Back in March as the Corona virus was attacking Israel, a Bais Din – court of Jewish Law – suspended their non-time-sensitive functions due to the overwhelming amount of questions and in order to dispense rulings related to the virus and its effects.
A prospective convert kept calling the head of the court to set an appointment for his conversion. The rabbi was inundated with other matters and felt that a conversion at this time was categorized as a non essential function of the court. However, when he saw the prospective convert was relentless with his calls, he called him back and explained to him the need to set the conversion for after the crisis. The prospective convert then shared the following, “You have to understand, I need to convert before Pesach!” The rabbi asked him why? “I deeply believe that with all this going on, the Moshiach is going to arrive during the month of Nissan as the Sages stated. Therefore, I need to convert before Pesach because once Moshiach arrives, converts will not be accepted!”
Needless to say, seeing such sincerity and the time sensitivity of the matter, the rabbi convened a court at once, went through the conversion proceedings, and the man joined the ranks of our people! Pretty powerful!
It is quite inspiring to learn of a newcomer’s passion and desire to join the sacred mission of a Jew. This places a sort of challenge on us, who were born Jewish, to consider being a Jew as a privilege and a benefit.
In the portion of Naso, the Torah is uncharacteristically redundant, detailing the exact contributions that each head of the twelve tribes gave to the Temple during the 12 day inauguration of the Temple in the desert. This redundancy contributes to making this portion the longest in the Torah.
Since all twelve gave the exact same contribution, why does the Torah repeat the same details twelve times and not just summarize it by listing it once and stating that each of the tribes did the same? One of the answers is, that here, the heads of the Tribes were contributing a personal non obligatory donation to the Temple. They could each have very well contributed something unique and could have outdid the other. However, they all followed the details of the first prince’s offering. The Torah repeats the details of each prince’s contribution to show that although they were identical – they were still exclusive because of their unique thoughts, feeling and effort they put into it. That was the most valuable to G-d.
I recently came across a very interesting observation made by Rabbi Yaacov Yisroel Kanievski o.b.m. We frequently point to various laws, statements and incidents contained in the Torah which unequivocally prove that the entirety of the Torah is Divinely mandated.
Says Rabbi Kanievski the mere fact that the Torah repeats the same details and spends six verses for each of the 12 tribes is proof that each word of the Torah is given by G-d! Why else would it be repeated!
An example of how exacting the writing of the Torah is: The Torah in this week’s portion speaks of the law of a man or woman who take a vow to become a Nazerite. Taking this vow of holiness confers three restrictions on the person. He is forbidden to drink wine or any derivatives of grapes, and he is forbidden to cut his hair or come into contact with any human corpse – including his closest relatives.
If a person did not specify how long he is to remain in the Nazerite state, our sages tell us it is for 30 days. The basis for this is hinted within the word stated in the portion, ‘Yehiyeh’ he should be (a nazir). The Gematria – numerical sum of the word Yehiyeh is 30. Thus, from one seemingly straightforward word in the Torah, is implied an application of the law. We can now realize and appreciate how uncharacteristic it is that the Torah spends over 250 letters describing each of the tribe’s prince’s contribution. This is over 3000 letters in all. The stunning message from this is that we see how much G-d values each of our Mitzvos, good deeds and our unique sincere thoughts.
Yes, the prince’s gifts and names are forever highlighted in the eternally sealed Torah, however, we are each the author of our own book.
The Mishna in Ethics of our Fathers states that Rebbe reminds us that all our deeds are written in a book. The awareness that each of our actions are eternally written on High, gives us pause to ponder and assess our actions – whether to aid us in refraining from a wrongdoing or to encourage us to do what’s right. We are the authors of the book of our destiny!
