May 26/07 — Parashat Naso

Commentary by Chazzan Aníbal Mass

In this Parashah we see, among other things what happened with the tribe of Levi and their special tasks in the wilderness.

Perhaps you don’t know that, originally, the tribe chosen by God to conduct the rituals in the Temple was that of Reuben, Yaakov’s first-born. But because of their lamentable behavior during the episode of the golden calf, and because of the faithfulness expressed to God by the Levites during the same time, God honored the tribe of Levi with this important mission for the generations.

I could finish my D'var Torah here saying that we learn from this Parashah that the blessing of God depends exclusively on our behavior and not on our lineage. In fact, almost never is a first-born chosen by God to continue their father’s work, but rather God chooses the one that deserves it for his own merits.

Just a few examples: Abraham had two children, Ishmael and Yitzchak, and Abraham’s successor was Yitzchak, although Ishmael was the first-born. Yitzchak had two children, Eisav and Yaakov, and the successor was Yaakov, the youngest. Yaakov had twelve children. The first-born was Reuben. However, the one that stood out in his generation was Joseph.

And I could continue with a long list of examples.

All of this teaches us that it depends on each one of us to come closer or to move away from the blessing of God, because it depends only and exclusively on our behavior.

The most important thing here is to educate our children to have this vision, this approach to spirituality and ethics. To understand that no matter who is older or younger, everybody has the same obligation to be engaged with the practice of Judaism.

And as I said before, I could finish this here, but there is another amazing lesson connected to our obligation of teaching our children on the path of Torah.

We also read in this Parashah about three families of Levites: Kehat, Guershon and Merari.

Each one of them had a special task in the movement of objects of the Temple from one location to another.

Guershon and Merari were responsible for transporting the posts, walls and accessories of the Temple, for which they received carts and oxen to ease the load.

Kehat were responsible for the transporting the sacred things of the Temple but they had neither carts nor oxen. Instead, they were commanded to carry them on their shoulders.

Why? Why didn’t Kehat get any help?

My answer is this: You can’t delegate the sacred things. Rather we should always carry them on our own shoulders.

My friends, when we look at today’s society with so many youths standing so far from their parents’ ethics and so removed from Judaism, I wonder if, in fact, we are not delegating the sacred things?

Don’t we think that education is the responsibility of the school? Don’t we think that Jewish education is the responsibility of the Rabbi and the Cantor? Don’t we think that the education of values is the responsibility of society? Don’t we think that we can demonstrate affection with the giving of expensive gifts?

What the Torah is telling us is that those things - the sacred things of life - are not delegable to anything or to anybody because they are the responsibility of each one of us.

Just as we learned with Levi and Reuben, ethics and spirituality cannot be inherited, but should be transmitted and educated, with love and dedication.

Do you think it a heavy load for your shoulders? It is. But we are talking about our children and about their future.
 

Let us remember that the sacred things are not to be delegated, but should be carried upon on our own shoulders.
 

Shabbat Shalom.