the word I am calling nurture really means my breast). It could also read as my nation of enough. (Please note that where I use the word enough in an above name, you could substitute that is my breast)
  • for the tribe of Asher (joy): hurting (part) of power son of pollution (when one is polluted their use of power winds up hurting people)
  • for the tribe of Naphtali: brothers of my companion son of a fountain of an eye

Having shared this, I feel better and can now talk about the parsha. The parsha is interesting in that it starts by finishing the explanation of the roles of the tribe of Levi. It then tells us that for haShem (god) to reside with us, the camp must be not contain people who are in a mixed state (see previous parsha regarding this), and then it talks about theft, what to do when a man thinks his wife cheats on him (sotah is the term in Hebrew), about a nazir (a person who makes an oath to not cut his hair and abstain from grape products – Samson was a nazir for example). It then tells us what the priests (cohanim are saying when they bless the people) and ends with gifts from the tribal elders. Identical gifts I might add, probably the only time in history that 12 Jews have agreed on anything. 🙂

So, what is haShem trying to teach us here. First off, I think he is saying that there are certain things that need to be done for her to be around. This is the service of the Levites. Once we know and make the preparations, he will be happy to join us. However, we must keep a certain level of tahar (purity) within the camp. Assuming that, I now see a list of thing: theft, sotah, and nazir. This list relates to what haShem will tolerate within the camp. Theft will not make him leave, however, sotah will. Why do I say this? Let’s look into this sotah business.
A man in a moment of jealousy (literally a jealous spirit comes over him) accuses his wife of adultery. He now brings her and her sacrifice to the priest who provides her with a potion that includes a piece of dissolved parchment. On this parchment was the name of haShem. So in effect, because the wife has acted in ways that made her husband feel insecure, and he in turn refuses to trust her and her word, the name of god dissolves. And both are guilty which is why he brings her offering. Creating distrust and not giving someone the benefit of the doubt/being distrustful to those closest to you is what causes god to dissolve/disappear/leave from amongst us. That is what I see we are being told. If she is innocent, we are told then she will have a healthy child. This child is the birth of new trust between people and the beginning of god returning among the people. As the trust grows, so does the child, so does haShem’s presence.

Now we get to the nazir. His gig is to abstain for the sake of god. This is ok. The implication is abstaining for the sake of abstaining or ego is not such a good thing. This bit also becomes a bridge into when is something good and when is it not good. For after the bit on the nazir we get the cohanim blessing which brings us back to the fact chronologically, we are at the time of the inauguration of the temple and Aaron in his joy blessed the people. Two of his sons also brought unrequested incense and died. And now we see that the leaders of the tribes also brought offerings. Why does god not kill the tribal leaders? The nazir gives us the answer. A nazir does what he does for the sake of haShem. The tribal leaders brought the offerings to the entrance of the tabernacle (mishcan) as an offering for haShem. Aharon’s sons brought their incense for their own ego; for their desire to get close to god. It is a subtle difference. The elders said: here god is something for you, if you will accept it. Aharon’s sons pushed it on haShem; she had no choice. And this is why they were eaten alive.

I hope this all makes sense and I bless everybody that you-all trust yourselves and those around you and that you do what you can to make others feel safe and trusting around you so haShem can join us as we journey on in this thing we call life. And I also bless everybody that as we trust ourselves, we can really look at our motivations and act from a place of offering gifts to others and not from a place of ego.

About the Author

Picture of Shmuel Shalom Cohen Shmuel Shalom Cohen spent 10 years studying Torah in Jerusalem. Six years ago, he started Conscious Torah to help Jews connect to their tradition in ways they didn’t think possible. Shmuel also started, and is the executive directory of Jewish Events Willamette-valley, a non-profit whose mission is to build Jewish community, pride, and learning. In his free time, Shmuel likes walks in nature, playing music, writing poetry, and time with good friends.

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