The Pshat Heard 'Round the World

Parashat Naso is the longest parashah of the Torah – 176 pesukim - curiously, the same number of verses as in the longest of the mizmorei tehillim – Psalm 119. AND the same as the number of pages in the longest masechet of the Gemara – Bava Batra. Usually Naso is read after Shavuot, and it's always either immediately before or after the chag . Thus the length has been explained as connected to the freshness of Matan Torah – we just can't get enough of that sweet stuff! But a look at the content of Naso, especially the latter portion, might call that into question. It's true, technically, that Naso is the longest, but it achieves its length by an apparently unnecessary repetition of the details of the sacrifices brought the the Nesi'im – the princes of each tribe. Twelve times we read exactly the same details – "His sacrifice: one silver bowl, one hundred and twenty [shekel] its weight…" etc., etc. While there are other passages which f...

A number of years ago, I bought for my son a flight simulator computer came. Named after some cutting-edge U.S. Airforce fighter, the program was an eye-opener for me - or rather, an eye-closer. While looking at the screen, you can have the illusion of flying, and, as I found it impossible for me to get the hang of the controls, I continually found myself careening toward the ground faster than I could pull out of the dive. You see, when you want to turn right, you have to raise the left flap. Also, the possibly disastrous results of any action are not immediately apparent, and by the time they are, you overcorrect, making things worse. Piloting an aircraft seems many times more difficult than driving a car. Now, just imagine what it might be like to pilot a 600,000-strong juggernaut lurching through the desert! That is the challenge we confront in this week's parashah - how to guide an entire people gently but firmly enough to reach the promised destination without a crash-l...