Parashat Naso, Numbers 4:21-7:89

That which is most sacred requires human contact.

I am always fascinated by the changes in language that slowly creep up on us. Words take on new meanings. Take "branding" for example. It used to be the way you marked your cattle; now it is refers to the image associated with a product. Or "product" which once referred to a manufactured item, the result of multiplying two or more numbers, or the stuff that is the end result of a chemical reaction. Today, "product" is the stuff the hairdresser rubs into my hair. My favourite word these days is "detailing" in the sense of "attention to particulars." Nowadays this attention is most often associated with a very careful car cleaning done by hand. In fact, almost anything done by hand, as opposed to machine, has gained in value because of the potential for detail.

Would the Sistine chapel be as wondrous as it is, had it been created with the aid of computers and machines? How interesting that one of the most popular details of this masterpiece is a close-up of the finger of God reaching out to touch the finger of Adam. This image alone has been reinterpreted and referenced in our time. A poster for the 1982 film ET: The Extra-terrestrial shows an alien finger touching a human one. In a way, hands define us as human, giving us amazing dexterity and epitomizing manual labour.

Such work is what we find at the beginning and end of this week's Parasha, Naso. It starts with yet another census, this one dealing with the various Levitical clans and their roles in dismantling and carting away the holy Tabernacle. They are divine shleppers. This is what we learn in Numbers chapter four. In chapter seven, the tribal chieftains bring offerings to dedicate the Tabernacle, including carts and oxen to pull the carts. These items becomes the property of the Levites, who can subsequently use these as moving vans. Lucky Levites. Well, not all of them. One group was left out of this distribution: But to the Kohathites he did not give any; since theirs was the service of the [most] sacred objects, their porterage was by shoulder. (Numbers 7:9) This clan was charged with transporting the most sacred objects in the Tabernacle. Precisely because they deal with such a precious cargo, it all must be done manually. No carts for the Kohathites. They carry the ritual items on shoulders; this then is literally the burden of holiness.

According to Rabbi Morris Adler

… we are being told not only about a detail of transportation but that we are also being instructed in a very important matter. When it comes to the very heart of religion, we must not try to find—and cannot really find—a substitute for our own shoulders. We cannot transfer to anybody else, or to anything else, the obligations that rest exclusively upon ourselves. There are things that others cannot do for us. …

Morris Adler, as quoted in The Torah: A Modern Commentary,
revised edition, W. Gunther Plaut, ed., p. 945

Menahem Mendel of Kotzk explained that in carrying the sacred items on their shoulders the Kohathites had to be completely committed to the task, concluding that "a person does not easily acquire even a spark of holiness without effort."

Naso contains an additional message of religious empowerment. We learn that despite the grandeur and glory of the Tabernacle, or later, the Temple, despite any beauty or technological innovations, that which is most sacred requires human contact. This is not a difficult lesson to understand. Anyone who has been hospitalized knows that contact speaks volume; touch nurses the soul.

Human contact is a theme that runs throughout this parasha. There are negative instances, such as the accusation of adultery that leads to the tests of Sotah, the woman accused of this misconduct. There is the avoidance of contact as practiced by the Nazirite, who must shun alcoholic products and contact with the dead. Positively, there is the priestly blessing that requires human contact to serve a Divine purpose. And then there is the role of the Kohathite clan, which literally has the burden of the holiest objects placed on its shoulders.

The importance of human contact, of touch, is something to keep in mind as we increasingly connect through other means. How often do we see youngsters sitting next to each other absorbed in their own electronic games? How often do we actually converse with someone on the bus, the train, or even on the treadmill next to us at the gym? All too often, we are each plugged in to our own personal entertainment device.

This past week I spent some time in a doctor's waiting room. This office includes a number of obstetricians as well as pediatricians; so many babies in such a small space! In addition to the usual pamphlets and magazines, the waiting room contained a number of computers connected to the internet. Every baby was in a carrier placed on the floor. Every parent was absorbed in interacting with the computer, whether watching an ad, surfing the net, or playing a game. I understand that parents need a break, but the pattern was disturbing. No child, whether awake or asleep, was being held by a parent, not even a finger touching the baby's skin.

I keep seeing the images from the Sistine chapel and from the film ET: hands reaching out, fingers straining to make contact. What a basic human need that goes back to our beginnings! In Southern France there are caves that were inhabited by some of the earliest people to walk this earth. They too had their Michelangelos and Spielbergs, bequeathing us works of art. One of the most striking paintings in the Chauvet Cave is also one of the simplest: an outline of a hand painted by blowing pigment on a hand held against the cave wall.

In an age when more on more of our contact with others is through technological means, we need to remind ourselves of the importance of direct human contact. This most simple act is also one that is most sacred. The importance of contact goes beyond the rabbinic dictum of not separating yourself from the community. We need to add to it: do not separate yourself from other individuals.

Jewish spirituality is not found on a mountaintop, it does not consist of meditating as a hermit in a cave. For us it is the simple interaction with others that is the gateway to the Divine.

Shabbat shalom,
MS