Torah · Weekly Parasha VideoParashat NassoRabbi Uri Nahum · June 19, 2017 · Nasso · נשא · 15 Min Parasha RoundupSave⌄ShareParasha class with Rabbi Uri Nahum, from BSD Productions’ 15 Min Parasha Roundup.Transcript0:04Parashat Naso. This week's parashah has 176 pesukim, and it's the longest0:12parashah in the whole Torah. And as we already read right after Shavuot, and the Sefarim already0:18explained that just like we just received the Torah, so too now we have an abundance0:24of amount of pesukim in the Torah, in the parashah. There is an exception whenever Rosh Hashanah is on0:30Thursday, and that year is a leap year, then Parashat Naso will be read right before0:34Shavuot instead of after Shavuot. But that's usually an exception, not so common. We divided0:38this week's parashah into four parts. Number one, the counting of the rest of Shevet Levi0:43that we started from Parashat Bamidbar, and their special assignments. Number two,0:49the Torah tells us about sending away the teme'im from the Jewish camp, which is a0:53mitzvah that had to be done in the times of Bnei Yisrael in the desert, and it's a mitzvah also0:57for all of the future when we had the Beit HaMikdash. Number three, the Torah tells us1:03about the special mitzvot which require the Kohen's participation, and that really takes1:08up a major chunk of the parashah. And number four, and that's the final part of the1:14parashah, is what we know as the korbanot nesi'im, which we read on Hanukkah, and we read a lot1:20of times, even Rosh Chodesh Nissan. A lot of people have the custom of saying it, and1:25those are the korbanot of the tribe leaders from the time they inaugurated the Mishkan1:30on Rosh Chodesh Nissan. We're going to talk about all those in detail. There are 18 mitzvot1:35in this week's parashah, seven mitzvot aseh and 11 mitzvot lo ta'aseh. Their numbers are 3621:44until 379 in Sefer HaChinuch. And let's get to the parashah. And like we said by1:50Bamidbar, although it may seem like there's a lot of detail, but those details are not so complicated1:55when one breaks it down. We mentioned the counting of Shevet Levi in last week's1:59parashah. Over here, the Torah tells us about counting the Shevet Levi, not all the men though, like2:06over there we counted them from a month old. Over here, we're counting specifically the2:10men from the ages of 30 to 50 years old. And why that age? Because that's the age when2:15they would work in the Mishkan. So therefore, the Torah tells us to count the rest of2:19them. We already counted Shevet Kehat, and now we should count the rest of Shevet Levi. And2:23who was assigned over the rest of the families of Shevet Kehat? It was Aharon's second2:29son, Itamar. Really, it's his fourth son, but the second son remaining, and that is Itamar.2:35And the Torah breaks down the families, and it tells us that Gershon had 2,630 people2:40from the ages of 30 to 50, and their assignments were carrying the covers, the screens, and2:45the walls and the ropes of the Mishkan. Merari had 3,200 people, and their assignments2:51were carrying the planks, the bars, and the pillars and the sockets. And Kehat, Torah just2:55gives us the number in this week's parashah, and that is 2,750, and their assignments were2:59already mentioned in Parashat Bamidbar. Totaling for the family of Levi, for the people who3:07could work from the ages of 30 to 50, the total is 8,580 people who were able to3:14work in the Mishkan. Now we get to the second part of this week's parasha, and the Torah tells3:20us about sending away the tameiim from the Jewish camp. It seems a little bit complicated,3:25but we broke it up in the following way. We hope that this clarifies the subject. There3:31are three types of people who are considered tamei, impure, that have to leave from certain3:35parts of the Jewish camp. And the holiness of the Jewish camp is broken up into three3:40parts. There's the holiest, and then it goes down in holiness, okay, until outside the Jewish3:47camp, where there's no holiness at all, okay? The most holiest part of the Jewish camp is where3:53the Mishkan was. This would also be the same thing in Eretz Yisrael when we had the Beit HaMikdash.4:00Beit HaMikdash was the holiest part. Next, in the Jewish camp in the desert, there4:10was a machaneh Leviyah, which we explained in the last week's parasha, was around the Mishkan. That's the second holiest part. In Eretz Yisrael, that would be what we call Har HaBayit. And4:16finally, the machaneh Yisrael, where the Jewish people camped, and when the Gemara tells us that4:20was a total size of three parsaot, that area is the third holiest, the least of the4:27holiest, but still has holiness, and that is equivalent to Yerushalayim, the city of4:33Yerushalayim in the times of the Beit HaMikdash. The three types of tameiim that cannot enter4:38there are tamei met, a person who is tamei, impure, because he came in contact with a dead4:44body in the same room as a dead body, a zav, and a metzora. These zav and metzora we4:49explained already in Parashat Tazria. Torah tells us that from the holiest part, no4:55tamei can enter there, which is the Mishkan and equivalent to the Beit HaMikdash. In that4:59area, nobody is allowed to enter there. However, in Har HaBayit in Yerushalayim, or5:08in machaneh Leviyah in the Mishkan, in those parts, only the zav and metzora may not enter that area. However, a person who5:11is tamei met