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Nazarite Vow

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Parasha Naso (Elevate): Sanctified Heads, Holy Hands, and Blessing

A mosaic of the positioning of the hands during the Priestly Blessing in Ashkenazi communities.

In this week's Torah portion, Naso, the headcount of the Israelites is completed with a census of the Levites who are between the ages of 30 and 50. They are to do the work of transporting the Mishkan (Tabernacle). Besides discussing the duties of the Levites, this Scripture portion also provides the law of the nazir, or Nazirite, and the Aaronic Benediction (Birkat Kohanim—ברכת כהנים) or more commonly known as the Priestly Blessing.

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Parasha Naso (Elevate): Fulfilling the Law of Messiah

Hayley Fields-Israel-Torah-Dedication Ceremony

Naso is the longest portion in the Torah cycle. In it God instructs Moses to specify the duties of each family in serving the community and the Lord. In this way, the burden would be distributed so that it would not be too heavy for just a few people. All too often, the weight of the service of the Lord falls on the limited number of individuals willing to volunteer for the sake of the kehilla (community). This is not how the early Messianic community behaved. Believers had a communal lifestyle in which they helped one another and shared all things in common. “Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.” (Acts 2:44–45) This concept of kehilla (community life) often seems lacking in modern society. Many people today live in isolation and are concerned primarily with meeting their own needs and not those of the common good.

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