In this week’s portion, Naso, which means “count,” God instructs Moses to continue the census of the Israelites in the desert, this time, focusing on the families belonging to the tribe of Levi.
The Levis, as we recall, were chosen to serve as caretakers of the sanctuary. In addition, their duties included carrying and transporting the various pieces of the disassembled sanctuary as the Israelites wandered from place to place in the Sinai Desert.
In this week’s portion, Naso, which means “count,” God instructs Moses to continue the census of the Israelites in the desert, but this time to focus on the families belonging to the tribe of Levi.
The Levis, as we recall, were chosen to serve as caretakers of the sanctuary. In addition, their duties included carrying and transporting the various pieces of the disassembled sanctuary as the Israelites wandered from place to place in the Sinai Desert.
A LITTLE-KNOWN FACT is that the Levis were also responsible for sewing their own pants – it’s not something they wanted to do, but it was in their genes!
Anyway, as the portion unfolds, it tells us that at the conclusion of building the sanctuary, appointed princes from each tribe brought special gifts to the sanctuary – wine goblets, silver spoons, sacrificial animals and all sorts of other goodies.
Now, what was impressive is that although each tribe had an opportunity to shine by outgiving the other tribes, that did not happen; it seems that all the princes brought gifts of equal value. Thus, the dedication of the ancient sanctuary provided an opportunity for harmony, for balance and for spiritual holiness; by contrast, it could have been transformed into an occasion marred by negative competition, disharmony and unethical behavior. It was almost as if they all realized that as a people, as a new nation created from a group of used-to-be-slaves, the whole of the peoplehood could be much stronger than the strength found in each individual tribe.
For us, some 3,500 years later, the message is all too clear: Whether at work or play, and anywhere in between, we need to appreciate the wonderful power of balance, and the incredible beauty of harmony.
The statistics are deafening: divorce rates, family violence, gang wars, honest politicians who are not so much, wars that are won but are they really, social media, drug misuse, religious leaders who are not, hatred, too many anti-xxx-isms – the list is endless and seems to be growing.
The thread that may bind these and other issues is the notion that somehow our society missed the boat, if not the ship. And, worse, our children may be learning lessons we do not intend to teach them.
So, every once in a while, we need to stand back, observe, analyze and make decisions. The portion Naso can inspire all of us to strive for a better balance in our lives, and for more intentional control over the forces that may affect our lives. We can be inspired to work harder to create harmony by lessening our “push” to be “number one” and emphasizing the “pull” to be “at one” with our families, our friends and the world.
The lesson for us is to continue to appreciate the value of balance – a balance between what we want to do and what we should do, between doing for others and doing for ourselves, between what is truly important and what is not, and a balance between all our priorities that scream to take priority.
Our lives, our personal sanctuaries, are still under construction. Let us make sure we don’t wander too far from the blueprint that has helped us survive for 5,785 years.
ETHAN ADLER is the rabbi at Congregation Beth David, in Narragansett.