Cantor Sarah Beck-Berman

A woman with wearing glasses and brown, shoulder-length hair with two braids and fairy lights woven around her head and braids. She is wearing a dark blue shirt with pale yellow stars.

Cantor Beck-Berman (she/her) serves as the Cantor and B’nei Mitzvah Coordinator at Congregation Beth Ahabah in Richmond, VA, USA. She received her ordination from the ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal Cantorial Program in 2018, and is a member of Women of Beth Ahabah, a local chapter of Women of Reform Judaism.

Naso I

Parashat Naso I

Cantor Sarah Beck-Berman

May 25, 2023

If we read this passage from the perspective of a society which has conquered inequality, then perhaps we would be justified in dismissing it as entirely irrelevant to us. If we read it, however, from the perspective of a society which still struggles and strives for equality, then what can we learn from this and other places in the Torah which step toward egalitarianism or equality without fully embracing it?