NASO Numbers 4
Well here we are, Israel and the mixed multitude are now in the wilderness. The tabernacle has been built and in this week’s portion of the Torah, we hear about the sotah, the wayward wife ritual and the nazir. The sotah receives lots of debate such as the argument that in the era in Rome and other near civilisations, husbands could kill their wives but Israel had this ritual to offer some protection. The Nazir ritual asks those to take a special vow to give up wine and not have a haircut – I believe Rastasfarians get their tenet to not cut their hair and grow dreadlocks from this portion of the bible.
These are both worthy of exploring but I want to focus on the third significant part of the parashah.
The Oldest fragment of biblical literature is a piece of parchment that is 2,700 years old and kept in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. It contains only a mere 15 words but they are quite significant. The words are the priestly blessing which we’ve heard read today.
It’s known in Yiddish as duchanan and derives from the elevated platform from which the priests are said to have delivered the blessing.
The LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:
“The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”
It finishes with the verse:
“So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”
There are three elements in the blessing, protection, grace and peace.
- “The LORD bless you and keep you; We are taught that blessings in five books of Moses almost always mean material blessing. Shema, rain in its time, early and late. Eat and be satisfied. Or alternative understanding is protection from harm.
- the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; is about love and salvation from G-d. Gracious, grace is a combination of gentleness and generosity. From G-d but also in the eyes of others.
- the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.” Peace is significant function here.
The last verse is also very important, “so they (meaning the priests) will put My name upon them and I will bless them” is a qualifier added so there is no doubt it is G-d blessing the people not priests.
The priestly blessing was performed originally by Aaron and his sons. Later by the Kohen/priests of the temple. King David and Solomon are also thought to have said the blessing.
Zohar goes into detail about priest knowing who he blesses.
It is said during the morning service in. Ashkenazi and more orthodox sects generally only say it on high holy days. It is also often said on religious occasions such as weddings, to the happy couple.
So Aaron and the priests appear to be dedicated persons of status with an assumed ‘special power’ to say the blessing as instructed by G-d. When looked at this way I feel it becomes worryingly close to a magical-religious act. What does it really convey? In some sects the congregation can say the prayer opening up a universal aspect of prayer and community, as we all have a common right to spirituality and blessing.
And how was it performed? It was an elaborate and precise ritual.
In temple times the priests would have a wash, turn clockwise until they were facing the congregation, pull the tallit over their head and down covering the eyes, raise their hands to shoulder height on outstretched arms, separate the fingers whilst making five spaces to resemble a letter shin. The priests then looked through the spaces and chanted the blessing.
The observant here, and I only mean those not snoozing or bored, may notice that the traditional hand shape when lifted up vertical resembles a Vulcan salute as promoted by Leonard Nimoy, who played the character Mr Spock in the cult Star Trek TV series.
“Live long and prosper” was the greeting.
“Peace and long life” goes the Vulcan response. This call and response greeting is uncannily like Shalom Aleichem, Peace be upon you. And the response Aleichem shalom, upon you be peace.
That’s because it is derived from Jewish culture and Nimoy is said to have brought that too.
The shin hand shape has been a part of Jewish ritual for centuries.
Nimoy’s grandfather attended orthodox services and took him along sometimes. He witnessed the priestly blessing on Yom Kippur and was awestruck by it according to interviews given by the star.
Of course being a geek, I had to look further into this aspect of culture and found that Star Trek has lots of Jewish influenced connections and facts, with the Vulcan greeting being the most prominent.
And by the way, there is a debate on what a star trek fan is called, are they a trekkie or a trekker? Trekker. Jewish influence on popular culture is wonderful.
You can get a book called Jewish Themes in Star Trek: where no rabbi has gone before, by Rabbi Yonassan Gershom. He also has a star trek blog.
There exists Star trek kabbalah (I jest not), Star Trek Ten Commandments, which links episodes and their moral messages to each of the Ten Commandments. There is a Star Trekker Rebbe. His daughter claims that every one of his sermons featured a star trek reference. Can you just imagine our Rabbis saying “there’s halachah Jim but not as we know it”?
The real phrase should be “there’s life Jim but not as we know” and was a line from a 1987 pop song that reached number 1. It was number one for a while but it doesn’t have a Jewish connection, who remembers it? It was recorded in Walthamstow.
So as is obvious, culture in whatever form is a powerful force. It is said that Nimoy’s influence helped the show develop it’s storylines with moral messaging.
Think about the BBC, our foremost cultural media channel and how it portrays Israel, other papers, left and right wing influence opinion, and we have the racist and sexist sun, the esteemed daily fail, I mean daily mail with its trite crap.
We have Aljazeera on our cable and it’s reporting of the Syrian conflict differs vastly from BBC. But music is probably my own most important cultural influencer. It’s primal and speaks volumes. I love the nusach of melodies, house music, portugese fado or the ruler of all music, Afrobeat from Ghana and also by Fela Kuti.
The priestly blessing is often chanted and I wonder if Moses used a melody when he taught it to Aaron?
As for peace, it is a significant function in the blessing, it must represent both a personal duty and national responsibility. I see in it that war is not indispensible.
Peace is not a negative concept but communal striving. Whether we are devoutly religious or not, peace is a universal goal, peace does not arise from inactivity. So the blessing has a call to action that we should really all adhere to.
Live long and prosper.
Shabbat Shalom.
References:
Torah, A modern commentary, Plaut
Pentateuch and Haftorah, Hertz
Teaching Torah, Loeb & Kadden
Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks http://www.chiefrabbi.org/2008/06/07/covenant-conversation-5768-naso-the-priestly-blessings/#.UYAmvODwc20
http://www.ou.org/torah/article/covenant_and_conversation_priestly#.UYdpxisjq18
http://upstel.net/~rooster/v-salute.html Rabbi Yonasson
http://www.pinenet.com/~rooster/treklink.html Star Trekker Rebbe
Zohar
michaellomotey 
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