could enter Har HaBayit. We go out a little bit further, and that is to the5:17camp of the Jewish people, the machaneh Yisrael, or Yerushalayim in the times of Yerushalayim.5:23Over there. You cannot have the metzora. The zav could enter the Jewish camp, but5:31not the metzora. The metzora has to be completely on the outside of Yerushalayim and completely5:35on the outside of the machaneh Yisrael, as it says in the pasuk, Badad yeishev. He has to5:40sit alone by himself. And that is the second part of this week's parashah. We move on now5:46to the third part of this week's parashah, and we categorize it as special mitzvot which5:52require the Kohen's participation. The first mitzvah the Torah discusses is if a person5:58swears falsely, meaning a person was given something to watch, and then afterwards he6:02steals it, and he claims that it was stolen. So when the owner takes him to court, he swears6:06in court that it was stolen by somebody else. Later on, he admits that he's the one who6:10stole it. So the Torah says, besides that, he has to pay what the item was. He also has6:16to give a fifth of the worth of the item and bring a korban. The korban is brought6:19in the Beit HaMikdash, and that fifth is not given to the owner, but that fifth for swearing6:24falsely in the court is to be given to the Kohen, and that's how the Kohen is included6:30in that mitzvah. Plus, the Torah talks about other times when we give a fine to Jews that6:37they have to pay, it will go to the Kohanim. Also, if a person steals from a convert and6:41the convert passes away since he has no relatives, also that would be inherited by the Kohanim.6:46And then the Torah goes on to discuss the subject of sotah. Now, there's a whole6:51masechet tractate called Masechet Sotah, which talks about this particular part of the Torah in detail.6:57We'll say in very short that sotah is a woman who is married who has been suspected7:04by her husband. She has not cheated for sure, or at least we don't know that she cheated,7:08but her husband suspects that she cheated and that she was disloyal to him. And7:14the Torah says a special process of how we could figure out if this woman indeed cheated or7:22not, was she disloyal or not. The Torah says that she brings a special korban, and involves7:27over there the participation of the Kohen. She brings fine flour from, not wheat flour,7:32but rather barley, which is animal food, and she brings it to the7:37Beit HaMikdash. The Kohen moves her all around to try to get her to admit, because if she would have7:42to take the other approach of testing her, it could put her life in danger. And how do7:46we test her if she still denies that she cheated? We take water from the kiyor. And we take dirt7:52from the inside of the heichal, he puts the dirt inside the water, and then on a parchment7:58he writes parts of the...8:00Some of the verses in this week's parashah, he erases the names of Hashem, he puts it inside of the water, and then he gives her to drink.8:10If she was really clean and she was really loyal, she never did anything, her husband was just jealous for no reason, then she's blessed.8:18If, however, she was disloyal, then the waters would test her, would prove that she was not, and she would die in a very horrific way.8:26That is the parashah of Sotah, which involves the Kohen. The Kohen is the one who is involved in the whole process.8:33And then we move on to parashat Nazir.8:35And Nazir is also a masechet by itself. It's also subject by itself, and there's a big masechet, a complicated masechet, that discusses Nazir.8:42But again, it involves the Kohen, because Nazir is a person who accepts upon himself to become a nazir.8:48It's like a vow, a pledge. A person says, I pledge upon myself that I should be a nazir, minimum of 30 days he has to be a nazir.8:56But his holiness becomes that equivalent almost to the Kohen Gadol.9:00Just like a Kohen Gadol may not become tameh to a dead person, even his own parents, so too the nazir should not become tameh even to his own parents when his own parents die.9:10And we all know he grows his hair, he grows his beard, he becomes a holy person. He refrains from drinking any wine or anything that has to do with wine,9:18grapes, or even the pits or the skin of the grapes he's not allowed to have.9:23And that is the Nazir. The Torah discusses all the different details of the nazir,9:28and he's mentioned over here after Sotah. And the Gemara explains, because usually a nazir is a person who has been affected by what he saw happening to the sotah.9:36He saw how a sotah could cheat on her husband and go through such a horrific experience because of her disloyalty,9:45and the nazir thought to himself, what brought her to such a thing? It must be she was very9:51lightheaded. She drank wine and she got intoxicated,9:53and therefore he decides that he wants to separate from the materialism of this world and that which leads to the wrong things,10:02and he separates himself from the wine.10:04That is the subject of nazir.10:07And finally we go on to the last four or five pesukim. Of this section of the parashah, which are the Birkat Kohanim,10:14and that's another mitzvah that is on the Kohanim.10:18Every single day, the Kohanim have a mitzvah to bless the Jewish people.10:21We did this in the Beit HaMikdash when it was a mitzvah,10:23and nowadays the Sefardi custom is to say Birkat Kohanim every single