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Parsha Perspectives by Ozer Alport

(דבר אל בני ישראל ואמרת אלהם איש או אשה כי יפלא לנדר נדר נזיר להזיר לד (6:2

“Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them: A man or woman who shall dissociate himself by taking a Nazirite vow for the sake of Hashem.”

ויעתר מנוח אל ד' ויאמר בי אדוני איש האלקים אשר שלחת יבוא נא עוד אלינו ויורנו מה נעשה לנער היולד ... ויאמר (מלאך ד' אל מנוח מכל אשר אמרתי אל האשה תשמר (הפטרה – שופטים 13, 13:8

“Manoach prayed to Hashem and said, ‘Please, my Lord, may the man of G-d whom You sent come now again to us and teach us what we should do to the lad who will be born … The angel of G-d said to Manoach, ‘Guard everything that I told to the woman.’”

After an angel appeared to the heretof ore barren wife of Manoach (future father of the Jewish leader Samson, who lived almost three thousand years ago) to inform her that she would give birth to a son and to instruct her to raise the child as a nazir ( a person who accepts upon himself three prohibitions: not to cut his hair, not to consume wine or grape products, and not to come into contact with the dead ) she proceeded to relate the good news to her husband. Manoach requested that Hashem send the angel back to instruct him how to raise his future son. The angel came back and reiterated to Manoach the pertinent laws of a nazir, which seemed to satisfy him.

This episode is difficult to understand. As Manoach’s wife had already informed him of the angel’s instructions regarding the nazirite status of their future son, what room was there for confusion? The laws governing the conduct of a nazir are clearly outlined in the Torah. Furthermore, upon its return, the angel simply repeated what Manoach had already heard from his wife, without adding any information. In what way was the angel’s return helpful?

The following humorous story will help us appreciate the answer to these questions. Rabbi Pesach Krohn tells of a teacher who caught one of his students stealing pencils from the other children. After reprimanding him, the behavior continued. Finally, after the student ignored repeated warnings from the teacher, he had no choice but to call the boy’s parents to discuss the issue. Much to the teacher’s surprise, after listening to the problem the boy’s father revealed the true source of the behavior by exclaiming, “Why in the world would he need to steal pencils!? I ‘bring home’ more than enough pencils from the office to supply the entire class!”

In light of this amusing lesson on the power of parents teaching by example, we can appreciate the answer given by Rav Shimon Schwab to our original questions. He explains that Manoach’s confusion wasn’t related to the laws pertaining to his future son, which he could learn himself. His dilemma was of an educational nature. After hearing that his son would be a nazir, unique and different from his peers, Manoach was unsure how to properly raise him. His son would have no role model from whom he could learn the behavior expected of him.

In response to Manoach’s query, the angel came back to give him the requested guidance. The angel acknowledged that his question was quite valid, and instructed him that the proper way to raise such a son was to give him an adult nazir as a role model – by Manoach becoming a nazir himself! The angel’s instructions to Manoach can be read, “Everything which I instructed your wife (regarding your future son), תשמר – you should observe” by becoming a nazir! The powerful lesson to be derived from this beautiful explanation is that the only way to educate children is for the parents to serve as living role models of the lessons they wish to impart to them. return to top
Ozer Alpert can be reached at ozer@partnersintorah.org  

talking points - parshas naso
Rabbi Elazar Meisels

1. Ask And Ye’ Shall Receive

“And G-d spoke to Moses and to Aharon, saying; ‘Take the count of the sons of Kehos…’” 4:1,2

• Parshas Nasso is the largest of all the portions in the Torah, containing 176 verses. It also features a larger number of midrashic interpretations, and discussions in the Zohar, more than any other Parshah.

Chiddushei HaRim (Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Rothenberg, (1799-1866) explains that this prolific and disproportionate amount of verses and commentary contains a deep symbolism related to this time of year. Parshas Nasso is traditionally read in the weeks immediately following the holiday of Shavuot, which commemorates the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai and a renewal of our commitment to its study and practice. When we accept upon ourselves the monumental task of Torah study, we are in return, granted the gift of inordinate quantities of Torah, far beyond what we would imagine ourselves capable of absorbing. Parshas Nasso, with its vast amounts of Torah, is a symbol of that newfound aptitude.

2. No Bloating Allowed

“Instruct the Children of Israel and they shall send forth from the encampment any person afflicted with Tzaraas, any person contaminated with Zav, anyone contaminated by a dead body” 5:2

• Any Person Afflicted With Tzaraas…Contaminated With Zav – Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai taught: When the Children of Israel stood at the foot of Mt. Sinai and declared their allegiance to G-d and His word, they were healed of every illness and blemish and there stood not among them a Metzora (someone afflicted with tzaraas) or Zav.It was only once they sinned that there was among them Metzoraim, and Zavim etc. What sin caused these illnesses to surface once again?
  • They spoke negatively toward their leaders and accused them of criminal behavior
  • They cast aspersions upon the Holy Ark and claimed that it was lethal to those who serviced it
  • The sin of the Golden Calf caused an outbreak of Tzaraas– Medrash Rabbah, Vayikra 18

