Uniformity and self-expression

Here's an original take on the longest parashah in the Torah, brought to you by our member Rabbi Steven Ettinger. 

The United States, as represented most recently in the persona of its current President, can be characterized as a consumer culture. There is intense focus on advertising and marketing:  selling a dream, creating a demand, and making people believe that they cannot live without the latest and greatest. The hucksters and shillers create slogans, and jingles, burn images in our minds and even create fake holidays to promote a culture of buy, buy, buy. One such gimmick to boost sales during the dog days of summer was “Christmas in July.”

                                

Reading Parshat Naso provides an echo of that last slogan.  During the redundancy as the ba’al keriah cantillates the offerings of the nesi’im which are essentially the same six verses repeated over and over twelve times, some might actually be meditating on sufganiot and chanukiot rather than keeping the section in context – since this is also the reading for Chanukah. In other words, we have Chanukah in June!

Monotonous repetition, mantra-like, can be a trigger for meditation. Or it can lull you to sleep. This parsha of the nesi’im is repetitive and it seems to serve little purpose (yes, the commentators provide a variety of explanations why the Torah sets aside such valuable real estate for this). However, there is, in fact, a significant difference in the offerings for each day – the name of the nasi!

Nachshon ben Aminadav of the Tribe of Yehudah brought his offering on the first day. Regardless of what he brought; it was his offering. The pasuk does not say that he brought it on behalf of the tribe, simply that he was of the tribe (Rashi makes this point explicitly quoting the Sifri), it is an identifier. He brought one of each possible type of offering: olah, mincha, chatat/asham, shelamim. ketoret (see Sforno). Thus, each korban was imprinted with his individuality – his awe, his excitement, his passion, his insecurity, his faith, his creativity, his self-sacrifice – everything that made him Nachshon ben Aminadav.

This was true for Netanel ben Tzu’ar and every nasi through Achirah ben Enan. There was no discretion regarding what to bring, just as we have no choice as to which 613 mitzvot to observe. However, each nasi approached the Mishkan and the mizbe’ach on his day in his own unique way.

This inner self-expression amidst such an outward display of uniformity was the culmination of Hashem’s vision for the Mishkan. “Va’asu li Mikdash, veshachanti betocham” – “Construct a Tabernacle for me so that I may dwell in their midst.” Chazal have famously interpreted “betocham” in a completely literal manner – “within them” – not within the Mishkan --  not even within the camp, but within each and every Jew.

The nesi’im may have each brought physical offerings, in fact, the exact same grouping of offerings. However, and more importantly, they infused those offerings with every facet of their internal selves. By doing this, they effectively created internal space – a space that could be filled with the Shechinah, as the outward Mishkan itself was at that very moment. Their gifts allowed Hashem to fulfill veshachanti be’tocham.

We all must be a part of the community. Wwe cannot separate from it and cannot stray too far from its norms and standards: “al tifrosh min hatzibur.” However, we also must find ways to express our belief and to define our relationship with HKB”H as individuals so that we give Him room to dwell within us.