Articles in Naso
Naso: Commitment Spawns Enthusiasm
Completely Invested
Reb Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the third Rebbe of Chabad, (1) once related that his grandfather, Reb Schneur Zalman, offered to bless him with the intellectual gift that would make Torah study come easily to him. Reb Menachem Mendel refused saying that he wanted to invest his energies and acquire …
Naso: Mourners Kaddish
Empty Shoes
One of the most poignant monuments in the Unites States Holocaust Memorial Museum is the mountainous display of empty shoes. Thousands and thousands of ownerless shoes; old people’s shoes, young people’s shoes, sturdy shoes, torn shoes, large shoes, little shoes and even infant shoes. All are empty; their bearers …
Naso: Food for Thought for Your Dinner Table
Sunday: Never Too Late
The Levites began to serve in the sanctuary at the age of thirty and their primary task was transporting the sanctuary across the desert. The desert is an arid environment with no water. Water is a symbol for the Torah. On a spiritual plane, the desert represents …
Naso: The Path To Permanent Recovery
Success
It is often said that the difference between success and failure is the willingness to go the extra mile. The decision to go the extra mile can only be made when we have already traveled the entire conventional route. We reach the end of our trail, but the successful seek out …
Naso: The Choices we Make
Show Me the Money
If I set two plates before you, one filled with cookies, the other with a million dollars, which one would you choose? Consider the benefit you and society could derive from the money. Contrast that with the short term pleasure and long term belly-ache that the cookies …
Naso: Who Is the Misfit Anyway?
A Deeper Meaning
The first verse of this Parsha, tells us to “raise the head of the tribal family Gershon”. In addition to the simple meaning of the words, “raise the heads,” which means take a census; there is a deeper meaning that lies submerged beneath the text. With a little …
Naso: Transforming The Desert
A G-dless Environment
The Temple service, described in our Parsha, was held in an arid and barren locale, the desert. G-d charged our ancestors with a special mission: transform the desert and make it bloom, bloom with the flowering blossoms of spirituality. In our day we have a similar mission: transform …
Naso : The Priestly Blessing of Love
The Ritual
If you have ever been to the Synagogue during the Priestly blessing, you know it is a celestial experience. The Kohen removes his shoes, approaches the podium his fase hidden behind his prayer shawl. He extends his hands towards the congregation, fingers parted and palms stretched outwards, he awaits, …
