Weekly Torah Lessons

The name of this week's Torah reading, Naso means "Lift Up." It is always read either imme-diately before or after Shavuot, highlighting how the Torah enables a person to elevate himself. It gives him the potential to rise above mortal understanding and to relate to G-d on His terms.
There is, however, an implicit difficulty in such a concept: Generally, when we speak of transcending our personal identity, this usually connotes letting go of our individuality; conforming to a G-d-given code of conduct and thus abdicating our individual wills and personalities.

This is not Judaism's approach. Judaism teaches a person how to lift his self above himself: to conduct himself in a G-dly manner, not by forgetting about who he is and what potentials he has been given, but by using those potentials for a G-dly purpose.

This fusion of individual effort and Divine direction is reflected in the concluding passages of this week's Torah reading which describe the sacrifices brought by the leaders of the tribes. Each leader brought an identical offering: the same number of animals, the same measure of incense, the silver bowls of the same size, and yet the account of the offerings is repeated verbatim for each leader.

The commentaries pose a question. The Torah is careful never to use an extra word or even an extra letter. Why then does it repeat the entire passage 12 times? It could have stated the passage once and then said: "These same offerings were brought by each tribal leader."

The commentaries explain that the Torah is teaching that the sacrifices of the leaders were indeed different. Although they brought the same items, each one had a different intent. Each one saw the sacrifices as representative of the Divine service destined for his particular tribe. When bringing these offerings, he was expressing the particular mission and nature of his ancestral heritage. The deed was the same; the spiritual commitment differed from leader to leader.

These concepts apply to every one of us. We are all going to put on similar tefilin, light similar Shabbat candles, and keep all the other universally applicable laws of the Torah. This does not, however, imply sheep-like conformity. Instead, it opens up a broad channel for each person to serve G-d, but rather than doing it according to the whims of our fancy, we will do it on G-d's terms.

If we were to follow our own inspiration, one person might decide to serve G-d through meditative prayer, another through deeds of kindness, and a third, through contemplating the oneness found in nature. Every person's approach would be different. Each person would be relating to G-d as he or she desires. The very beauty in that approach, however, implies a drawback, because since it is "as he or she desires," an enormous amount of subjectivity is involved. Ultimately, the "as he or she desires" is not necessarily as G-d desires.

When, by contrast, a person is observing the Torah and its mitzvot (commandments), he is doing what G-d wants. Nevertheless, within that framework, he has unlimited room for self-expression, for the intent and the mode of observance are left to his choice and his initiative. Again, the same deed can mean many different things to many different people.


From Keeping in Touch adapted from the works of the Lubavitcher Rebbe by Rabbi E. Touger, published by Sichos In English.