Naso (parashah)

[4] The Gershonites had the duty, under the direction of Aaron's son Ithamar, to carry the cloths of the Tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting with its covering, the covering of tachash skin on top of it, the screen for the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, the hangings of the enclosure, the screen at the entrance of the gate of the enclosure surrounding the Tabernacle, the cords thereof, the altar, and all their service equipment and accessories.

[13] In the fourth reading, God told Moses to instruct the Israelites about the test where a husband, in a fit of jealousy, accused his wife of being unfaithful—the ritual of the sotah.

1 Chronicles 23:3–5 reports that of 38,000 Levite men aged 30 and up, 24,000 were in charge of the work of the Temple in Jerusalem, 6,000 were officers and magistrates, 4,000 were gatekeepers, and 4,000 praised God with instruments and song.

And 2 Chronicles 5:12 reports at the inauguration of Solomon's Temple, Levites sang dressed in fine linen, holding cymbals, harps, and lyres, to the east of the altar, and with them 120 priests blew trumpets.

In Leviticus 21:1–5, God instructed Moses to direct the priests not to allow themselves to become defiled by contact with the dead, except for a mother, father, son, daughter, brother, or unmarried sister.

Numbers 5:6–7 directs that when people commit any sin against God, then they shall confess and make restitution in full to the victim and add a fifth part.

The Gemara explained that according to Rabbi Jose's reading, the words of Exodus 27:18, "And the height five cubits," meant from the upper edge of the altar to the top of the hangings.

And the midrash explained that from the east comes light, and thus Moses, Aaron, and his sons camped there, because they were scholars and men of pious deeds, bringing atonement by their prayer and sacrifices.

The Gemara taught that priests, in contrast remained fit with the passage of years, from the moment that they reached majority for the rest of their lives.

[63] Belvati in the name of Rabbi Joḥanan derived the Levite's obligation to sing songs while offering sacrifices from the words of Numbers 4:47, "to do the work of service."

[64] Rabbi Levi taught that the discussion of how to purify the camp in Numbers 5:1–4 was one of eight passages[65] given to Moses on the day that the Tabernacle was erected, because the people needed to implement them immediately.

The Gemara reported that Rabbi Joḥanan interpreted Deuteronomy 31:26, "Take this book of the law," to refer to the time after the Torah had been joined together from its several parts.

Resh Lakish concluded from this that the verse must be teaching that there could be a time when anyone with an eruption or a discharge were sent out from the camp, but those who were ritually impure due to contact with a corpse were not sent out.

[74] The Mishnah taught that the rules of restitution also applied to the case of a deposit, as Leviticus 5:21–22 says: "In that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or has deceived his neighbor, or has found that which was lost and lies concerning it and swears falsely."

The king accounted it as a merit to the stag that had left behind the whole of the broad, vast wilderness, the abode of all the beasts, and had come to stay in the courtyard.

[82] Hezekiah the son of Rabbi Parnak said in the name of Rabbi Joḥanan that the laws of the woman accused of being unfaithful follow immediately the laws dealing with the heave offering (תְּרוּמָה‎, terumah) and tithes to teach that if one has a heave offering or a tithe and does not give it to the priest, in the end he will require the priest's services to deal with his wife.

Rabbi Judah ben Sima taught that the word "amen" contains three kinds of solemn declarations: oath, consent, and confirmation.

But a person who said, "I vowed without attaching any precise meaning to the statement," became a nazirite for life, as the Rabbis regarded the basket as though it were full of mustard seed.

On that occasion a nazirite came from the south country, and Simeon the Just saw that he had beautiful eyes, was of handsome appearance, and with thick locks of hair symmetrically arranged.

The Rabbis taught in a baraita that when the Romans destroyed the Second Temple, large numbers of Judeans became ascetics, binding themselves neither to eat meat nor to drink wine.

Similarly, in Judges 13:5 (in the haftarah for the parashah), an angel told Samson's mother, "no razor (מוֹרָה‎, morah) shall come upon his head; for the child shall be a nazirite unto God from the womb."

[141] A midrash interpreted the Priestly Blessing of Numbers 6:25, "The Lord make His face to shine upon you," to mean that God will give you light of the Shechinah.

[156] Maimonides taught that if a man had engaged in forbidden relations during his adult life, the curse-bearing waters of Numbers 5:11–31 did not test his wife's fidelity.

Even if he engaged in relations with his fiancé while she was living in her father's house (which the Rabbis prohibited) the waters did not test his wife's fidelity.

Maimonides wrote that the law in Numbers 6:4 prohibiting the nazirite from eating anything made from the grapevine as an additional precaution, implying that people must consume wine only as much as is necessary.

It is for this reason that Numbers 6:23 says simply "saying" (אָמוֹר‎, amor), instead of the imperative form "say" (אִמְרִי‎, imri), in a reference to the hidden letters within the words of the Priestly Blessing.

"[167] The parashah is discussed in these modern sources: Amy Kalmanofsky reported that Numbers 5:11–31 has elicited a wide range of reactions, from viewing the ritual to be unforgivably misogynistic, demonstrating women's vulnerability and men's privileged position in Israelite society, to believing that the ritual worked to protect accused women.

[44] Jacob Milgrom argued that the priestly legislator used the ordeal of Numbers 5:11–31 to remove jurisdiction over and punishment of the suspected adulteress from human hands and thereby guarantee that she would not be put to death.

[168] Tamara Cohn Eskenazi noted that the Torah makes no mention of, and provides no procedure for, the man whom the husband necessarily must have suspected of having been with his wife.

The Gemara taught that the oral tradition passed along this fact to provide a reply to the heretics (should they ask why the written Torah does not supply the name of the mother of such an important figure).