7 Sivan 5786  ·  23rd May 2026

Parashat Naso

A Devar Torah by Ben Eaton

The first Jewish president is elected and at the inauguration, the president's mother is sitting in the front row. As her son gets sworn in, she turns to the fellow beside her.

"You see that man with his hand on the Bible?"
"Yes…"
"His brother's a doctor!"

The comedic premise here is that Jews ascribe great prestige to doctors – even more so than holding one of the most powerful offices in the world. Who can blame us? After all, becoming a doctor requires intellectual aptitude, years of study, and hard work – after which you go on to a career with a healthy salary where you save lives. To become president, all you need is people rich enough to fund your campaign along with a plurality of people willing to vote for you - as comedian George Carlin put it "In America, anyone can become president. That's the problem."

There are stereotypically high-status "Jewish" professions – finance, law, medicine, academia – enter into those careers and it does wonders for your parents' nachas. We can make high-minded claims to some sort of egalitarian ideals – as William Lyon Phelps put it: "The final test of a gentleman is his respect for those who can be of no possible service to him" - but our status in both the Jewish community and wider society affects the way that people view us. The Torah, in Parshat Vayikra (chapter 21, verse 10), describes "…the High Priest who is elevated above his brothers…". Halacha makes concessions to status, for quite pragmatic reasons. For example: Orthodox interpretations of Jewish law conclude that Jews are forbidden to enter churches, even if no prayer will be taking place. However, in the 1970s the London Beth Din ruled that rabbis would be allowed to attend Christian religious ceremonies only if the rabbi's presence is requested by the monarch. Since that ruling, the Orthodox Chief Rabbi has entered Westminster Abbey to celebrate royal weddings, the monarch's jubilee, funerals, and coronations. All because of the status of the monarch.

This actually has quite a lot do with this week's Parsha, the longest in the Torah - which, among seemingly disparate laws covers the census and duties of the Levites, ritual cleanliness in the camp, restitution for sins, dealing with putative infidelity, the laws of the Nazirite, the Priestly Blessing, the offerings of the twelve tribes for the Tabernacle, and it concludes by describing how G-d would speak to Moses in the Tent of Meeting. There is a lot to unpack here, and any one of these topics provides rich material for study. But I'm going to attempt to explain why status and reputation are a common thread in the Parsha.

נָשׂא — Lift the Heads

Last week's Parsha, Bamidbar, focuses on how each individual in the community is valued – we are all counted. It ends with the laws of porterage for the Kohathite clans. The second verse of the last chapter:

נָשׂ֗א אֶת־רֹאשׁ֙ בְּנֵ֣י קְהָ֔ת מִתּ֖וֹךְ בְּנֵ֣י לֵוִ֑י לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖ם לְבֵ֥ית אֲבֹתָֽם

"Take a census of the Kohathite clan from among the Levites by their families, according to their fathers' houses"

And the second verse of this week's Parsha:

נָשׂ֗א אֶת־רֹ֛אשׁ בְּנֵ֥י גֵֽרְשׁ֖וֹן גַּם־הֵ֑ם לְבֵ֥ית אֲבֹתָ֖ם לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָֽם

"Take a census of the clan of Gershon, too, according to their fathers' houses, by their families."

So why has the Parsha been split that way? Why does the word נָשׂ֗א first appear in the previous Parsha under a section describing Levite laws of porterage for one of the clans, while the first chapter of this week's Parsha uses the same word in its title and continues to describe laws of porterage for the remaining Levite clans? Surely it would make more sense to keep the instructions for them in the same Parsha? The origins of the division of Parshot in the Torah are not entirely clear, but it's likely that they were developed during the Babylonian Exile with later modifications by Ezra the Scribe – but they're not accidental, there should be some thematic consistency.

So, what do we know about the Kohathites? Firstly, they're the clan of Moses and Aaron – as last week's Parsha points out:

וּבְנֵ֥י קְהָ֖ת לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֑ם עַמְרָ֣ם וְיִצְהָ֔ר חֶבְר֖וֹן וְעֻזִּיאֵֽל

"The sons of Kohath according to their families were Amram, Yitzhar, Chevron, and Uzi'el"

Amram is Moses' and Aaron's father (their mother being Yocheved). So, the greatest Prophet in Israel and the first High Priest are both Kohathites, as is every single priest that ever was or will be after that. For those Kohathites that aren't in the priestly line, their porterage is the most sacred objects from the Tabernacle – The Ark, The Menorah, The Altar, etc. - which they carry on their shoulders. These objects are so Holy that the priests have to cover them before the Kohathites can even come near them. Being a Kohathite is about as high status as you can get, not just within the Levite tribe but also among all the Israelites.

The Gershonites' and Merarites' responsibility is the parts of the Tabernacle itself - planks, posts, coverings, cords, pegs – which they transport in carts (that each tribe donates at the end of the Parsha). This could be seen as mere schlepping – they're not the rock stars or even the instrument techs, these are the guys that drive the lorries with bits of the stage. But by commanding these responsibilities in its own Parsha, their status is elevated. Although most translations of the second verse interpret it as "Take a census", the commandment נָשׂ֗א אֶת־רֹ֛אשׁ can be translated as "Lift the heads". The Gershonite and Merarite clans are not just an afterthought – their porterage is a privilege which only they can undertake. G-d is making the point that this work is as important as that of the Kohathites.

Ritual Purity, Restitution, and Reputation

The next section deals with ritual impurity:

מִזָּכָ֤ר עַד־נְקֵבָה֙ תְּשַׁלֵּ֔חוּ אֶל־מִח֥וּץ לַמַּֽחֲנֶ֖ה תְּשַׁלְּח֑וּם וְלֹ֤א יְטַמְּאוּ֙ אֶת־מַ֣חֲנֵיהֶ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר אֲנִ֖י שֹׁכֵ֥ן בְּתוֹכָֽם

"You must banish both male and female; you must send them outside the camp so they not defile their camps in which I dwell among them."

