Parashat Naso

Naso (“Take A Census”), the longest portion in the Torah, opens by detailing responsibilities of the Levites. It also describes laws of a woman suspected of adultery (sotah), the Nazirite, and the priestly blessing. The portion ends by listing the gifts that heads of tribes bring to the Mishkan (Tabernacle).

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יהוה spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the Israelites and say to them: If any men or women explicitly utter a nazirite’s vow, to set themselves apart for יהוה, they shall abstain from wine and any other intoxicant; they shall not drink vinegar of wine or of any other intoxicant, neither shall they drink anything in which grapes have been steeped, nor eat grapes fresh or dried. Throughout their term as nazirite, they may not eat anything that is obtained from the grapevine, even seeds or skin. Throughout the term of their vow as nazirite, no razor shall touch their head…

יהוה spoke to Moses: Speak to Aaron and his sons: Thus shall you bless the people of Israel. Say to them:
יהוה bless you and protect you!
יהוה deal kindly and graciously with you!
יהוה bestow [divine] favor upon you and grant you peace! Thus they shall link My name with the people of Israel, and I will bless them.

Numbers 6:22-27

The priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, and make expiation on the person’s behalf for the guilt incurred through the corpse. That same day the head shall be reconsecrated; and that person shall rededicate to יהוה the term as nazirite, bringing a lamb in its first year as a penalty offering. The previous period shall be void, since the consecrated hair was defiled. This is the ritual for the nazirite: On the day that the term as nazirite is completed, the person shall be brought to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting…

Numbers 6:11-14

Once he has made her drink the water—if she has defiled herself by breaking faith with her husband, the spell-inducing water shall enter into her to bring on bitterness, so that her belly shall distend and her thigh shall sag; and the wife shall become a curse among her people. But if the woman has not defiled herself and is pure, she shall be unharmed and able to retain seed. This is the ritual in cases of jealousy, when a woman goes astray while living in her husband’s household, and defiles herself,…

Numbers 5:27-31

Speak to the Israelites: When men or women individually commit any wrong toward a fellow human being, thus breaking faith with יהוה, and they realize their guilt, they shall confess the wrong that they have done. They shall make restitution in the principal amount and add one-fifth to it, giving it to the one who was wronged.

The Gemara clarifies: What is this, i.e., where does Rabbi Yishmael help the priests? As it is taught in a baraita: The verse states with regard to the priestly benediction: “So you shall bless the children of Israel” (Numbers 6:23). Rabbi Yishmael says: We learn from this verse about a blessing for Israel from the mouth of the priests, but we have not learned about a blessing for the priests themselves. When it says afterward with regard to the priests: “And they shall put My name upon the children of Israel…

or by finding something lost and lying about it; if one swears falsely regarding any one of the various things that someone may do and sin thereby— when one has thus sinned and, realizing guilt, would restore either that which was gotten through robbery or fraud, or the entrusted deposit, or the lost thing that was found, or anything else about which one swore falsely, that person shall repay the principal amount and add a fifth part to it. One shall pay it to its owner upon realizing guilt.

Leviticus 5:22-24

ויחנך means, May He grant thee good favour (חן) (Sifrei Bamidbar 41). ישא ה' פניו אליך THE LORD LIFT UP HIS COUNTENANCE UPON THEE — This expresses the idea: May He suppress His anger (Numbers Rabbah 11:7)). ושמו את שמי AND THEY SHALL PUT MY NAME [UPON THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL] — i.e. they shall bless them by the Proper Name of God (i. e. when uttering the blessings they shall use the Tetragrammaton and no substitute for it) (Sifrei Bamidbar 43). ואני אברכם AND I WILL BLESS THEM — i.e. I will bless the Israelites: I will give My approval to the priests’ blessings (lit…

Rashi on Numbers 6:25:2-27:2

כי יפלא means, IF HE CLEARLY UTTERS (cf. Rashi on Leviticus 22:21 and Note thereon). — Why is the section dealing with the Nazarite placed in juxtaposition to the section dealing with the סוטה? To tell you that he who has once seen a סוטה in her disgrace should abstain from wine, because it may lead to adultery (Sotah 2a). נדר נזיר — The term נזר wherever it occurs denotes “keeping aloof from something” (cf. Rashi on Leviticus 22:2). Here, too, it means that he keeps away from wine (Sifrei Bamidbar 22). להזיר לה׳ means, TO KEEP HIMSELF ALOOF from wine FOR THE SAKE OF HEAVEN (God).

Rashi on Numbers 6:2:1-3

מאשר חטא על הנפש [AND THE PRIEST … MAKE EXPIATION FOR HIM] FOR THAT HE HATH SINNED BY THE DEAD — i.e., that he has not been on his guard against defilement by a corpse. — R. Eleazer ha-Kappar said, “his sin consists in that he has afflicted himself by abstaining from the enjoyment of wine (Sifrei Bamidbar 30; Nazir 19a).