day, just like we did in the times of the Beit HaMikdash.10:30And the famous pesukim, the three pesukim, are:10:33Yevarechecha Adonai v'yishmerecha, Ya'er Adonai panav elecha vichuneka, Yisa Adonai panav elecha v'yasem lecha shalom.10:39And like the pasuk says at the end, V'samu et shemi al Bnei Yisrael,10:44va'ani avarachem. When the Kohanim are blessing the Jewish people, it's as if God Himself is blessing the Jewish people,10:50and that is the conclusion of this section of the parashah.10:54We move on now to the final part of this week's parashah,10:56the subject of the korban of the11:00Nesiim. Like we mentioned in the beginning, this parashah is very familiar.11:05We all read it all the time. We hear it all the time.11:08It's almost memorized by everybody.11:11Everybody almost knows it from memory, since we read it during11:16Chanukah, and some have a custom also to read it from Rosh Chodesh11:20Nissan. What is this subject all about, and why is there a repetition?11:22Let's begin and say that when the Mishkan was erected, when it was put up, it was Rosh Chodesh11:30Nissan. On the day that it was put up, the tribal leaders all decided to bring korban on their own,11:36and each one brought a korban. Now, the korban was not just one animal;11:39it was a whole mixture of all different types of korbanot,11:42and there were five parts of the korban, as we're going to explain soon.11:46And it happened to be that each person on his own brought the same type of korban.11:53Twelve leaders, and each one decided on his own to bring the same type of korban.11:57They all felt this is an appropriate korban to bring at this specific time.12:01And the Torah tells us exactly each korban, each person, and what their korban was,12:07even though it was said already. The Torah repeats it again and again12:09because it was special, it was done from their pure hearts,12:13and they all had different intentions, although lemaaseh they brought different korbanot.12:20And the korbanot began on Rosh Chodesh Nissan, like we mentioned, and went throughout the twelve days.12:25It started with Shabbat Yehuda, and it starts to list exactly the order of each type brought.12:32What are these five types of the korbanot?12:35Number one is a mincha. Let's tell you what these five parts are, then we'll tell you the details of each one.12:40Number one, there was a mincha. Number two, there was ketoret, which is burnt.12:45Number three was a korban olah, which is animals are completely burnt on the12:50mizbeach. Number four was a korban chatat, where parts of it, where certain parts of it were burnt, usually.12:55In this case, though, it was different.12:57And then finally there was korban shelamim.13:00Okay, the first part of the korban, which is the korban mincha, was brought on one silver dish13:08and one silver bowl. Both of them were full of fine flour mixed with oil.13:14The silver dish weighed 130 shekel, and the silver bowl weighed 70 silver shekel.13:22Now, the ketoret was presented with a golden spoon, which weighed 1013:28shekalim, and it was full of the spices of the ketoret, of the incense of the ketoret, which are found in Parashat Ki13:34Tisa. The korban olah consisted of one young bull, which is called par ben bakar,13:41one ram, and one lamb, all of them being one year old.13:45And the korban chatat was one kid of the goats.13:48And finally, korban shelamim was two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five lambs of the first year.13:58Those are the five types of this korban of the14:02Nesiim. Each one of the Nesiim brought exactly the same korban,14:06and from that we get on to the lesson of this week's14:09parashah. The mefarshim are all— Bothered with this question:14:13why is the Torah keep on repeating the same thing?14:15We know the Torah is very careful with its words.14:17Why does the Torah all of a sudden now decide to write the same korban over and over and over?14:22And I saw one פירוש, and that's a beautiful14:25פירוש, and that is that although the נשיאים brought the same type of korban,14:32they all had different14:34כוונות. Each one was doing it for a different intention, but it came out to be the same.14:37That's the reason why Hashem lists every single one.14:40It's the same, but the כוונה is different,14:43so it makes it important now in my eyes.14:45And that is a lesson for all of us.14:47And when it comes to עבודת Hashem, the worship of God,14:51we all have to serve Hashem. We all go to pray,14:53we all put on tallit and tzitzit, and we all do our14:56mitzvot. It seems like we're all doing the same thing.14:59However, from this week's parashah, we see that although it looks like the same,15:03for Hashem, since each person is obviously doing this with his own intention,15:06because no two minds think alike,15:08for Hashem it's all important, and each one is worth mentioning.15:12And that's what we have to keep in mind when we're doing our15:15mitzvot. Just because somebody else is doing the same thing,15:17it doesn't make it any less important.15:19I don't have to be unique to have to do something else.15:21I can do the same thing.15:22But if my kavanah, if my intention is my own,15:26I'm doing it because that's what I feel is right,15:29then Hashem considers it important.15:31And if He would be writing a Sefer Torah on the events in our lives,15:35we would all be included, and all our actions would be included.15:59Shabbat shalom.