Naso is the longest weekly portion – a complex tapestry describing portage duties of the Levites, a ritual for suspected adultery, a way for self-dedication to a path of rigor, and a repetitive list of gifts by each of the tribes at the dedication of the Tabernacle.The central gem is the text of the Priestly Blessing.
“Eish o-eisha ki ya’asu mi kol heit ha’adam lim’ol ma’al ba-donai v’ashma hanefesh hahi. When a man or woman commits any transgression that a human might do, the Holy is defrauded and the person’s soul bears responsibility (Numbers 5:5-6)”. When we veer off the path, we are also breaking faith with Reality. Our deception and harm have cosmic repercussions. A deep tenant of Jewish mysticism is that our actions actually affect the Mystery itself; our misdeeds shred the fabric of Existence. We are held to the highest ethical standards.
Similarly, when we do what is right and just and holy, we mend those holes in the structure of our world- this is mystical meaning of Tikkun Olam.It is also a deep meaning of Teshuva, the act of returning and repentance: we can repair the damage our inattention and carelessness may have caused, and, even more importatnly, rectify intentional wrongs we may have perpetrated.
Thus, we are fully interconnected with each other and responsible to each other and to the All.This interconnectedness is essential to the act of blessing, and the Priestly Blessing – Birkat Kohanim – is at the center of Parashat Naso. “Yevarekh’kha Hashem v’ yishmerekha. Beloved, please hold us and bless us. Yaeir Hashem panav eleikha vihuneka. Let the light of Your Face shine toward each and everyone of us and bring grace to our lives. Yisa Hashem panav eleikha v’yaseim l’kha shalom. Lift us up, accept us as we are, and make us whole (Numbers 6:24-26).”
In the Holy Zohar (3:147b), we are told a story of a priest who raised his hands to offer the Priestly Blessing, but since he and the people were not connected by love, he crumbled into a heap of bones!Without the ground of love and connection, blessing is ineffective, and even potentially harmful.Without love there can be no shalom - no peace and wholeness. And, according to the midrash (Bemidbar Rabba 21:1), without shalom, there is no vessel to contain blessing.
The section of the Priestly Blessing ends: “v’samu et Sh’mi al B’nei Yisrael va-Ani avarkheim. Place My Name upon the Children of Israel and I will bless them (6:27)”. Torah is clear that the priest is merely the channel through which Divine blessing flows.
Let us share the intention to always manifest our Heart-Wisdom in our choices, our actions, our loving and our blessing.Let us each be conduits for Your blessing to flow to each other.Let us together form a vessel of wholeness that can hold blessing for our world.
