The Principle of Separation
Nasso (“Lift/Carry/Shlep!”) Numbers 4:21 - 7:89    
Rabbi Glenn


The Torah portion for this Shabbat is called Nasso (avn), from the verb meaning “to lift, to take or to carry (can have the connotation also of weights in scales)”. It spans Numbers chapters four through seven. Moses is asked to conduct a census of the 30-50 year-old men in the Levitical families of Gershon and Merari, along with the Kohathites to perform service in the Tabernacle and the Tent of Meeting. This was an elite group of men whose sole responsibility was the transporting, assembling and disassembling of the Tent of Meeting. Their job was to shlep - but it was sanctified shlepping! This parasha is all about making distinctions between the holy and the profane.

Numbers is not exactly a cheerful read. It shows our people Israel at our very worst, consisting of a series of rebellions against God and against Moses. One of the things that separate histories from mythologies is the honesty of an account. Legend and mythology almost always present their heroes as flawless, and exaggerate their exploits and the numbers.

 
 
Do-Over
B’Har(Leviticus 25:1-55)
Rabbi Glenn
 
This Shabbat’s reading, Leviticus 25, is entitled B’Har, translated “on the mountain”. In it we find the commandment to have a rest every seventh year. The pattern is six-to-one. Six days of labor and then one day of rest; six years of labor and then one year of rest. The Sabbatical Year was not just for native-born Israelis. It applied to sojourners, servants and even animals. God commanded that when we entered Eretz Canaan, the land was to enjoy its own Sabbatical Year (25:1-7). We were not to sow our fields or prune our vines or trees in the seventh year. Instead, we would simply eat what grew on its own for our food that year. And God promised to provide sufficiently in that year of rest. If we would simply trust Him, there would be no lack.

 
The God Who Pays Attention to Details
Emor (“Say it!”) Leviticus 21:1-24:23
Rabbi Glenn
The parasha for this Shabbat is entitled Emor, which means “Say it!” and covers Leviticus chapters 21 through 24. These chapters reveal to us a God who is holy, who pays attention to details, and demands the same of those who would draw near to Him. In particular, the priests who were intermediaries between Israeland God were required to be free of any physical defects. God is awesome in perfection, and the priests represented Him. The ancient Jewish priests were also a type of the Messiah, and Messiah Yeshua was flawless in every respect. Those who were blind or lame or who had any sort of disfiguration on their face or who had eczema or a crushed testicle were disqualified. Even a something as simple as a broken bone or a limp disqualified a man from serving at the altar. I and many of us here would be disqualified on that alone. Their lifestyles also were to reflect