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June 13, 2003/Sivan 13 5763, Vol. 55, No. 42
A sacred census
Torah study
RABBI SHLOMO RISKIN
Naso/Numbers 4:21-7:89
The two opening portions of the book of Numbers deal with a census of the male members of each of the tribes who are eligible to serve in the armed forces of the Israelites and/or to function in the operation and movement of the sanctuary. What is strange, however, is that the verb form naso, which is the most frequent verb in this sequence and is the name of our portion, is usually translated as "count," but literally means "to uplift." What is uplifting about a census?
I would like to arrive at the real contextual meaning of the word naso by means of a fascinating halachic issue that we experienced just last week when we celebrated Shavuot.
The Jewish calendar marks one day for the festival of Shavuot in Israel, and two days for the very same festival in the Diaspora. Why this difference?
Rabbi Abraham Gumbiner, in his commentary on the "Shulhan Arukh," suggests in his glosses on the laws of sefirah (the count of the days between Passover and Shavuot) that, at least in the case of Shavuot, Moses added the second day of the festival from its very inception.
What leads him to this rather startling conclusion is a study of the calendar according to most midrashim. Consider that the paschal lamb was taken on the 10th of Nissan, a Sabbath according to our tradition, so that when the Israelites went out of Egypt on the 15th day of Nissan it had to have fallen on Thursday. If then they began the omer count leading up to Shavuot on Friday, then the 50th day - the day of Shavuot - must have likewise fallen on Friday. But all of the midrashim with which we are acquainted insist that the Torah was given on the Shabbat, which would have been the 51st day of the count. Hence, concludes Gumbiner, logically, Moses must have added the second day to the festival. Since Mount Sinai was considered to have been outside of the promised borders of the land of Israel, Shavuot thereby became the precedent for the second day of the festival in the Diaspora.
Many are the reasons offered as to why Moses would have established this additional day and inaugurated the first day of the festival as the day prior to the revelation at Sinai. Rav Samson Rafael Hirsch brilliantly notes that the sefirah count is filled with days of anxious anticipation for the gift of Torah. Since anticipation always engenders greater excitement than does realization, the period leading up to a major event is generally one of high expectation, whereas the period following the achievement often brings a let down. Shavuot, the holiday commemorating the giving of the Torah, eternalizes the uplifting good will of the "day before."
Let us now return to our initial question. Naso primarily means to uplift, to elevate. Nisuin means marriage, not merely a physical lifting up of the bride into her new husband's home (carrying her over the threshold, as it were), but rather a spiritual ennobling and uplifting of two individuals united in body and spirit with each other, with their nation and with their God.
The biblical census numbering the individuals serving as protectors of the nation of Israel and the sanctuary of Israel is at the same time a record of the courageous individuals who place their lives on the line and dedicate their very selves to the well-being of our people.
Similarly, when we are in the midst of a war for our very survival, the Israeli Defense Forces are involved in the uplifting and sacred task of guarding over Israel, past, present and future.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is the spiritual leader of Efrat, Israel.
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