Yet another medrash [Devarim 7:4] maintains that the sin that brought these dastardly illnesses upon them, was their disrespectful and ungrateful attitude toward the Mannah which sustained them. In order to ease their plight in the unsanitary conditions in the desert, Hashem sent down Mannah that was fully absorbed in the body and produced no waste matter. Ordinarily, this would be recognized as a tremendous blessing and kindness to a people stranded in the desert with inadequate facilities. Instead, the people grumbled incessantly about how dangerous it was, and how they feared that they’d perish from bloating. For failing to appreciate their munificent gifts, they were visited with true illnesses that isolated them from the masses and lessened their potential to damage the morale of the nation.

3. No Ox To Grind

“Moses took the wagons and the oxen and gave them to the Levites…He did not give any to the sons of Kehos because the sacred work was [incumbent] upon them, which they had to carry on their shoulders.” 7:6-9

• Because The Sacred Work Was On Them – The carrying of sacred objects - the ark, table, etc. Therefore, “they had to carry them on their shoulders.” - Rashi

Rav Menachem Mendel of Kotzk explained that in matters of kedushah [sanctity], one cannot delegate, or utilize shortcuts. To employ the help of oxen in carrying the less sacred items of the Tabernacle was entirely appropriate. Their status did not demand more than that. For carrying the Ark, however, which symbolized the Holy Torah itself, and the other exceedingly sacred vessels, one could not expect assistance to lighten the load. This lesson here is that one who wishes to ascend in matters of holiness and carry the banner of purity, must be prepared to do all the heavy lifting himself. In these areas of life, nothing ever comes easy. Torah is acquired only by one who gives his very last breath for it. Shortcuts and time-saving tricks are inexpedient means of developing our spiritual selves. return to top
Rabbi Elazar Meisels can be reached at rabbimeisels@partnersintorah.org 

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Other Worldy - Rabbi Leiby Burnham

Dear Rabbi,
My uncle Sol recently passed away. Ever since his funeral, I find myself thinking about life after death. What happens to the soul exactly? What is the Jewish perspective on the next world? I know that we believe in it, because the Yizkor prayers talk about people who have “Gone to his/her world,” but what exactly is that world like?
Thanks,
David K.

Dear David,
Questions about what will happen in the next world are challenging to answer as we have very few eye-witnesses to rely on. Most of us understand that images of boiling hot, fiery places or beautiful homes in the clouds are more of a child’s image than a discerning adult’s view. A spiritual soul can neither feel heat nor open the door to a home in the clouds! Having said that…let’s discuss some of the things that we do know about the Next World, and hopefully we can create a more accurate picture of some of what happens in the Next World.

There is a polarity in human knowledge, with the two extremes known as bechira and yediah. Bechira is free-will, our ability to choose right or wrong. Yediah is a comprehensive knowledge of reality. These two cannot fully coexist. If one has complete knowledge of reality it would be impossible for one to disobey G-d, even more than it is impossible for you and I to put our hands in fire, because we know what that would do to us. The ability to choose wrong, one facet of bechira, is the purpose of our existence, as it provides us with the challenges that make our lives meaningful and allow us to grow. In order for us to be able to have bechira (free will) G-d hides himself from us and denies us yediah (complete knowledge). The reality that it is often so hard to see G-d in this world is our very raison d’être, as it gives us our free will, which enables us to grow.

When someone dies, their soul leaves a world of bechira, and enters what we call Olam HaEmet - the World of Truth - the world where one sees everything with perfect clarity, with full yediah. Once they are in this world, they can no longer change, grow or develop. There are no longer any challenges, so there is no more free will. For this reason the Sages refer to a living person as a holech (one who is traveling) and the deceased is called an omed ( one who stands still) as they can no longer advance themselves.

What this means is that once someone dies, they are frozen wherever they are, and they cannot change anything. But, they see everything with absolute clarity. They now see the ramifications of every good deed they ever did and the chain effects of any negative actions. They see how missed opportunities affected them, and they see how every right decision altered the course of their lives for the good. They see it over and over again for all of eternity without being able to change anything. Depending on how one lived their lives, that is either Heaven or someplace else quite the opposite.

There is a relevant Talmudic statement that is very instructive; The following was a familiar lesson in the mouth of Rav: The World to Come is not like this world. In the World to Come there is no eating, no drinking, no propagation, no business, no jealousy, no hatred, and no competition. Rather it is the righteous sitting with their crowns on their heads, and delight in the Radiance of the Divine Presence. (Berachot 17A)

This indicates to us that in the Next World, all the forms of pleasure we are accustomed to in this world will not be present, as it is a world devoid of the physical. The crowns on people’s heads are their spiritual accomplishments, their “crowning glory.” All the pleasure we receive will be of the spiritual nature, the ecstasy of seeing how their spiritual actions affected the cosmos, described as basking in the Radiance of the Divine. Any descriptions of a fiery Gehinom (which is actually a purification process for the soul), refer to the burning shame and humiliation a soul feels when seeing the effects of his actions or inactions. As an aside, it is extremely important for us to develop a taste for spiritual pleasures and not just physical pleasures, because they are all we will have for eternity.

