Naso: “It’s about dignity”

It’s about dignity. 

This week’s parsha, Naso, is full of twists and turns, seemingly disparate topics and events, but, I submit, a possible thread weaving these themes together is kavod, dignity – giving, receiving, and sensing dignity.

• Naso means count and, once again, a census is taken.
• For men who want to become a nazarite, instructions are given.
• For a husband who suspects his wife has been unfaithful, a test is described.
• Moses completes the construction of the mishkan, or tabernacle.     

The birkhat kohanim, the three-fold blessing embraced by Jews and Christians, appears as G-D’s instructions to Moses to tell his brother Aaron this is how you shall bless the people, every day. At 176 verses, Naso is the longest of the parshiyot.

A census is a collection of individuals ultimately described by a number, but how you get to that number can be a lesson in dignity. I have a colleague from Nigeria who taught me about an aspect of  Nigerian culture. When you ask a Nigerian how many children they have, the response is never a number. The response is the name of each child.

In this parsha, the census comes about from Naso et rosh, “To lift the head.” As Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (z”l) pointed out, one of the many ways to translate this unusual census-taking instruction is to translate it as you count the other person by lifting his head. Naso is not only about the people being counted. Naso is also about the people doing the counting. The U.S. Census Bureau calls these people “enumerators.”  The Census began with enumerators going door to door and recording the characteristics that were uniquely you. Naso describes them as those who can lift up your head. These characteristics were aggregated and put into tables. The enumerators spoke with you, learned what was unique about you, and, implied, hopefully explicitly, they were giving you dignity and respect for who you were as an individual.

For the men who chose to follow the path of the Nazarite, abstain from alcohol, letting the hair grow, and staying away from contact with corpses, perhaps it is the behavior they need to impart dignity to their self-image also.

This parsha’s instructions on how to test the sotah, the wife suspected of being unfaithful, is actually a subset, or an example of the concept that precedes it in Numbers 5:6-7, which states, “If a man or a woman commits any sin … they shall confess that sin that they committed.” As Chief Rabbi of South Africa Warren Goldstein taught on this parsha, “Through honesty, accountability and true humility, we return to a point in time in which our relationships were undamaged, and we renew and reinvigorate our connection with G-d and with those around us. It’s a second chance, the gift of a new start, an opportunity to begin afresh so the future is not destroyed by the past.” Humility is a path to dignity in self-image.

At Numbers 7:1, Moses completes the construction of the Mishkan, the portable sanctuary, where the word mishkan technically means “dwelling.”  We read, “And it was on the day that Moses finished erecting the Mishkan, he anointed it, sanctified it, and the altar and all its vessels, and he anointed them and sanctified them.”                               

Moses did not just finish the construction project. Moses made the ordinary extra-ordinary (extraordinary) by sanctifying it and its contents. The building became a dignified place, a place with dignity.

From Naso comes a blessing and a ritual enacted to this day. As a kohen, I have the honor of participating in duchenin, from the word for platform, where we cover our heads with our tallisim, extend our arms, and offer to the congregation the same blessing G-D tells Moses in this parsha to tell his brother Aaron to use to bless the people every day.

As Rabbi Steve Kushner said in his commentary for Reform Judaism, “The structure of the prayer is nothing short of extraordinary, a precise geometric construct that is simply brilliant in design. The first line is comprised of 3 words, the second line 5 words, and the third line 7 words. The symmetry even extends to the letters: 15 letters, 20 letters, and (you guessed it) 25 letters. None of this is by accident. …. But even to those who could only hear the words, the increasing power must have been inspiring.”

As Rabbi Steve Kushner wrote, “In the first verse, God “blesses” and “protects” us. ….  In the second verse, we move beyond physical gifts. I sense in it the emotional with the word, vichuneka, “and be gracious unto you” ….  Nowhere is this more dramatic than in the third and final verse. Yes, we get shalom. But it’s how we get it that is so important. In this climactic blessing, G-D lifts up G-D’s face.” 

Recall that a Chasid replied to the question, “What do you do before you pray,” with, “I pray that I might be able to pray.” Similarly, what does a kohen do before he offers the Priestly Blessing? He offers a blessing before the blessing. As Rabbi Sylvia Rothschild of England teaches from the Talmud, “Rabbi Elazar ben Shammua taught … I never lifted my hands for the Priestly Benediction without first reciting a blessing. The Gemara asks: What blessing do the priests recite before the benediction? Rabbi Zeira says that Rav Ḥisda says: Blessed are You, Eternal our God, Sovereign of the universe, Who has sanctified us with the sanctity of Aaron and commanded us to bless Your people, Israel, with love.  … There is no other blessing over a commandment that requires us to perform it “with love.”

When the intent, the kavanah, is with love, it is also with dignity.
May you be blessed to offer and receive increased dignity.