‘Serve and Carry’: The Divine Roadies
When you get handed a giant Torah portion, such as this week’s Naso, perhaps the best thing to do is dive in and hope you come up for air.
Naso is the largest portion in the Five Books of Moses, with 176 verses. It begins with the census of the Levite clan of Gershon, responsible for breaking down and transporting much of the Tabernacle.
This is the service of the families of the clan of Gershon, to serve and to carry: [Numbers 4:24]
And then, the Torah details what Gershon carries: tapestries, netting, covering and screen. The image that comes to mind are the roadies that set up the stage for the big rock bands throughout America and Europe. Many years ago, one prominent artist decided to commemorate them.
Now roll them cases out and lift them amps
And haul them trusses down and get ’em up them ramps
‘Cause when it comes to moving me
You know you guys are the champs
[The Load-Out. Jackson Browne 1977]
Then, the Torah takes a sharp turn. From the details of breaking and setting up the Tabernacle, Naso quotes G-d as having a message for the Jewish nation.
“Command the Israelites to banish from the camp all those afflicted with tzara’at [leprosy], anyone with discharge, and all those ritually defiled through contact with the dead. You must banish both male and female; you must send them outside the camp so they do not defile their camps in which I dwell among them.” [Numbers 5:2-3]
Moses Ben Nachman, or the Ramban, puts the pieces together. The 13th Century commentator and kabbalist asserts that this marked a last-minute divine instruction just before the inauguration of the Tabernacle, located in the center of the three Israelite zones: “I am ready to enter the house you have built for me,” G-d says. “But your community — all of it — must be holy.”
After the Tabernacle was erected, [G-d] commanded to send off those defiled from the camp and that the camp be holy and worthy of the divine spirit. This command applies immediately and for generations to come. [Ramban on Numbers 5:5]
Why would G-d insist on the expulsion of the defiled? They probably comprise only a small percentage of the overall community and might not make any trouble for the majority. But the presence of sin is not erased through neglect. It festers regardless of location, society and era. The rule of thumb is that a family that tolerates the sin of one of its members will share his fate.
Rabbi Shimon said: “If he sinned what did his family sin? Rather, the Torah comes to tell you: There is no family that contains a [corrupt] tax collector who themselves are not corrupt tax collectors; where there is a bandit, the rest of the family are bandits. Because they [families] protect him.” [Talmud Shevuos. 39a]
Sometimes, you find a Jewish community characterized by piety. More than 100 years ago, Petah Tikva would have been an example. Founded in 1878 by devout Jews from Jerusalem, Petach Tikva, which began literally as a swamp, soon impressed the most important of philanthropists, Baron Edmond de Rothschild. The new settlement, maligned by the early Zionists, made it clear that it would observe the Sabbath and all the laws of the Torah. During World War I, Petach Tikva hosted numerous refugees expelled by Turkey from nearby Jaffa and Tel Aviv. In December 1947, Petah Tikva and Tel Aviv became the first communities evacuated by the British mandate, and the residents of the former joined in droves to defend the new State of Israel.
The need for a holy Jewish nation marks Naso. The four verses that command the expulsion of the defiled is followed by examples of how a community can be undermined by evil. The Torah portion warns the Israelites against theft and misappropriation, followed by the sotah, a married woman accused by her husband of adultery. Then, the Torah moves on to the nazir, the opposite end of the spectrum, a Jew who swears off wine and grapes, refuses to cut his hair and aims for piety above all. Now, the task is to ensure that the nazir maintains his vow and does not engage in the hypocrisy of one who is pious in public and corrupt in private — which most contributes to the moral erosion of society.
Finally, Naso returns to where it began — the inauguration of the Tabernacle. The Israelites, says Shlomo Yitzhaki, or Rashi, became akin to a bride who enters the wedding canopy. The princes of the tribes return, leading the people in charity and faith. Now, the princes would be the first to offer sacrifices to the Tabernacle. The tribal leaders also brought covered wagons for the transport of the Tabernacle through the Sinai Desert. Two wagons as well as four work-bulls went to the Levite clan of Gershon. Four wagons and eight cattle went to the Merari clan, assigned to the heavy lifting — the transport of the planks, pillars and bases of the Tabernacle.
But Moses would not accept the sacrificial offerings from the tribal leaders. This was G-d’s decision and would determine whether the Jewish nation was worthy of the divine spirit. Were the princes truly devout or were they just politically astute? Were they loyal to their people or was it just lip service? These questions would never become stale over 3,500 years of Jewish history.
Finally, G-d decided, and the Tabernacle launched operations. There must have been a national sigh of relief.
G-d said to Moses, “Let one prince each day present his offering for the dedication of the Altar.” [Numbers 7:11]