Rashi on Numbers 6:11:1

§ The Gemara returns to the primary topic of the tractate, the issue of fasts. Shmuel said: Whoever sits in observance of a fast is called a sinner, as it is inappropriate to take unnecessary suffering upon oneself. The Gemara comments: Shmuel holds in accordance with the opinion of the following tanna, as it is taught in a baraita: Rabbi Elazar HaKappar the Great says: What is the meaning when the verse states, with regard to a nazirite: “And he will atone for him for that he sinned by the soul [nefesh]” (Numbers 6:11)…

Taanit 11a:14-16

יברכך, with material wealth. The reason this is the first of the blessing is explained by our sages in Avot 3,17 אם אין קמח אין תורה, “if there is no flour, (no economic base) a Torah environment cannot flourish.” וישמרך, and protect you from those who steal material possessions. יאר, may He grant light to your eyes to see and appreciate all the wonderful things G’d has done and keeps on doing. You should become aware that all that you achieve is due to His blessing.

Sforno on Numbers 6:24:1-25:1

(Bamidbar 6:25) "The L-rd cause His countenance to shine upon you": He will give you "light" of the eyes. R. Nathan says: This refers to the light of the Shechinah, as it is written (Isaiah 60:1-2) "Arise, shine, for your Light has come. For the darkness will cover the earth, and a thick mist, the peoples, but upon you the L-rd will shine, and His glory will be seen upon you," (Psalms 67:2) "G-d will favor us and bless us. He will cause His countenance to shine upon us, Selah," (Ibid. 118:27) "… and He shone for us…

Sifrei Bamidbar 41:1

When a person says: "I will be a nazirite if I do this and this" or "...if I do not do [this or this]," he is a wicked man and a nazirite vow of this type is one of the nazirite vows taken by the wicked. If, however, a person takes a nazirite vow to God in a holy manner, this is delightful and praiseworthy and concerning this, [Numbers 6:7-8] states: "The diadem of his God is upon his head... He is holy unto God." And Scripture equates him with a prophet, as [Amos 2:11] states: "And from your sons, I will raise [some] as prophets, and from your youths, [some] as nazirites."

Mishneh Torah, Nazariteship 10:14

"May God bless you." Included in this is whatever is appropriate for each person to be blessed with. As is written in Deuteronomy 16:16: "they shall not appear before the LORD empty...according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which He hath given thee." The blessing will be according to the blessing that he was blessed with until then: For one who deals in Torah, in his study. For one who deals in commerce, in his merchandise. Thus is included in this general blessing "May God bless you" an additional blessing for each person about what he has…

Haamek Davar on Numbers 6:24:1-2

וישמרך AND MAY HE GUARD THEE — that no robbers come upon thee to take away thy property. For a human being who gives a present to his servant cannot guard him against everybody, and if a band of robbers attack him and take it away, what pleasure can he, then, derive from this present?! The Holy One, blessed be He, however, both gives and guards — against everybody (Midrash Tanchuma, Nasso 10). Many Midrashic interpretations are given of this verse in the Sifrei (Sifrei Bamidbar 40). יאר ה' פניו אליך THE LORD MAKE HIS FACE SHINE UPON THEE — i.e. May He show thee a friendly (more lit…

Rashi on Numbers 6:24:2-25:1

A person might say, "Since envy, desire, [the pursuit] of honor, and the like, are a wrong path and drive a person from the world, I shall separate from them to a very great degree and move away from them to the opposite extreme." For example, he will not eat meat, nor drink wine, nor live in a pleasant home, nor wear fine clothing, but, rather, [wear] sackcloth and coarse wool and the like - just as the pagan priests do.
This, too, is a bad path and it is forbidden to walk upon it. Whoever follows this path is called a sinner [as implied by Numbers 6:11's] statement concerning a nazarite:…

Mishneh Torah, Human Dispositions 3:1

למעל מעל בה׳ [WHEN A MAN OR WOMAN SHALL DO ANY OF THE SINS AGAINST MAN,] TO ACT DECEITFULLY AGAINST THE LORD — Here, you see, Scripture writes down again the section dealing with a person who robs by violence from another, and swears falsely regarding it, — it is the same section that has already been stated in the Sedrah ויקרא (Lev 5:21), “[If a soul sin], and commits a trespass against the Lord, and deny unto his neighbour etc.” The reason why it is repeated here is because of two new points which are contained in it…

Rashi on Numbers 5:6:1

אמור is written plene (with ו after the מ) thus indicating: ye shall not bless them hurriedly and hastily, but devoutly and with a whole heart (Midrash Tanchuma, Nasso 10). יברכך [THE LORD] BLESS THEE — that thy property may increase (Sifrei Bamidbar 40).

Rashi on Numbers 6:23:3-24:1

The mishna further states: From the time when murderers proliferated, the ritual of the heifer whose neck is broken was nullified. The ritual was performed only when the identity of the murderer was completely unknown. Once there were many known murderers, the conditions for the performance of the ritual were no longer present, as the probable identity of the murderer was known. From the time when Eliezer ben Dinai, who was also called Teḥina ben Perisha, came, they renamed him: Son of a murderer. This is an example of a publicly known murderer…

Mishnah Sotah 9:9

Torah Shield with The Priestly Blessing discussed in Naso, from 1764/65 Germany, Gift of Dr. Harry G. Friedman, The Jewish Museum N.Y.

Torah Shield with The Priestly Blessing discussed in Naso, from 1764/65 Germany, Gift of Dr. Harry G. Friedman, The Jewish Museum N.Y.

Readings

June 7, 202511th of Sivan, 5785

Torah

Numbers 4:21-7:89

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 M

Haftarah

Relatedראו גם

Parashat Bamidbar

Priestly Blessing (Birkat Kohanim)

Nazirite-offerings

Blessings (Halakhah)

Sheetsדפי מקורות

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