Parshat Nasso

This week continues a string of parashiot (weekly portions) that mold the mixed multitudes who left Egypt into a unified nation, capable and confident. The first steps towards becoming a functioning, organized people included knowing where to camp, how to set up the camp using the cardinal directions, and understanding that at the center of it all, literally and figuratively, is the avodah (worship) that happens in the Mishkan (Tabernacle).

Looking at the parashah through our 21st-century American-Jewish eyes, it’s easy to take for granted that there was a place for avodah and that there were specific people (the Cohanim and Leviim) who set up, broke down, organized, and served in the central worshipping location. Of course, we would say – these are the religious leaders whose role is central, and of course they need a brick-and-mortar location (or wood and fabric, as the case may have been). But how did these elements feel to a newly freed Hebrew, one who knew only slavery and oppression? 

The Torah may give us some clues to help us understand the significance – personal and communal – and how these mitzvot, the first that the Hebrews received, help create a warm and intimate environment in which these Hebrews could develop their own identity and national identity. Take, for example, the list of thirty-five items that each tribe was instructed to bring. Usually sparse, the Torah here goes into great depth enumerating the housewarming gift of each tribe. Worth noting – the same list, with weights and objects detailed to the nth degree, is repeated twelve times. On the one hand, this repetition could seem totally unnecessary. On the other hand, these newly freed, recently enslaved people have been told what to do (for Egyptians) for hundreds of years. Their sense of self, of belonging, of value, had been tamped down for generations and generations. Now, all of a sudden, God is speaking, instructing them to give, to act, to contribute. Their contributions, the same as all their coreligionists, were FUBU – FOR US BY US. From being extremely unimportant, even disposable, to being of central importance and being worthy of divine instruction and supervision. This was the mind-shift that Bnai Yisrael needed to achieve.

What does any of this have to do with us today? We don’t camp in the wilderness, according to our tribe. We don’t even know to which tribe we belong (excluding our Levi /Levy/Cohen/Cohn friends). We do, however, live in mixed communities – Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrachi, Ethiopian, and Malabari (from the Indian subcontinent). We do share a vision of a world with less division, strife, and injustice (Tikkun Olam). We do all show up with roughly the same siddur, the same words to our tefilot, and somehow make it our own. 

Perhaps then the message of this week’s parashah is to remember that to be Jewish is a blessing, a challenge, and an aspiration. Being a part of a people means connection. Connection to the shared history, mission, and challenges that come with the mission. Here, this week, in Parashat Nasso, we began that process of working, living, and dreaming together. May we learn that lesson and continue to be unique and united.