Voices of WRJ: Parashat Naso

by Marcy R. Frost When is the last time you saw Hamlet? After more than 400 years, it remains popular and poignant. I never cease to be amazed by how much of Hamlet has found its way into our modern language. Of course, there is the obvious, “To be or not to be” line. Ever heard that “brevity is the soul of wit” or that “conscience does make cowards of us all”? Hamlet was the first to tell his friend, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” There’s also “Good-night, sweet prince; and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest,” “The play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king,” and “The rest is silence.” Did you know that Hamlet is the source of the saying, “To thine own self be true,” “There’s something rotten in the state of Denmark,” and “Neither a borrower nor a lender be.”? If there is method to your madness, Hamlet had it first. If you call someone a “piece of work,” you are harking back to Hamlet’s famous speech about “What a piece of work is man.” “The lady doth protest too much,” “more than kin, and less than kind” “every dog will have his day,” “get thee to a nunnery,” “cruel to be kind,” and “sweets for the sweet,” are all derived from lines in Hamlet. When you watch a performance of Hamlet, these well known phrases jump out at you. So it is when we read familiar words in an otherwise unfamiliar text. As I read this week’s Torah portion, Naso, my mind wandered. A census and a list of tasks relating to the Tabernacle, criminal restitution, the sotah tradition by which a wife’s faithfulness is to be tested, and the rules for the nazarites were all unfamiliar and lacked meaning for me. Then I came to Numbers 6:24-26: “Adonai will bless you and protect you. Adonai will deal kindly and graciously with you. Adonai will bestow favor upon you and grant you peace.” The priestly benediction, familiar to most of is in both English and Hebrew, is found in Naso. Reading these words brought back the memory of blessing my sons on Shabbat and seeing them blessed by the rabbi at their bar mitzvah celebrations. I thought of the closing benedictions at Shabbat services, from the rabbis of my youth to my present congregation. I remember being blessed with other sisterhood officers at Sisterhood Shabbat and installation services. The familiar words called out to me from the text. The Torah: A Women’s Commentary explains the rhythmic beauty of these verses: “Each of its three verses contains two blessings, yet the verses expand in length from three to five to seven words, suggesting that God’s blessing expands.” From this perspective, the first blessing can be seen as a promise of safe-keeping. The second blessing provides hope that, with God’s kindness, we will be comfortable, not just safe and secure. The final blessing is a promise of God’s ultimate gift, peace. The next time I hear this blessing, I will listen for God’s expanding blessing. The question is: Will I be open to experiencing it? “Ay, there’s the rub.” Marcy R. Frost is WRJ Midwest District President and a member of Temple Israel Sisterhood in Minneapolis, MN.