Parsha Summary
This week’s portion, Nasso, is the longest parsha in the Torah. It describes and assigns the care-taking jobs that the Levites were to perform to serve the Creator in the Mishkan (Tabernacle). The Torah then commands that people who are afflicted with certain spiritual impurities are to be removed from the Jewish camp to preserve the sanctity of the Mishkan, and the Jewish People.
Additionally, the parsha explains the laws of the Sotah - the accused adulteress who was found secluded with another man - and the Nazirite- one who commits to an ascetic lifestyle for a specific amount of time to elevate himself spiritually.
The portion concludes by detailing the Chanukas Hamishkan - the dedication of the Tabernacle. Each nassi - head of a tribe (twelve in all) - brought an offering on a designated day. Even though all twelve brought exactly the same offering, the Torah details the contents of each nassi’s offering separately, to express the Creator’s satisfaction with each and every one of their offerings.
Shavuos Rituals
I once paid a visit to a Jewish doctor, who after examining me, took the opportunity to chat for a few moments. He relished talking about the upcoming Passover holiday with his Jewish patient.
“I like Passover,” he said. “The seder, and all the other mitzvos, together with the family, is great. Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are also my favorites. It’s a time of introspection, when you can reflect upon where you’re holding in life. But Shavuos I just don’t get.”
The doctor’s comments about the holidays caught my attention. He liked the challenging ones that require lots of physical preparation and exertion, but he found the relatively easiest holiday most difficult to appreciate!
Indeed, the Shavuos holiday, which we celebrate this coming Monday and Tuesday, June 9 and 10, holds the distinction of the least-noticed holiday on the Jewish calendar. It’s not a week-long celebration as Passover and Sukkos; it’s not solemn as Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur; it’s not as merry as Purim; and it’s not as popular as Chanukah, since it doesn’t coincide with any secular holiday season.
What, then, is the significance of Shavuos? It’s a short, two-day holiday, with no specific mitzvah attached to it!
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch points out that this is perhaps its greatest distinction. Shavuos commemorates G-d giving His Torah to the Jewish nation. The entire nation saw G-d, heard the first two commandments from Him, and accepted the Torah as their mission in life on that day.
Were we to commemorate it with a specific mitzvah, we’d be confining our appreciation of the Torah’s impact on the Jewish nation. The Torah is all-encompassing. Everything that a Jew does is dictated by the Torah. Giving it a specific commemoration would only diminish our consciousness of its influence and significance in our collective heritage.
The Torah portions we read right before Shavuos, Bamidbar and Nasso, reflect the same concept. As the Jews traveled through the desert, they were told exactly how to set up camp. The Mishkan was in the center, equidistant from every part of the Jewish nation. The nation consisted of different tribes, each of which wasdivided into different families. Each tribe had a distinct mission to fulfill, yet felt united with all the other tribes because of the focal point – the mishkan – and the Torah that was contained in it. All the Jews were unified in their collective service to G-d.
No matter where Jews live today, on these shores or around the world, they’re united. They feel a certain bond, a kinship that transcends physical boundaries. Shavuos tells us why. It’s the Torah and its lessons. Each group of Jews may have adopted certain customs through the generations that reflect their specific heritage, but the overall message of Judaism, belief in G-d and His Torah, remains uniform wherever they reside.
Shavuos therefore speaks to the underlying theme of all the holidays: Our belief in G-d, and our commitment to following His mission as spelled out in the Torah, wherever we may reside.
Happy and joyous Yom Tov!
Shabbos |
Deal |
Lakewood |
Phila |
Marlboro |
Cherry Hill |
East Brunswick |
N.Y. City |
Richboro |
Fair Lawn |
6/6/08 |
8:05 |
8:06 |
8:09 |
8:06 |
8:08 |
8:07 |
8:07 |
8:09 |
8:07 |
6/7/08 Shabbat ends |
9:24 |
9:24 |
9:27 |
9:25 |
9:18 |
9:26 |
9:25 |
9:28 |
9:26 |
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