Not much to say today about other kinds of content. I just want to get to the portion. Here’s my commentary on Nasso. Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

Our parashah for today is Nasso or “Elevate” and covers Numbers chapter 4:21 through chapter 7. This week’s reading is rich and wide-ranging, with several topics one could explore in a Torah commentary. There is a census of all the Levites who serve in the Tent of Meeting. Chapter five concerns community rules for various types of impurity, restitution, and jealousy between husband and wife. Chapter six primarily explains the Nazirite vow. And chapter seven explains all the offerings presented at the dedication of the Tent of Meeting, by each of the twelve tribes. However, what I kept being drawn back to is an element of this week’s Torah portion that we hear every week, but which, I suspect, many of us take for granted: the Aaronic benediction.

The relevant passage comes to us in:

Numbers 6:22-27
The L-RD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: ‘The L-RD bless you and keep you; the L-RD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the L-RD turn his face toward you and give you peace.’ So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.’”

Now, many people take this little homily for granted. They consider it part of a liturgy or simply a nice thought or prayer at the end of a service. Yet there is a surprising amount we can learn from this blessing. Here at Beth Yeshua, we often hear this blessing sung in its original Hebrew language before reciting it in English. Those of you who are somewhat new here and have not heard much Hebrew before might not know what it means; if it’s your first time here, you might not even have heard it in Hebrew before, so let me share this with you now:

Yeva re-khe-kha Adonai, veyish merekha
Ya’er Adonai pa-nav elay-kha vi-chun-neka
Yi-sa Adonai Pa-nev eley-kha
Ve-yasem lekha Shalom

And, of course, this means: May the L-RD bless thee and keep thee; may the L-RD make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee; may the L-RD turn his countenance toward thee, and grant thee peace.

Now that you hear it in English, it probably sounds more familiar to you, doesn’t it? A lot of churches use a variation on this prayer in their service, with the differences depending primarily on from which translation of the Bible they are taking their reading.

While the words of this four-line blessing seem simple, there is a richness of meaning hidden beneath their surface, so what I’d like to do today is break this blessing down, phrase by phrase, and explore the deeper meaning of this blessing.

First, let’s discuss the importance of blessings. As Stan mentioned recently, there are studies that have been done which seem to indicate a higher degree of intelligence and achievement among Jewish people. Certainly, as Charles Murray has observed, there is an “over-representation, relative to their numbers, in the top ranks of the arts, sciences, law, medicine, finance, entrepreneurship and the media.”

While scholars wrestle to find genetic markers or some other scientific explanation for this sort of over-achievement, I believe the real answer is far simpler: the Jewish people pray blessings over their children regularly. It’s part of their culture to pray blessings over their children.

Of course, the motive for blessings should never be to gain earthly blessings or advantages; they are recited first, foremost, and ideally only because the L-RD has commanded us to do so.

So, what sort of blessing are Aaron and his sons commanded by the L-RD to pray over the people? Let’s start with the first phrase:

THE L-RD BLESS THEE AND KEEP THEE.

Now, some translations vary the wording on the second part of this phrase, and use “guard thee,” rather than “keep thee.” The word used for bless here is “barak” in the Hebrew. According to Strongs entry:

H1288 barak
* AV – bless 302, salute 5, curse 4, blaspheme 2, praised 2, kneel down 2, congratulate 1

The Strong’s entry for “keep” here is “shamar,” which means, according to entry:

H8104 shamar
* AV – keep 283, observe 46, heed 35, keeper 28, preserve 21, watch 7, regard 5, save 2

So, another way of phrasing this, to capture some of these additional levels of meaning, would be, “May the L-RD salute, praise and congratulate you, causing you to kneel before Him, and may He observe, keep watch over, guard, protect and save you from all the attacks of the enemy.

How have the Sages interpreted this verse? We get the following from:

Midrash Rabbah, Numbers vol. 1, p. 433
May He BLESS THEE with wealth AND GUARD THEE that you may perform good deeds with it.

This tradition follows logically with what we know of God and His good intentions toward us. Everything that we possess comes from God, and his purpose for whatever He gives us, whether it is a little or a lot, is to use those resources to pass blessings on to others, that His name may be glorified. Yet is this all? Yet another Sage takes issue with this simple interpretation and adds some insight of his own:

R. Isaac taught,
If they are blessed, are they not automatically guarded, and if guarded are they not blessed? What then is the purport of the expression: AND GUARD THEE? From the Evil Inclination, that he drive thee not out of the world.

The evil inclination mentioned here by R. Isaac is evil personified, an expression that indicates the Evil One, the Adversary of the L-RD, who does indeed desire our destruction, which is one way to “drive us out of the world,” as R. Isaac phrased it.