The conditions which lead to ritual impurity are broad in scope but many, such as tzara'at (as described in Parshot Metzora and Tazria), are quite visible. Being outside the camp provides that individual with a place where they can recover without being an object of curiosity or derision – they are not demeaned in the eyes of the community. It also stops the tribe acquiring a reputation for being unclean.

Following this is the law around restitution for sins. Rashi states that the sin in question is swearing falsely in denial of a claim, but Rashi also says that this would only apply where the sinner confessed themselves. By providing a clear path to redemption, whereby one can acknowledge one's sin but also make restitution, the damage to the sinner's reputation is not like a stain that cannot be removed. An honest Teshuva and appropriate monetary compensation blots the sin both before G-d and the community.

Then we come to the Sotah, whereby a man who suspects his wife of being unfaithful can subject her to a priestly ritual to establish her innocence or guilt. We didn't read this today but, suffice to say, it doesn't sit well with modern sensibilities so I'm not going to dwell on the ethics of it. But the ritual is that the Priest bares the woman's head and makes the woman drink a concoction of bitter water. If she turns out to have been unfaithful then her status is demeaned in front of the entire community (and she either dies or becomes infertile), but if she is without guilt then the husband is publicly embarrassed for calling her virtue into question. Nobody comes out of it particularly well.

The Nazirite and the Twelve Tribes

After this, the Parsha describes the ritual of the Nazirite – which we also read about in the Haftarah. Although the word "Nazir" means "separate", the same letters can also be read as "Neizer", which means "Crown". This implies that becoming a Nazirite is an opportunity to elevate one's status, at least for the duration of the vow - it was certainly a demanding undertaking. Although the Rabbis of the Talmud did not always view the Nazirites vow as a good thing. As Maimonides states "Our sages directed man to abstain only from those things which the Torah denies him and not to forbid himself permitted things by vows and oaths." But then the Haftarah is about arguably the most famous Nazirite of all, Samson, whose reputation was legendary.

What's notable about becoming a Nazirite is that you need to be a person of means. Most sacrifices have an alternative for people of limited means – if you can't afford a lamb or ram, then pigeons or turtledoves might be acceptable, or failing that flour and oil – but no such concession is made for Nazirites. If you're able to complete the whole period of the vow without interruption then you have to bring two lambs, a ram, unleavened loaves, unleavened cakes, grain offerings, and libations to the Priest at the end of your term. However, if you become ritually impure while the vow is still in force - you have to bring two turtledoves, two pigeons, and a lamb every time you become ritually impure – it could get quite expensive! This suggests that it would have been a fairly middle-class endeavour – purchasing status through social virtue – plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Although at least the Nazirite had to actually sacrifice something, unlike the modern identity politics route of laying claim to whichever characteristics are in vogue among the chattering classes as being "marginalised" – what feminist author Elizabeth Martinez derided as the "Oppression Olympics". Oddly those characteristics never seem to include being poor or Jewish – funny that.

The last sections of the Parsha concerns the offerings that each tribe brings for The Tabernacle. It is one of the main reasons that this is the longest Parsha in the Torah. Instead of just saying that every tribe brought one silver bowl, one silver basin full of flour and oil, one gold ladle full of incense, three bulls, six rams, six yearling lambs, and six he-goats each on a different day – it details all twelve days for which the offerings are brought. Every tribe has its own day, brings no more and no less, and is accorded the same prestige for their offerings. This account of events is 89 verses long. As with the Kohathites among the Levites, some tribes had more status than others. We see this in Parshat Vayechi, where Jacob had some harsh words for some of his sons as well as the mention in Chronicles that "Judah prevailed over his brothers". There's also Rashi's commentary on the tribes, when discussing Bezalel and Oholiab (the architects of the Tabernacle) that:

"Oholiab was of the tribe of Dan, of the lowest of the tribes, of the sons of the handmaidens [Dan was Bilhah's son]. Yet G‑d compared Oholiab to Bezalel for the work of the Tabernacle, and Bezalel was of the greatest of the tribes [Judah], to fulfill what is said: 'and a prince was not recognized before a poor man.'"

— Rashi

But the obligation and service of each tribe during the 12 days of offerings are equal.

Our Relationship with G-d

There's an important lesson here about our relationship with G-d. We cannot all be Moses, who G-d speaks to פָּנִ֖ים אֶל־פָּנִֽים, face to face. As per Martin Buber in his Tales of the Hasidim:

"Before his death, Rabbi Zusya said, 'In the coming world, they will not ask me: 'Why were you not Moses?' They will ask me: 'Why were you not Zusya?'"

— Martin Buber, Tales of the Hasidim

Our offerings are unaffected by our status but only we can make them. A prince will be judged no different to a pauper in that regard. But only you can follow the Mitzvot for you. Those obligations are non-transferable – it's not like you can eat a bacon cheeseburger and then say that somebody else is keeping Kosher on your behalf.

This is how we "lift the heads" of our people and value the work that we do in the service of G-d. We may have prestige in our jobs and in the offices or titles we hold, but to be truly elevated we need to bring ourselves closer to G-d. Start small – say Shema first and last thing in the day, observe Shabbat and the Festivals, study Torah. Then ramp it up a bit - keep Kosher, tithe your income, help with Jewish education, be fruitful and multiply - but every Jew needs to bring their offering. Let us make ourselves worthy of the Priestly Blessing.

Shabbat Shalom