The World to Come is the place where we relive our lives with perfect clarity, the world of yediah, the World of Truth.

There are actually some important exceptions to this rule, but I didn’t want to leave you with too much to digest. Please feel free to let me know if you'd like to learn more about these concepts in the future.

Regards!
Rabbi Leiby Burnham
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Rabbi Leiby Burnham can be reached at rabbiburnham@partnersintorah.org

There are many reasons presented for the Torah's twelvefold repetition of the offering brought by each nasi (leader of one of the tribes of Israel). The Alter of Kelm (Rav Simcha Zissel Ziv), in his Darchei Mussar, offers another lesson that can be gleaned from this.

He explains that the Torah wishes to teach us how Hashem treats an individual who acts as part of a larger group. When, for example, a group of people act together to perform a mitzvah, we often view the act being accomplished as one that was done communally, and do not recognize or think about the act of each individual who makes up the group. The Torah's repetition of the offerings of the nesiim (leaders of the tribes), he says, teaches us that when Hashem regards us, this is not the case. Hashem does not view the public simply as a mass — rather, He addresses each individual act and deed as if it were the only one taking place. Thus, Hashem did not rejoice with the offerings of the nesiim as a whole — He accorded every single nasi the rejoicing and honor that he would have received had his been the only offering. The joy was not lessened one iota by the fact that eleven other nesiim brought identical offerings.

When Hashem wrote six verses in His Torah to describe the components of the offering of Nachshon ben Aminadav, He expressed His great happiness with that offering. And He then expressed identical joy with the offering of Nesanel ben Tzuar on the next day, by writing another six verses. And He did so once again for the nasi of the third day, and so on.

This, says the Alter of Kelm, highlights the difference between the ways of Hashem and those of human beings. When a person has an only child, he lavishes on the child all the love and care he is capable of giving. If his family grows, he does not love any child less, but the amount of care and love that he can lavish upon each one is perforce lessened somewhat. This is not the case with the love that Hashem shows us. He gives each Jew the same love and attention regardless of our numbers, as if each of us were the only Jew that He had to love.

An important corollary to this lesson is that we must always remember that every Jew is precious. Whenever a single Jew can be saved, or assisted, we cannot excuse ourselves by saying, "It is only one person!" The passage of the nesiim teaches us that to Hashem, every single Jew is the most important person there is, and this must be reflected in the way we conduct our lives. return to top

Hey, I never knew that! By Ozer Alport

Amazing Insights About the Weekly Parsha   

Q: The Talmud is replete with laws and teachings derived from seemingly superfluous words and even letters used in the Torah, based on the concept that the Torah doesn’t write even a single letter unnecessarily. It is therefore difficult to understand why the Torah repeats at excruciating length the offerings brought by each of the 12 tribal leaders, when they were all identical one to the other. Wouldn’t it have been much more concise to list the offering brought on the first day, and to add that each subsequent leader brought the same offering on the succeeding days?

A:The Ramban explains that although on a superficial level, it appears that their actions were identical, Hashem knows the inner thoughts and intentions behind every action and recognized that every leader had a unique intention behind his selection of the items brought in his offering. Because their inner motivations were unique, the Torah wrote out each one separately as if their offerings were completely different. Rav Reuven Leuchter notes that because the Torah is the blueprint of the universe, the expression of any true concept can be located in the Torah. He suggests that the source for the idea of creativity may be found where one would least expect it – in this parsha of the offerings of the leaders! The explanation of the Ramban teaches us that although the Torah may require us to perform specific actions, we are still able to infuse them with our own unique perspectives and intentions and to find in them an expression of our own distinct personalities and experiences.

Q: In this week’s Haftorah, we read the story of the miraculous birth of Samson. After an angel came to inform his father Manoach and his wife that they would finally give birth to a son and to teach them the special status their future son would have, they were in doubt as to whether this had been a person tricking them or had indeed been a Divinely-sent angel. The Haftorah continues (Judges 13:21) to resolve their question by stating that as a result of the fact that the angel no longer appeared to them, Manoach knew conclusively that it had indeed been a Heaven-sent angel and not a human playing a trick on him. In what way does the angel’s disappearance provide a proof regarding its identity?

A: Rabbi Shalom Shwadron answers that human nature is such that when someone happens to inform his friend of good news (e.g. the birth of a child), he subconsciously expects to be thanked for his good deed of delivering such happy tidings. When Manoach realized that the angel who had come with the tremendous news of the birth of his son (who wouldn’t be just any son but a holy nazir who would save and lead the entire Jewish people) didn’t appear to him even once, not even “by accident,” he knew that no human being could restrain himself so, and concluded that it had surely been an angel!

Ozer Alport can be reached at ozer@partnersintorah.org return to top

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