Let’s turn now to the next phrase in the priestly blessing:

THE L-RD MAKE HIS FACE SHINE ON THEE AND BE GRACIOUS UNTO THEE

What does this mean? How could the L-RD’s face “shine upon us?” We find that the Hebrew word from the Strongs is entry:

H215 ‘owr
* AV – light 19, shine 14, enlighten 5, break of day 1, fire 1, give 1, glorious 1, kindle 1; 43
1b) (Niphal) 1b1) to be illuminated
1c4) lighten (of the eyes, his law, etc)

While this is of some value, I actually prefer the midrashic interpretation of this phrase, as follows:

Midrash Rabbah, Numbers vol. 1, p. 434
THE L-RD MAKE HIS FACE TO SHINE UPON THEE with the light of the Torah; it implies, May He enlighten your eyes and heart in the Torah.

Certainly the Torah is the written revelation the L-RD has given us about who He is, so it would be a natural conclusion that the Torah is the light of the L-RD, because only through the Torah can we see the L-RD for who He is, rather than who we might prefer Him to be.

So what about the second half of this phrase, “And be gracious unto thee?” Well, for this, I think it’s important to keep in mind our understanding of the Torah as God’s minimum standard, a document that reveals at what point we fall short of the least we can do to keep from offending The L-RD by our actions. The purpose of the Torah is to reveal our inadequacies so that we can recognize a need for a Messiah. So this phrase in the priestly blessing balances the potential condemnation that comes from the face of the L-RD – the Torah – shining its light of the truth of our sinfulness upon us, by asking the L-RD for His gracious mercy at the same time, thus, “And be gracious unto Thee.” A similar sentiment is expressed in this passage from the:

Midrash Rabbah, Numbers vol. 1, p. 435
Another exposition of the expression AND BE GRACIOUS UNTO THEE is: May He grant you knowledge so that you may be gracious to one another and compassionate to one another.

This fits with Messiah Yeshua’s teaching, in the L-RD’s prayer, that we ought to be forgiven by the same measure that we forgive others.

In fact, it is through this graciousness phrase that the blessing alludes to the promised Messiah, as we see in this passage from the:

Midrash Rabbah, Numbers vol. 1, p. 436
Another exposition is that He will BE GRACIOUS UNTO YOU by redeeming you. This accords with the text, “O L-RD be gracious unto us; we have waited for Thee; be Thou … our salvation also in the time of trouble. (Isaiah 33:2)

Let’s take a closer look at that passage from Isaiah, because that is where we’ll trace the thread from this blessing that leads to the Messiah. Here’s the full verse from:

Isaiah 33:2
O L-RD, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress.

Now, the Hebrew word used in this verse is Y’shua, which of course means “salvation.” So an alternate reading of this verse could easily go like this:

Isaiah 33:2
O L-RD, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our Yeshua in time of distress.

Now let’s turn our attention to the final phrase of the blessing, which reads:

MAY THE L-RD LIFT UP HIS COUNTENANCE UPON YOU AND GRANT YOU PEACE.

The big word here to struggle with is, of course, “countenance.” But this is actually Strong’s H6440, panayim, which merely means “presence” or “face.” The midrashic tradition offers this insight:

Midrash Rabbah, Numbers vol. 1, p. 437
Our text states in effect, That countenance of indignation which should deservedly have been turned upon you He will turn away from you.

In light of this, it seems that this is simply a re-expression or re-affirmation of the sentiment of the previous line in the blessing. An alternative reading of this passage is “The L-RD turn his face toward you,” which is favorable, as one Sage has pointed out, to the L-RD disregarding you to the point where He would not turn His face to look at you at all, so it can be read as an expression of God’s kindness and favor, as well.

Finally, we turn our attention to the closing phrase, “And grant thee peace.” Here’s what the Sages have said in:

Midrash Rabbah, Numbers vol. 1, p. 437
Likewise in the priestly benediction, at the end of the blessings, He concludes with peace, AND GIVE THEE PEACE. This is to tell you that blessings in themselves are of no avail unless peace goes with them.
To further expound on the importance of peace, R. Eleazar Hakkappar says, “Great is peace, for the seal of the whole of the Prayer is peace and the seal of the priestly benediction is peace. Great is peace, for it was given to the meek; as it says, ‘But the humble shall inherit the land, and delight themselves in the abundance of peace. (Psalm 37:11) … Thus peace is a grand thing and quarrelsomeness is hateful.”

Certainly, anyone who is part of a community of any size, be it as small as a family, or a church, or a village, a state, or a nation, can recognize that peace is always preferable to conflict, that arguments and disagreements and evil speech tear apart while peace leads to unity in the L-RD. The value of peace is even expressed by Yeshua in the Beatitudes. We read this in:

Matthew 5:5, 9
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth … Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

That is what we all desire as followers of Yeshua, isn’t it? To be called sons of the L-RD? If so, this blessing is an encouragement to go forth each week seeking to be at peace with everyone, rather than to be the source of conflict; to be guided by the light of God’s Torah and hold on to the promise of his Messiah. That’s the meaning of the Aaronic benediction.

Shabbat Shalom.

Tags: Nasso, Torah commentary