This week's parasha, Naso, is closely associated with Shavuot, and is always read on the Shabbat adjacent to the holiday.
But why? What is the connection between the exalted experience of receiving the Torah and detailed listings of the duties and the censuses of the Levites, and the details of ritual purity and sacrifice of which Naso is largely composed?
Perhaps it is that Judaism encourages us toward two types of person transformation - /khidushim/, transformative insights, and tzedek, transformative action.
Shavuot is mainly about the former: We come to Sinai, we see, we hear, we experience - in the modern day we study and meditate -- and through the insight thus gained we are transformed. Partially.
Parasha Naso is about doing. The distinctions of Kohathites, Gershonites and Merarites have passed from relevance, but the ideal of communal groups that bear responsibility for preserving the apparatus of the faith and that help their fellow Jews, in /functional/ ways, toward the highest standards of ritual and personal uprightness is a cornerstone of who we are and how we organize ourselves as a community.
The proposition that this - not the minutia of an ancient division of labor - is what the text is about is supported by the section of the parasha that lays out the relationship of the clergy to the congregation and its offerings, and also by the section that deals with the administration of the three-fold priestly blessing.
The former passage (Ch. 5, v. 9-10) establishes the right of Jews bringing an offering in Torah times to give it to the priest of their choice, who in turn has the right to keep the offering - as opposed to sharing it with the priesthood generally, or with the priestly hierarchy. It seems analogous the freedom of Jews ever since to discuss, debate and choose for themselves their path and their leader. [What we would do with this tradition if the temple were restored is a subject for another day.]
Similarly, while it is a principal duty of the priests to bless Israel, the text makes clear that this blessing is from G-d, not from the priests -- even though many of us now commonly refer to these verses as ``the priestly blessing.'' The blessing may be delivered by the priests, but G-d in His own voice makes clear (Ch. 6, v. 27) that ``they [the priests] shall link My name with the people of Israel and */I/* will bless them.'' For Jews, the clergy in their official roles, then and now, are technicians. Transformative insights and transformative deeds are the work of G-d and of people.
The blessing itself is both simple and fascinating. The three blessings are in a poetic form, a rising progression of three, five and seven words. The beginning and end -- ``The L-rd bless you and grant you peace'' - are of an equal number of syllables and summarize the essence of the poem.
The Jewish Publication Society Torah Commentary notes that the first part of each blessing invokes the movement of G-d toward the people and the second projects His activity on their behalf: bless and protect, shine and be gracious, bestow favor and grant peace.
An interesting question raised by this structure is whether these are six actions initiated by G-d, or whether there is a cause-and-effect meaning intended - that G-d's blessing brings protection, that His radiance brings grace and His bestowal of favor brings peace.
Whatever the case, it is our good fortune now as individuals to be able to extend this blessing to our children every Shabbat. In so doing, we can experience a potentially transformative insight - that we can be the technicians of a link between our G-d and our offspring - and we also be transformed by the act pronouncing this beautiful and poetic formula.
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