This week’s parsha, Parshat Naso, starts off with Hashem asking Moshe to count the tribe of Levi. This counting is a continuation of the counting of all of Bnei Yisrael in last week’s parsha, Parshat Bamidbar. 

וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃  נָשֹׂ֗א אֶת־רֹ֛אשׁ בְּנֵ֥י גֵרְשׁ֖וֹן גַּם־הֵ֑ם לְבֵ֥ית אֲבֹתָ֖ם לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָֽם׃

The Torah’s specific choice of wording here is very interesting. In the Hebrew language there are many words that mean to count. However, the word chosen is “naso” which does not even translate into count, rather “to lift up.” 

Hashem’s request to Moshe is “naso et rosh”, “to lift up the heads”, why not just ask Moshe to simply count? 

I think there is a beautiful message embedded here, one of the foundational ideas found in Judaism. When one lifts their head up, their face becomes visible. You can see their uniqueness and individuality. When you can’t see a person’s face, they become just another head in the crowd. What Hashem is telling Moshe, and by extension the Jewish People for all generations, is that we cannot allow anyone to feel like a “number” amongst the masses, just another face in the crowd. We are empowered to lift them up: help each individual person feel special and important, recognize their specific uniqueness within the world, make them feel like one in a million! 

In Hoshea it is written: “The number of Bnei Yisrael is like the sands of the ocean; they cannot be measured and cannot be counted.” 

This verse presents a difficulty, because the number of Jews is in fact written in the Torah. So what is the pasuk teaching us with this idea that the Jewish People can not be measured or counted?

Rav Shlomo Yosef Zevin explains that there are quantitative and qualitative measurements. 

Bnei Yisrael can be measured quantitatively, for example, we know that 600,000 Jews left Egypt. 

But qualitatively measuring Bnei Yisrael … measuring our worth is impossible. Our worth cannot be measured or counted, because every Jew is an entire world.

At the end of this week’s Parsha, the leaders of each shevet, on behalf of their tribe, bring their gift of korbanot to the Mishkan. Each shevet brings the exact same korban, but the Torah repeats each and every korban brought, which is puzzling considering the fact that each word and letter in the Torah is significant. At first read, this seems redundant and extra.   

We can try to understand this unusual set of pesukim based on the idea we just presented –  that although you may count Am Yisrael, that is only quantitatively. Qualitatively it is truly IMPOSSIBLE! Quantitatively the head of each shevet brought the exact same gift to the Mishkan, but the act of giving itself, the gift, was unique to each leader, to each tribe. Therefore, each shevet and leader has their own set of pesukim; the korban may have been the same as all other shevatim, but the giving of the gift itself – that was one of a kind, done in a way unique to each particular shevet and leader. 
 

You may have two Jews who on the outside might be doing the same act, but qualitatively each one is reaching different heights! The message we find within repetition of the offerings from all the tribes, is to know we are all part of an incredible nation, but at the same time every single individual has his or her own path and purpose. Every Jew is truly special in their own way. 

I want to give you all a bracha: that you see the uniqueness and individuality in each and every person that you meet, any human being that crosses your path. Even more than just seeing what is special in them, give over the feeling that they are one in a million. “Naso et rosh”, lift up their heads, make them feel like they are the whole world. And remember, you too are a whole world! Each and everyone of us has so much to offer this world, in a way only you can. The more we “lift up” others, the more we appreciate and value the people in our life, specifically through this, we will be “lifted up” ourselves and discover all the greatness we have to offer this world! 

Shabbat Shalom!