35/36: Naso & Beha'alotcha
Welcome to TLDR Torah: a synopsis of the weekly parsha based on Robert Alter’s translation, plus a question to spur your Shabbat dinner (or any!) conversation.
Parsha Naso & Beha'alotcha (Numbers 4:21-12:16)
TLDR (Naso):
It’s 2 for 1 today. Loyal readers may have noticed I skipped over Naso last week. It wasn’t Naso though, it was me.
My excuse? I was leading a Hora at my British friend’s wedding 20 minutes from Stonehenge. The couple wanted to incorporate a Jewish theme into their wedding, and, for whatever reason, they trusted me with it.
Now onto Naso. After the Levites divide their responsibilities between each clan, the Parsha takes a bizarre turn to elucidate what happens when a man thinks his wife has committed adultery with no proof.
Through the “sotah” ritual, he brings her to the priest to test her innocence. The priest mixes water and dirt into a vessel, pronounces the dire consequences of lying, rubs a written curse into the water, and has the accused woman drink from it. Lying? A gruesome death awaits. Not lying? Probably better than NY tap but certainly not Liquid Death.
The ritual provides ample opportunity for her to confess so she never drinks the water if she’s guilty. If you believed in God, why would you test God like that? If this sounds crazy, anyone see the Last Duel which occurred in the 1300s?
The Torah then introduces the concept of a “Nazir”, or a person who has dedicated themselves to God through obligations of self-restriction. Nazirs can’t drink wine, shave, or come into contact with a corpse. It’s not entirely clear if the Nazir is viewed favorably or skeptically.
After Moses sets up the tabernacle, the chiefs of the tribes bring their offerings. They are exactly the same, but the Torah repeats their offerings twelve times nearly verbatim. It’s as exciting as a roll-call. [Note: Tali brags she had a long Bat Mitzvah Torah portion. She fails to mention it’s the same sentences repeated].
TLDR (Beha'alotcha ):
It’s the second year in Mount Sinai and time to do the Passover sacrifice. The Torah dives into case law: what if you are impure merely by accident on the day of the sacrifice? You can, and are obligated, to still bring an offering.
The Israelites journey on! When the cloud of God rests, they settle. When the cloud moves, they follow it. They make two trumpets to communicate the direction to all the tribes.
Almost immediately the people complain again. “Who will feed us meat?,” they cry out, even though they have daily manna.
Moses gets angry at the people and God for giving him the responsibility of leadership. He even asks God to kill him.
God tells Moses to gather 70 elders. God removes some of his spirit from Moses and allocates it across the 70. The elders prophesize just this one time (though this is debated).
Meanwhile, Moses tells the people they’ll eat meat for a month straight. God blows quail in from the sea and they fall all over the camp. As soon as they start eating, God brings a destructive plague to kill the complainers.
Miriam and Aaron make it clear they don’t like Moses’ wife. Moses, the humble man he is, pays no attention. But God calls Moses, Aaron and Miriam to the tabernacle and asks Miriam why she’s not afraid to speak ill against Moses. Miriam gets skin blanch, Aaron begs Moses to cure her, and Moses asks God, who agrees but only after seven days.
Question:
These parshas have a big line-up: sotah, nazirs, 70 temporary prophets, excessive quail, Miriam’s illness… but this week is a question about leadership. Moses comes to a breaking point. And the response is to remove a portion of his leadership (God’s spirit) temporarily, almost a form of negative visualization put into practice. I’m reading into it, but my interpretation of the events is that God shows Moses, “This is what it’s like without my full spirit with you. Is that what you want?” and then everything returns to normal. When you’ve encountered a difficult situation or “grass is greener” mentality, have you ever taken a similar psychological approach?