Thursday, May 20, 2021

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Nasso

The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts on the parsha that R' Frand spoke about in his shiur tonight. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

Rabbi Frand began the vort by noting that the parsha contains the Birkas Kohanim which is located between the mitzva of Nazir and the Karbanos of the Nesi'im.

R' Frand then quoted a machlokes between Rashi and the Ramban as to whether this was the first time that the Birkas Kohanim (in the form that we classically recognize it) was mentioned in the Torah. 

The Ramban explains that Birkas Kohanim had been mentioned in Parshas Shemini, but this was a one time event, drawn from the completion of the Mishkan. Whereas here, Aharon was commanded to bless the Jewish people in this form on an ongoing basis. In contrast, Rashi states that the language of Birkas Kohanim in Parshas Nasso was actually utilized by Aharon in Parshas Shemini. 

Rabbi Frand then asked a series of questions on both commentators. The first question was on Rashi, since if the actual language of the Birkas Kohanim was in Shemini, why is it only mentioned in Nasso.

The second question which was addressed to the Ramban is why specifically was Birkas Kohanim mentioned in Nasso, when it would be more appropriate to have mentioned it in Sefer Vayikra which contains all the other instructions to the Kohanim.

Finally, the third question was - why was the specific location of Birkas Kohanim in Parshas Nasso after the laws of the Nazir and before the sacrifices of the Nesi'im?

Rabbi Frand answered all three questions by referring to a vort from the Sefer Chikrei Lev by R' Leibel Heiman. He noted that although the Jews had been counted previously there was a fundamental difference between the counting in Sefer Bamidbar and the counting in Sefer Shemos. In Sefer Shemos, the Jews were counted in total numbers, based on the giving of the half shekel. However, the counting in Sefer Bamidbar was based on their tribes and beis av.

Rabbi Frand quoted Rashi who explains that when the Jews were counted in Sefer Bamidbar, each person came individually before Moshe and Aharon and gave his name and his family yichus. R' Frand quipped that we just completed the census and there was no identification of any person by name.

Rabbi Frand also observed that the counting in Sefer Bamidbar differentiated the tribe of Levi from the rest of the tribes as Levi was counted from one month old and the other tribes had their members counted from the age of twenty.

Rabbi Frand said that when there is a difference in the method of counting, there is a greater possibility of dissension...and this followed shortly on the heels of the designation of the tribes by degalim and there could easily have been arguments as to which tribe should march first.

It is for this reason that the bracha of Shalom is mentioned here and specifically after the laws of the Nazir who himself is treated specially, almost akin to the Kohain Gadol in his proscription against Tumah. For this reason, the specific language of Birkas Kohanim is found here as it is the greatest vessel for peace for the Jewish people.

R' Frand closed his remarks by stating that he cannot give reasons for why the tragedy in Meron occurred three weeks ago, but that "greater Rabbis than he" have observed that there is much machlokes within the Jewish people and certainly in Israel. He quoted a Meshech Chachma which cited a Yerushalmi to explain why the generation of King David lost a battle while the generation of King Achav did not. The Yerushalmi explains that the people of King David's generation were all righteous but were steeped in machlokes, whereas the people of Achav's generation were idol worshippers but did not fight with one another. 

R' Frand closed with wishes that we work towards eliminating machlokes and being worthy of the kli machzik bracha - Shalom.

If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

No comments: