This week's Torah portion, Naso focuses on the dangers of power and strength as well as suggesting a counter model. Michael (MichaelStrassfeld.com) mjstrassfeld@gmail.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A word of Torah:
One way to understand the Torah portion of Naso is that it focuses on the negative aspects of human beings. It includes the troubling ritual of the Sotah, which was established to ascertain whether a woman had committed adultery. If a husband suspects his wife of being unfaithful, she is made to drink the waters of bitterness that will prove her guilt or innocence. Defenders of the ritual suggest it is an improvement on societies that allow husbands to kill wives suspected of adultery but there is no getting around the violence and inequality inherent in the ritual. There is no Sotah ritual for men suspected of adultery.
This week’s prophetic reading about Samson also contains violence. Samson is a superhero whose strength allows him to kill anyone who gets in his way whether they be lions or Philistines. The women in the story are described as untrustworthy; one is described as a harlot. Samson tells Delilah his secret and she cuts his hair and he becomes an ordinary person. Blinded and weak, he finally has a moment of insight into the purpose of his gift, which is to defend Israel against its enemies. It is not to be a bully who can take by force anything he wants. He pleads to God for one more moment of strength. He pulls down the temple of the Philistines and dies along with everyone present.
This ritual and story about the use of violence by those who are powerful against the weak and the mistreatment of women feels very contemporary. How might we rescue these texts?
The word naso is not only the title of the Torah portion but is used frequently throughout this portion, and literally means to lift up. In the opening verses, it is used to describe the means by which the Israelites are counted in the census. Oddly, the biblical text frowns on the idea of counting. Why? One contemporary understanding is that people shouldn’t be reduced to numbers. Therefore leaders (nasi— someone chosen to lead) should understand that their primary task is to make everyone feel “lifted up,” that is, included and appreciated. This is the essence of what leadership is about. It elevates this Torah portion from the depths of objectification, which can lead to violence, to the heights of tzelem elohim, the idea that each person is God’s image and worthy of being counted. It is also the message of the revelation at Sinai.
According to a mystical tradition, each Jew has one letter of the Torah, which we learn and develop and raise up to the Holy One. This vision, that each of us has our own special letter of the Torah, is empowering, but also frightening for it means that with so many Jews distant from Judaism, whole parts of the Torah are being left unread. It is also true that according to Jewish law that even if one letter is missing from a Torah scroll then that scroll is pasul/not kosher. Lacking even one Jew, one letter, the Torah scroll is incomplete. Our task is to invite everyone to find their place in the Torah scroll. Adding their “Torah,” their understandings to ours and to those that came before, will help complete the Torah.
Intention/kavana for the week
We have begun the book of B'midbar/Numbers which chronicles the wandering in the desert for forty years. A desert can be a barren waste without any landmarks to guide you. It can be filled with mirages that lead you astray and can trick you into drinking sand. Yet, it also can be an unsettled area, a frontier that is open to change and new opportunities. B'midbar can be read as Bam Davar--there is something there. There is really no such thing as an empty space. Plants and animals live in the desert. The sparks of holiness exist there. We just need to be open to the unexpected.
Song:
a wordless niggun/melody of the Skulen Hasidim
to accompany us this week.
